Challenge: In 2013, ECOWAS Heads of State signed in the General Convention on Social Security that guarantees the portability of social protection rights for migrant workers and refugees across ECOWAS States. However, despite a convention signed at the highest political level, general awareness around it was very low. People in labor ministries, employers, trade unions, insurance companies, health providers and migrant workers themselves were not aware of how this convention applied to them. The International Labour Organization with EU funding has a social protection programme and in that context they needed communications and design support.

Insight: With a very limited budget, we needed to extract key messages from the convention tailored to different audiences. The first step was rewriting the convention in a language that was easier to understand. We made a “popular version” and an “ultra-popular version” of the convention.

Solution: Developed a unique visual identity for the convention and developed a toolkit with a variety of digital assets for different stakeholders to use and build on. We edited the text of the convention into “popular” and “ultra-popular” versions, tailoring the content to different audiences.

Outcome: The ‘popular’ and ‘ultra-pop’ versions of the convention with supporting social media assets were very well-received. In addition, we developed an app for migrant workers. The app was designed to provide migrant workers and refugees the basic information on issues related to social protection. The visual identity of the campaign was so well received it was subsequently used for training material for government officials.