Baltic PR Awards 2010 Category: Corporate Responsibility Partnership for children safety

Situation

In developed countries, accidents are the main cause of death among children between the

age of 1 and 4 years. In Latvia, as in the rest of Europe, the leading causes of death among

children under the age of 14, after prenatal mortality, are due to external causes including

trauma and poisoning. The most frequent occupational risks during school age that children

and adolescents are exposed to, depending on the surroundings in which they find

themselves, are electrical and thermal contacts, falling, exposure to toxic substances and

many others.

In Latvia there had been several campaigns dedicated to children safety, but no campaign

addressed all most common occupational risks. Latvian Confederation of Trade Unions

involved Consultancy to plan and implement campaign for school children that could also

serve as a platform for collaboration of experts and businesses from different safety fields.

Research

During planning phase Consultancy analyzed good practice examples from other European

countries (Austria, Spain, United Kingdom etc.) to find out best solutions, channels for

reaching children.

Consultancy organized meetings with specialists from the Ministry of Education to find out

more about safety in curriculum of primary education. Information gathered during meetings

helped to identify precisely target audience – 1st – 4th

Possible partners of campaign were identified and involved in a group discussion with the aim

to clarify safety aspects which should be covered during campaign.

year pupils, as well as primary territory

of campaign – Vidzeme and Latgale.

Since optimization of primary and secondary schools had been carried out in September

2009, the Ministry of Science and Education could not provide organizers with the detailed

information about schools in Vidzeme and Latgale. Therefore lot of time was invested to

interview schools in the region, to collect and analyze numbers of pupils in target audience.

Strategy

Objective of campaign was to initiate topic of children exposure to occupational risks by

involving safety practitioners instead of theorists.

As a secondary objective Consultancy set a target to contribute to the development of

corporate social responsibility in Latvia by creating a platform for collaboration and giving the

opportunity for enterprises to share their expertise.

The campaign was directed at primary education students aged from 6 to 12 years in schools

from Vidzeme and Latgale regions. As a secondary audience parents and teachers were

identified. Content of the campaign was based on practical skills, live experience and

interactive elements which were implemented using direct communication with primary target

audience – children and supportive media communication with parents and teachers.

Taking into account the specific audience and the results of initial research of cases abroad,

the campaign was prepared in an interactive, positive, visually appealing and simple way. A

symbol for the whole campaign was chosen and children were involved to make up the name

for the mascot of campaign – safety glove. Afterwards the whole visual identity of campaign

was built around ToDo safety glove and its “house” – an interactive traveling display show

that provided hands-on experience on the risks children are facing at home, in schools etc.

The campaign was structured in three phases: development of a diverse range of teaching

materials, creation of a web portal and publicity campaign.

Consultancy invited different partners to participate and build their CSR experience: experts

from the Ministry of Science and Education, Institute of Occupational Safety and Environment,

Latvijas Gāze, Latvenergo, safety company GRIFS AG and State Fire and Rescue Service.

A real puppet called ToDo was created and it was the main object in all communication,

including media relations and campaign materials. To acquire interest of school children,

travelling show with the safe ToDo’s house was chosen equipped with multimedia devices, a

plasma screen TV, furniture, and campaign materials and containing information for students

on the prevention of occupational risks. Four instructors - experts in occupational risks -

guided the students during the visit and made real life demonstrations.

The website www.drosaistodo.lv still seeks to bring involvement and awareness about

prevention to all in the primary education community - teachers, students and parents – and

each has their own space in this portal. The student can find different games to entertain

while teaching about safe behaviour and rules. Parents and teachers can download and

update much of the materials to support activities at school or at home.

The project, materials and website www.drosaistodo.lv were designed to be used over

several years and campaign in year 2009 was only the first step to increase awareness and

attention to safety in school children and their teachers.

Results

For the first time in Latvia a safety campaign for children involved so many different experts

and partners, as well as addressed a whole range of occupational risks. At least 6 enterprises

and organizations contributed the working hours of their employees for socially responsible

activities and managed to gain experience on what CSR is all about.

Integrated communication tailored for a specific audience created immense interest from

school children and also their teachers and parents. Information about campaign raised high

interest from schools in other regions – organizers received more than 30 requests to visit

schools in Riga, Jurmala, Ogre etc.

Very precise planning resulted in reaching more than 5000 school children directly during

travelling show in Cēsis, Smiltene, Valmiera, Alūksne, Madona, Balvi, Ludza, Preiļi, Krāslava,

Daugavpils, Ilūkste in short period from 3rd

During regional visits 3292 questionnaires from children were collected and will be used in the

planning of further phases of campaign. Results of questionnaires showed - only about 2% of

children can admit that they live in safe environment and have not experienced dangerous

situations.

November till middle of December.

more than

5000 school children

reached directly

www.drosaistodo

.lv

Partnership for children safety

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