Rare trains partners to build environmental pride and action
Rare specializes in behavior change. It has a model for determining behaviors that are causing threats to biodiversity at the community level, identifying the solution needed to get people to change, and fostering adoption of that solution through a two-year social marketing campaign. More specifically, Rare trains local partners to run what are called Pride campaigns, designed to build the will and pave the way for change.
Pride campaigns incorporate everything from social marketing to public relations; education to stakeholder engagement; and supporting alternative livelihoods to influencing legislation. All are designed to change the way people relate to nature, and partners have used them to reduce threats to biodiversity in more than 50 countries to date.
While each campaign targets a specific site, Rare launches them in groups of 10-12 all focused on a common issue so that partners can share learning and test solutions for broader scalability. In the Andes, for example, Rare is working with partners at 12 sites to introduce financial incentives for forest protection. In the Coral Triangle, Rare is working at multiple sites to train fishers on the personal benefits of better managing their protected areas, as well as providing the tools to do so.
Rare also engages regional and international experts to support the strategic design and monitoring of each cohort of campaigns. Thus an entire consortium of partners works together at multiple levels to develop a proven community-driven solution to one of conservations top global challenges. Upon cohort completion, Rare has built broad capacity to help scale what works and improve on what doesnt.
Currently, Rare operates its program in four languages -- English, Spanish, Bahasa Indonesia, and Mandarin -- chosen to serve the worlds areas of highest biodiversity. (Additional programs in French and Portuguese are currently in development.) Rare and its partners launch one cohort of campaigns in each language annually.
Rare does not directly implement campaigns. It trains local organizations in social and behavioral change and then relies on them to add an essential understanding of local culture and social norms as well as to sustain impact long term. Qualified local campaign leaders who complete academic studies and run a successful project in the field receive a Masters Degree in Communication from the University of Texas in El Paso (which is offered in four languages in Mexico, Indonesia, China, and the U.S.).
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