1. Talking about Poverty Creating change with a new strategy for communicating about poverty in the UK Enver Solomon, Director of Evidence & Impact, NCB Kate Stanley, Head of Strategy, NSPCC

2. A new two-year project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation FrameWorks Institute, based in the US, conducting empirical research into how the public thinks about poverty National Children’s Bureau managing the project and engaging stakeholders in the process Aim to create an evidence-informed strategy for communicating about poverty in order to achieve policy and social change What is Talking about Poverty?

3. 13 million people in the UK live in poverty, half in a working family, and child poverty is projected to increase The notion of poverty is contested by public, the media and politicians Dominant public and political narrative around poverty entwined in a toxic debate about welfare dependency and ‘feckless’ families and individuals Those seeking to tackle poverty in the UK need to find a new and more effective story to use to shape public and political understanding of the issue and motivate support and action What is the problem JRF is seeking to address?

4. JRF has commissioned the US-based FrameWorks Institute to develop a strategy for communicating more effectively and consistently about poverty – its causes, consequences and solutions The evidence-informed communications strategy will provide a set of values, metaphors and tools for talking about poverty in ways that engage the public and stakeholders It will be based on empirical evidence about: the content JRF and its stakeholders are seeking to communicate (the what); the public’s understandings of poverty (the how they think); and how to use communications to garner support and trigger action (the how to communicate the what) It will be disseminated widely among stakeholders The aim of the project

5. Establish the content that JRF and its stakeholders are seeking to communicate – the evidence-based expert story Investigate the deep understandings that members of the public use to think about poverty Identify and explain the gaps between the expert story and how the public think Develop a communications strategy – a set of values, metaphors and other tools that bridge the gap between the expert story and how the public think Empirically test the strategy to ensure it expands public understanding of poverty and enables the public to think in new ways(causes, consequences and solutions) Methodology

6. It focuses on how members of the public think about poverty, not just what they say It is informed by theory and methods from psychological anthropology and cognitive linguistics It builds on existing work on public opinion on poverty This approach has been effective in the US in changing the way campaigners talk about, and the public and politicians think about, early childhood development, education and other issues What makes this project unique?

7. The evidence-informed communications strategy changes the ways that organisations concerned with tackling poverty communicate Changes in communication, in turn, lead to changes in the public discourse on poverty and related issues Following such changes in discourse, public understanding of the issue changes With changes in public understanding, there is more space, demand and pressure for evidence-based anti- poverty policies to be adopted, improving outcomes for children, families, communities and society The project’s ‘theory of change’

8. Communications strategy for Harvard University focused on ‘toxic stress’ Changes in communication – ‘toxic stress’ used in NGO and children’s service communications Changes in discourse – ‘toxic stress’ appears in print and broadcast media Changes in public understanding – ‘infants can communicate before they learn to speak’ 42% in 2002 → 96% in 2011 Changes in policy – California senate passes resolution asking government to make policies to alleviate ‘toxic stress’ in children An example of impact from the US

9. Reflections from NSPCC

10. Communicating child cruelty Kate Stanley Strategy Unit NSPCC

11. To develop a single, evidence-based narrative shared across the whole organisation about the causes, consequences and solutions to child abuse. This is our core story. To communicate this narrative in way that we can demonstrate will resonate with a wide audience. Purpose

12. Bringing the communications strategy to life

13. 1.Mapped the expert story on the causes, consequences and solutions to child abuse and neglect, the ‘story’ we wanted the public to understand. 2.Mapped the public’s stories about child abuse and neglect. AKA ‘the swamp’. 3.Mapped the gap between the expert story and the public swamp identifying the productive ways of thinking that we can tap into and traps to avoid. 4. Produced communications tools and training. What we did

16. Topline The public: has a good awareness of child abuse and neglect they see it as a societal responsibility to address it they judge it as reprehensible they suspect it has widespread impacts on the individual & society But: Continued focus on prevalence will be counter-productive Focus on the immorality of abusers distracts attention from the social drivers of abuse & undermines support for prevention, intervention and treatment Express comms: value, fact, solution

17. Goal of re-framing To help people see prevention & intervention as common sense responses to a solvable problem. To create a sense that collective solutions exist and are possible and that investments in the NSPCC are a step to this end.

18. Producing an evidence-based expert story, through interviews with experts on poverty in UK In-depth interviews with members of the public to identify common cultural understandings that shape the way individuals think about poverty Mapping the gap between the expert story and the public’s cultural understandings Key outputs and activities: phase 1

19. Developing and testing a communications strategy – a set of metaphors, values and tools for talking about poverty and its causes, consequences and solutions Production and dissemination of a final communications toolkit – an interactive, multi- media document containing the final refined set of tools for talking to the public about poverty Considering resource for additional dissemination activities beyond phase 2 Key outputs and activities: phase 2

20. Thank you National Children’s Bureau www.ncb.org.uk @ncbtweets www.facebook.com/ncbfc