Every November, the world turns orange.
From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, organizations everywhere join the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This year’s theme is “Ensure justice, protect survivors, end impunity.” Buildings light up in orange. Feeds fill with orange posts.
And then, on 11 December, most teams have no idea whether anything changed.
The cause could not be more urgent. Worldwide, nearly 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence, according to the World Health Organization.
But awareness campaigns have a special trap: reach looks like success. Ten thousand people saw your orange post. Great. But did anyone learn something? Would anyone know where to call for help tomorrow?
This post is a 6-week plan that answers those questions. Every week comes with tasks you can do, a time estimate and an example. Use it for this year’s 16 Days, or for any campaign you run.
Our example: a local youth association wants students in its city (aged 18 to 25) to recognize the signs of violence against women, including psychological and digital violence, and to know where to get help. It has 1,500 Instagram followers, a WhatsApp group of 200 volunteers, two partner universities and a budget of 4,000 MAD.
- Week 1: Goal and audience. You finish with: a one-page brief and your starting numbers.
- Week 2: Message, safety and test. You finish with: a tested message and a safety plan.
- Week 3: Plan and tracking. You finish with: a 16-day calendar, a budget and your decision rules.
- Weeks 4–5: The 16 Days (25 Nov – 10 Dec). You finish with: daily numbers, two reviews and at least one improvement.
- Week 6: Results and follow-up. You finish with: a scorecard and what to keep for next year.
Reading this in November? Squeeze weeks 1 to 3 into the days you have left before 25 November. Even a short version of week 1 will make your campaign better. And if your campaign needs to fit into a bigger plan, start with our communication strategy framework.
Week 1: Turn “awareness” into something you can count
Time needed: about 3 hours
Task 1. Write down your starting point
30 minutes
Look at what you did last year and what you know today: how many people you reached, how many took part and what you learned.
Last year, the association posted 6 orange visuals and reached about 4,000 people. Nobody knows what changed.
Task 2. Measure what people know today
1 hour
Awareness means knowing something new. So measure what people know before you start. Ask 30 to 50 people from your audience 3 short questions, on paper or with a free online form:
- Is controlling someone’s phone a form of violence? (yes / no / not sure)
- Do you know a number a woman can call for help? (write it down)
- If a friend told you she was being hurt, would you know what to do? (yes / no / not sure)
The association asked 50 students. Only 12 of them (24%) could name a number to call, and most were “not sure” whether controlling a partner’s phone counts as violence.
Task 3. Set one goal for an action, and one for knowledge
30 minutes
Pick one action people can take, then a way to check that they learned something. Use this sentence: [number] [action] by [date].
Action goal: 1,500 students complete our 2-minute “Know the signs” quiz between 25 November and 10 December. The quiz ends with the national helpline number.
Knowledge goal: the share of students who can name where to get help goes from 24% to 50% in the same survey after 10 December.
Why a quiz? Because it does three jobs at once: it teaches, it can be counted, and it puts the helpline number in front of every person who finishes it.
Task 4. Find out what stops people
45 minutes
Read the “not sure” answers from your survey. Then talk to 5 people from your audience and ask: “Why do you think people don’t speak up?”
The answers: “It’s a private family matter.” “If he doesn’t hit her, it’s not really violence.” “I wouldn’t know what to say to a friend.” So the campaign must explain what counts as violence and give people simple words to use.
Task 5. Fill in your one-page brief
15 minutes
Goal: ____ Knowledge goal: ____
Starting point: ____
Who: ____
What stops them: ____
Where they spend time: ____
The one action: ____, which happens at ____
Budget: ____ Owner: ____
Week 2: Write the message, plan for safety, and test
Time needed: about 4 hours
Task 1. Write three headlines
45 minutes
Use Promise + Proof + Push: what they’ll gain, one reason to believe you, and one action with a deadline. Make sure each headline answers the blocker you found in week 1.
A. “Violence isn’t only bruises. Learn the 5 signs in 2 minutes. Take the quiz before 10 December.”
B. “Would you know what to say to a friend? Take the 2-minute quiz and find out.”
C. “Checking her phone. Controlling her money. Is it violence? Take the quiz.”
Task 2. Write your safety plan
1 hour
On this topic, a careless campaign can hurt the very people it wants to help. Before you publish anything, agree on these rules with your team:
- No graphic images. No bruised faces, no blood, no women crouching in corners. Show strength, solidarity and help instead.
- No victim-blaming words. Never ask “why didn’t she leave?” Talk about the behaviour and the person responsible for it.
- Consent for every story. Get written permission, change names and remove any detail that could identify someone.
- The helpline on everything. Every poster, post and quiz ends with where to get help. In Morocco, the national number is 8350 (see this list of support services in Morocco). Check that every number you share is current before you print.
- A plan for messages. Someone may write to you to ask for help. Choose one trained person to answer, prepare a short reply that points to the helpline and a local support centre, and never investigate or give legal advice yourself.
- A plan for comments. Pin the helpline under every post, hide abusive comments and don’t argue under posts that share a survivor’s story.
The best way to get this right is to ask a local women’s support organization to review your messages before you launch. For more detail, read UNFPA’s guidance note on gender-based violence communications and the UN guidelines on responsible representation of violence against women.
Task 3. Test the headlines with real people
1 hour
Show each headline to 5 students for 5 seconds, then ask: “What is this about?” and “What would you do next?” Keep the one most people explain correctly and want to act on.
Headline C won. The examples of phone and money control made students stop and think: “Wait, is that violence?”
Task 4. Build the quiz and test it on a phone
1 hour
Use 5 questions at most, and show the answer right after each one. End with the helpline number and one sentence on how to support a friend. Then ask three people to take it on their own phones and time them. It should take under 2 minutes.
Week 3: Plan the 16 days and set up tracking
Time needed: about 3 hours
Task 1. Pick 2 or 3 channels
15 minutes
Choose one channel you own, one social channel and one in the real world, and only where your audience already is. Then turn each piece of content into several formats instead of creating everything from scratch: we explain how in Leverage in communications: how to create more with less.
The WhatsApp volunteer group (owned), Instagram (social) and orange stands with QR codes at the two partner universities (real world).
Task 2. Fill in the 16-day calendar
1 hour
- 20 Nov (Tease): “On 25 November, our campus turns orange.” Who: ____
- 25 Nov (Launch): Orange stands on both campuses, Instagram post, WhatsApp message asking each volunteer to send the quiz to 5 friends. Who: ____
- 28 Nov (Explain): “5 signs that aren’t bruises”: a simple carousel. Who: ____
- 2 Dec (Focus): Digital violence: what it looks like and what to do. Who: ____
- 5 Dec (Proof): A short video of students saying what they learned (with written consent). Who: ____
- 7 Dec (Reminder): “3 days left. Have you taken the quiz?” Who: ____
- 10 Dec (Thank you): “____ of you took the quiz. Here’s what we learned together.” Who: ____
Need more activity ideas for the 16 days? UN Women’s 16 ways, 16 Days guide is a good place to start.
Task 3. Split the budget
15 minutes
A simple starting split: 60% on your main channel, 20% on printing and production, and 20% in reserve. Spend the reserve only once you can see what’s working.
With 4,000 MAD: 2,400 on Instagram ads shown to 18 to 25-year-olds in the city, 800 on orange posters, stickers and stand materials, and 800 in reserve.
Task 4. Set up tracking
45 minutes
- One link per channel. Google’s free Campaign URL Builder tags each link, so you know where every quiz-taker came from. Name them quiz-instagram, quiz-whatsapp, quiz-campus1 and quiz-campus2.
- One QR code per stand, so you can compare the two campuses.
- Count the quiz in two steps: how many people started it and how many finished it.
- A simple daily sheet with these columns: reached, clicks, quiz started, quiz finished, money spent, notes.
Task 5. Write your decision rules
30 minutes
Decide now what you’ll do when the numbers come in. These are starting points, so adjust them to your campaign. Check them after 3 to 5 days.
- If fewer than 1 in 100 people who see it click: swap in the second-best headline.
- If fewer than half of the people who start the quiz finish it: shorten the quiz or make the first question easier.
- If we’re below half of the target for the period: spend the reserve on the best channel, or add a stand.
- If comments turn hostile: hide abusive comments, pin the helpline and don’t debate.
Task 6. Pre-launch check
15 minutes
- Every link and QR code works on a real phone.
- The helpline number is correct on every poster, post and quiz.
- The person who answers messages has the reply template.
- Your starting numbers from week 1 are in the sheet.
Weeks 4 and 5: The 16 Days
Time needed: 10 minutes a day, plus 30 minutes on 1 December and 30 minutes on 6 December
Every day: Fill in one row of the sheet
10 minutes
Write down how many people you reached, how many clicked, and how many started and finished the quiz. Don’t change anything yet, because one day of numbers is just noise. Check messages and comments too.
Twice: Review and make one change
30 minutes
Calculate three numbers:
- Click rate = clicks ÷ people reached
- Completion rate = quizzes finished ÷ quizzes started
- Cost per completed quiz = money spent ÷ quizzes finished
Compare them with your target and your rules, then make one change. If you change everything at once, you’ll never know what worked.
Example: The association’s first review (25 Nov – 1 Dec)
- People reached: 12,000. Good, three times last year’s whole campaign.
- Quiz started: 900 (7.5% of reach). Healthy: the message works.
- Quiz finished: 360 (40% of starts). Problem: most people quit halfway.
- Target for the period: 650. We’re at 55% of it.
- Spent: 1,200 MAD. 3.3 MAD per completed quiz.
Diagnosis: people are interested, but the quiz loses them. The team looks at where they quit: question 3, which was long and confusing. Following rule 2, they rewrite it in one short sentence. That’s the only change.
Second review (2 – 6 Dec): 1,000 people started and 700 finished. The completion rate went from 40% to 70%, so the team spends the 800 MAD reserve on more Instagram ads for the final days.
Week 6: Results and follow-up
Time needed: about 2 hours
Task 1. Run the survey again
45 minutes
Ask the same 3 questions to 30 to 50 people from the same audience. This is the only way to know whether awareness actually changed. Proving impact, not just activity, is fast becoming part of every communicator’s job, as we explain in Corporate communication in 2030.
Of 50 students, 29 (58%) could now name where to get help, compared with 24% before. The knowledge goal of 50% was reached.
Task 2. Fill in the scorecard
20 minutes
Action goal: ____ Result: ____
Knowledge goal: ____ Result: ____
Total spent: ____ Cost per result: ____
Best channel: ____
Where people dropped off most: ____
1,390 quizzes completed out of a 1,500 target (93%), and knowledge went from 24% to 58%. The association spent 4,000 MAD, about 2.9 MAD per completed quiz. The best channel was the WhatsApp volunteers, each sending the quiz to 5 friends.
Task 3. Keep, kill, try
20 minutes, with your team
- Keep: what worked? The volunteer “send to 5 friends” ask and the short quiz.
- Kill: what cost time and did little? The second campus stand, which got only 40 scans because of a bad location.
- Try: one new thing for next year. A short workshop for students on how to support a friend.
Task 4. Close the loop
30 minutes
- Thank everyone who took part, with the real numbers: “1,390 of you took the quiz, and more than half of you now know where to find help.”
- Keep the helpline number pinned on your profile all year. Violence doesn’t stop on 10 December.
- Save the brief, the sheet, both surveys and the scorecard in one folder. Next November starts from here.
Running a different kind of campaign?
The six weeks stay the same. Only the action and what you count change:
- Awareness. Action: take a quiz, watch a short video or join a session. Count: completions, plus knowledge before and after.
- Fundraising. Action: donate. Count: donations, average gift, cost per donation.
- Advocacy. Action: sign or send a message to a decision-maker. Count: signatures, messages sent, meetings held, commitments made.
- Product. Action: order or book. Count: orders, conversion rate, cost per order compared with profit per order.
What to do tomorrow morning
One hour, three tasks
1. Write down what last year’s campaign achieved, even if the answer is “we don’t know.”
2. Write your goal in one sentence: [number] [action] by [date].
3. Send the 3-question survey to 10 people from your audience.
Orange posters are a good start. Knowing that 1,390 young people can now spot the signs and know where to call is better.
If you’d like help planning your 16 Days campaign, or any other campaign, book a 45-minute call. We’ll fill in your brief together and set your goals and decision rules.
And if this was useful, forward it to someone who’s planning their orange campaign right now.
Talk soon,
Hafida