Overview
UNICEF launched a regional campaign to raise awareness about human rights among youth in Central Asia. The goal was to shift the perception of rights from abstract legal language to something personal, emotional, and empowering.
My Role
As a Communication Consultant, I was responsible for developing the messaging, tone of voice, and content strategy. I collaborated closely with UNICEF’s local partners and a creative team to ensure the campaign felt authentic and accessible for youth across the region.
Challenges & Objectives
Many young people in the region had limited or distorted understanding of their basic human rights.
Key objectives included:
Key objectives included:
1. Increase awareness of youth rights in a non-political, culturally sensitive way
2. Create a communication style that youth could identify with
3. Build trust and spark discussion among younger audiences
Problem & Objectives
Despite increasing digital connectivity, many young people in Central Asia lacked a clear or positive understanding of their basic rights. Conversations around human rights were often framed in distant, legalistic, or even politically sensitive terms — which discouraged engagement and trust. So many young people in the region had limited or distorted understanding of their basic human rights.
Key objectives included:
1. Increase awareness of youth rights in a non-political, culturally sensitive way
2. Create a communication style that youth could identify with
3. Build trust and spark discussion among younger audiences
The main objective of the campaign was to make the topic of human rights feel relatable, inspiring, and emotionally safe. We wanted to build awareness without provoking resistance, and to give youth a language to talk about their rights in ways that felt grounded in their daily lives. This required a delicate balance of cultural relevance, creativity, and deep listening.
Strategy
We began by researching how youth in different parts of Central Asia engage with social causes and personal identity online. Based on this research, I proposed a storytelling concept centered around the phrase “Your Rights. Your Voice.” This idea was simple, empowering, and adaptable to different local dialects and cultural expressions.
I helped develop the tone of voice for all campaign materials — clear, emotionally grounded, and free from political overtones. I also created narrative guidelines to support content creators and partner organizations working across multiple languages and platforms.
Visually, we steered away from stereotypical NGO aesthetics and instead leaned into bold, youth-driven design choices — inspired by the region’s evolving digital culture. The content plan included a mix of visual storytelling, real-life stories from youth activists, and interactive formats for online discussions and classroom use.
1. Conducted audience research to identify trusted communication channels and youth values
2. Co-developed the key narrative: “Your Rights. Your Voice.”
3. Defined tone of voice and created editorial guidelines for partners and content creators
4. Collaborated on visual concept and storytelling aligned with regional youth culture
5. Built a modular content plan for use across social media, youth hubs, and educational settings
Key Results
The campaign successfully reached over 150,000 young people across multiple digital platforms and in-person events. The storytelling approach was praised for being “emotionally real” and “easy to relate to,” both by educators and the youth audience. It sparked widespread dialogue in schools, youth centers, and community groups — laying the groundwork for further initiatives in civic education.
Perhaps most importantly, the campaign helped reposition the concept of human rights as something that belongs to every young person — not as a theoretical idea, but as a part of their identity and future.