I’ve had the good fortune to work on five Grand Challenges – big, bold issues that attack socially intractable problems by bringing together alliances of organizations and activists.
Today, I share with you a framework that has been extremely important in the success of these Grand Challenges. Based on the work of Dr. Christina Economos and a research team she led in 2001 studying four movements where the United States flipped societal opinion 180 degrees:
- Recycling
- Breastfeeding
- Seatbelt usage
- Tobacco cessation
Through research, Dr. Economos and her team were able to identify ten key elements to creating a social movement. She then applied the results of this research to her efforts to address obesity in the school-aged children of Summerville, Massachusetts, and eventually on the national level as co-director of ChildObesity180.
The 10 Key Elements to Creating a Social Movement is a framework that has been used successfully in projects large and small. These critical elements are an excellent place to start for any initiative that relies on building a social movement.
Watch the video to learn more about the 3 phases and 10 Key Elements to Creating a Social Movembent:
- Framing and building the case
- Frame the crisis
- Science-based research
- Economics
- Gathering Allies
- Develop a plan
- Identifying Champions
- Coalition Building
- Government or policymaker involvement
- Advocacy
- Mass communication
- Environment and policy change
Implementing the plan
Download the infographic here.
Do you need help in your work as a change leader? Email me and schedule a time to discuss your Grand Challenge work.
