New Narratives Lab 2022

 

1. New Narratives Lab – 2022 Overview

The New Narratives Lab is the core capacity building and narrative development element of the RESET project. In 2021, the New Narratives Lab built the capacity of 21 people from 15 CLAIM member organisations and the Berlin Office in the development of effective narrative change strategies to engage sceptical audiences, within the framework of longer-term strategic communications goals. More specifically, the Lab supported a core working group of CLAIM members to develop and test a narrative change strategy to constructively engage one specific segment of the movable middle, “The Established”1 . Building on this capacity, conviction and tested strategy, in 2022 the Lab aims to:

  1. Empower and mobilise key Lab participants to lead the pilot implementation phase of a value-based narrative change strategy targeting “The Established”.
  2. Monitor and measure how the pilot phase works to inform the direction in 2023

 

The focus on going deep the Lab in 2022 to support the piloting work of CLAIM members with the Established fits into the longer-term set of building blocks in ICPA’s approach in RESET, i.e. building interest and broad capacity, develop, test & pilot a narrative change strategy owned by network members, before then sharing the lessons and approach more broadly in the network in 2023. This staged approach is synopsised in the funnel(s) diagram below:

 

2. Objectives & Timeline/Stages

This section breaks down the specific objectives, the timeline and detail of each stage in the 2022 New Narratives Lab designed to support CLAIM members’ piloting work.

 

Objectives

  • Develop & pilot social cohesion messaging and value appeals that worked with The Established in the focus group testing in December 2021
  • Support Lab participants (who participated in 2021) to build the tested narrative strategy into everyday communications and/or project work (within the tested narrative strategy)
  • Pilot building presence of new types of post-migrant stories of German Muslim lives to target and engage The Established
  • Develop stories and a social media dissemination plan that allows members with limited capacity and resources to be part of the pilot implementation work
  • Evaluate and record lessons from the rollout process
  • Build on & further test social cohesion messaging and value appeals that worked in focus groups testing in December 2021 to produce talking points for the pilot phase in 2022 and for a messaging guide in 2023

 

Timeline