By Terence Ho | Foundation of HKPLTW
Terence is a Research Coordinator for the Foundation of HKPLTW with interests in history & traditions, social organization & inter-group relations, culture & religion, and economics & politics of Canadian Indigenous People and Visible Minorities. Follow him on Twitter: @hkpltw
Poverty can affect the strength and resiliency of our communities. Economic growth can slow and even decline when the middle-class struggles, income inequality rises, and poverty persists.
Having considered this article series and the questions posed within it, our NGO (HKPLTW) invites you to participate in the discussion of the development of a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy that will guide its actions in the future of Canada.
Increase Awareness of Poverty
To increase awareness of poverty in Canada, it is better to create a simulation campaign that allows all Canadians to experience the choices and lack of choices faced by those living in poverty. Once there, you can choose to simulate the life of a single person, single-parent family, or two-parent family living at or below the poverty line. You will be given a monthly budget and make choices while you live paycheque-to-paycheque and try to make the month. The simulation not only allows you to experience what it’s like to face these choices, but also gives people the opportunity to get involved by sharing their experience, learning more about poverty and donating towards programs that directly support Canadians to move out of poverty. While it is an excellent idea on paper, it may be hard to advise the simulation to the public. Here is where we need to be original.
Embrace Social Media
The emergence of social media has revolutionized marketing and public relations for original ideas, providing a platform for organizations to quickly and easily share their story. In our case, I believe that we can make the simulation into a monthly campaign that allows people to experience the difficulty faced by those living in poverty. Given the criteria and goals set by our “simulation” idea, I put the target audience as Canadians who are “Somewhat” aware of poverty being a major social issue in a First World nation like Canada. To reach the audience, I have two objectives for this campaign. First, the campaign aims to increase the number of donors to invest in non-profit’s programs to help those living in poverty. Second, it seeks to raise awareness of poverty among the target audience (Canadians), influencing public acceptance of the poverty problem and increasing public skepticism of the government’s poverty reduction policy.
Be Original to Increase Awareness
My tactic for the campaign focuses on social media because it is an effective method to attract a large audience. My goal for this campaign aims to achieve long-term, lasting behavioural changes in the target audiences. Therefore, awareness of this campaign must address our purposes and increase the target audience’s enthusiasm and support. Based on my outline, I think that the poverty simulation can be a live-streaming marathon on social media instead of a fundraiser event.
My idea is that we invite a group of random Canadians to experience a day of living below the poverty line, live stream their experiences, and share real-life videos on social media platforms. For example, there would be a Livestream daily throughout October. Seeing the struggles and the lack of choices faced by those on Livestream, the audience would realize that poverty is a social problem that consistently affects the lives of many Canadians.
It can deepen the emotional connection with the target audience, creating and delivering results that matter. Also, the Livestream helps to advertise the campaign without spending a large sum of money. I believe that a live-streaming marathon throughout October can break the mould, encouraging a diverse group of Canadians to understand the impact of poverty and take action to support and donate to the nonprofit program that helps those living in poverty.
Personal responsibility and entitlement will increase awareness
I believe that the live-streaming marathon informs Canadians about poverty in our society and initiates more Pro-Active dialogues about poverty reduction. Overall, my tactic is to address and reduce the skepticism of Canadians about poverty in a First-World country like Canada by showing them the struggles faced by those living paycheque-to-paycheque through Livestream on social media.
Through witnessing the struggles on their phones, the campaign can convince some target audience (Canadians) that individual actions and donations are worthwhile and can lead to immense contributions to reducing poverty. Eventually, the target audience’s new sense of personal responsibility and entitlement will increase awareness, as more Canadians will support and donate to the non-profit organizations and their program to help people escape poverty.
Foundation of HKPLTW (Canada) 