Corruption is pervasive at every level of National, Provincial and District government in Afghanistan. However, it is predatory corruption at the local level, by local police and sub-national officials, that has the most corrosive effect on people's willingness to accept the legitimacy of the nascent government. This (current) campaign, is designed to reduce the effect of predatory corruption by supporting local Afghan government efforts to identify and reduce corruption of officials, both at the district and the provincial levels.

The strategy also seeks to reinforce positive actors by providing supportive messaging for officials who are delivering good public services without recourse to bribes. This campaign is Afghan-led and is being delivered through a combination of the Helmand Provincial Governor, the Helmand Provincial Council and Afghan Police senior leadership.

The primary objectives of this public information campaign are to promote public accountability by supporting community resilience against corruption and corrupt forces, promote prosecution of corrupt officials through regular news reporting, led and handled by Afghan government through independent Afghan media, and to increase the professionalism of the police through an awareness line of effort specifically targeted at their rank and file. 

Bolstered by religious messaging, this final strand reinforces expected social responsibilities and professional high standards within the police, as well as warning of the penalties for corruption. An A1 sized board (pictured) is an example of campaign materials - designed to identify legitimate police check points. It details what local people can expect when they arrive at check points, and what they should not expect. An anti-corruption hotline number is common across all campaign materials. 

Other campaign lines of effort include a basic pre-loaded mp3 player for mass distribution through the police rank and file, containing traditional poetry and music, but also firm orders from the Chief of Police, credible religious messages against corruption, and audio of the policing manual. This approach mitigates against the high levels of illiteracy in the police force. 

The final phase of the campaign will include stimulating a grass roots movement, using the symbol of a 'no to corruption' branded fly-swat that is in the process of being mass produced as the iconic centre-piece of a 'corruption free zones' campaign element. This remains a work in progress as I leave this job. Benchmark evaluation has been conducted, and as might be expected with a nascent South Asian government, it shows increasing local concern about front line official corruption. 

The client (UK Government) had been struggling since the terrorist attacks of 7/7 to engage vulnerable UK Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups in order to counter a radical narrative about the West being at war with Islam.  

I personally conceived, constructed and project managed delivery (through a  limited £200K budget) of a persuasive campaign led by the Department for International Development's South Asia Division. The campaign used emotive images, film, and case studies of extreme poverty in 'motherland' countries. The campaign was delivered in 17 target population areas across the UK through a roadshow, local media and the internet. 

The strategy involved capturing the attention and motivation of hard to reach communities on common ground, and then linking the campaign to UK Government poverty reduction activity in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Palestine.  

Using the UK's first Muslim minister as the face of the campaign we engaged second and third order voices in the form of religious, community, and youth leaders, creating a significant target media splash and a 'buzz' within target communities interested in how they could get involved.

This was linked to a special projects fund that community leaders could apply to. The funding criteria included a core requirement to raise awareness of poverty in Islamic countries and detail how British muslims could support the work of muslim NGO's, mainstream NGO's and the UK Government to reduce poverty. 

Bespoke bench-marking and a follow up survey of target audience attitudes (negotiated free of charge through a existing DFID Mori contract) showed a marked (23%) positive shift in awareness, understanding and support of the UK's Poverty reduction work in the Islamic world.

The campaign was broadened to include a core script for relevant Ministerial public and stakeholder engagements, and a monthly country specific diaspora newsletter issued to 21 MP's in target constituencies for onward distribution. By the time I left the role, MP's were requesting over 3000 copies of the newsletter each.

Following a spate of black on black drug related knife and gun crime in the London Borough of Brent, I formed a team with the council, and families of two of the Stonebridge estate gun crime victims. The 'Not Another Drop' campaign was the outcome. 

Run as a partnership between police (my client), the local authority and the community, the campaign quickly captured the imagination of the black, and wider community in North-West London, with strong community engagement providing an immediate measure of success. 

The campaign involved candle lit and daytime marches, an emotive poster campaign at key locations like pubs, clubs, and schools, the innovative use of bus stop digital message boards, uniformed officers in Brent wearing a pin depicting a blood drop on their lapel and an effective public relations push through the North West local, and London wide media. 

The campaign objective was to stigmatise knife and gun crime. The campaign sought to engage black youth in particular, by allowing them to produce creative material for the campaign, and lead on the organisation of a inter-area football tournament. On the flip side, PR opportunities around successful prosecutions were used to inject credible deterrent messaging to supplement the softer community engagement and poster/information campaign. Remarkably, incidents of fatal gun and knife crime in Brent borough dropped 60% in the first 18 months of the campaign. Today the campaign is London-wide. 

Local level campaign delivery. The campaign objective was to support and educate the public, particularly men that carry out this crime through a powerful advertising campaign, and parallel PR effort through the Crime Reporters Association. 

The campaign sought to challenge attitudes and behaviour and emphasised that the Metropolitan Police Service were able and willing to take action against abusers - without the involvement or consent of the victim.The message was simple. If you are a domestic violence abuser you can no longer hide behind your partner's fear.

Careful consideration was given to the advertising locations. Posters were placed in sites where people have time to reflect, including Underground cross tracks, tip up seats in taxicabs, and washroom panels in men's toilets in pubs, bars, restaurants and cinemas.

Research showed that a lot of men read newspapers ‘back to front' starting with the sports sections so adverts were  placed in the sports sections of the North West/West/South West London press.

Unexpected advertising sites were  used as part of the integrated campaign - including stickers in gym lockers, adverts in football programmes and advertising vans outside London football and rugby matches (including Twickenham in my area of responsibility). 

The evaluation phase of the campaign happened after I finished in the job, and although I understand there was a positive shifting in unhelpful attitudes towards violence in the home, it remains difficult to tell whether this was a result of the change in legislation allowing third parties to initiate prosecution, or the campaign.