The ESOMAR Foundation’s annual Making a Difference Awards are now open for entries. Our annual Awards are a chance to applaud and reward the best examples of Market Research making a difference to the world’s Charities.
Through these awards, the ESOMAR Foundation aims to raise awareness of the impact of great research on the work of Charities, by offering a platform for these stories to be heard.
All Charity case studies, whether they are international, national or local and in any sector, are encouraged to apply.
WHY YOU SHOULD ENTER THE COMPETITION:
It encourages excellence, educates and motivates the industry to produce great research on and for Charities
Share your work for mutually beneficial inspiration and learning.
The competition will highlight ‘Making a Difference’ case studies to increase the impact of market research in building a better world!
Your work will be promoted throughout the year on all our platforms
Win a category and an award
Winners get invited to present at the ESOMAR Insight Festival, the biggest global and digital event in the market research industry
It’s a fun, challenging, and exciting way to share your work.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
All Charity cases are welcome whether they are international, national or local!
You may showcase any innovative and insightful research work
There is no limit of entries per author
Each case-study must have a separate application
If you’d like help from a research expert writing your submission, we can find a willing volunteer in your country
LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION?
Check out the previous Making a Difference Competition winners
There are not enough words to thank all the support received in these two and a half years from my family, friends and especially the ESOMAR Foundation and WIRe who generously gave me the support to study.
The last months were quite busy with activities, exams, hard work and the presentation of our final project which consisted of analyzing and delivering a marketing plan to a company that was dedicated to the production of cakes. The objective was to identify business opportunities and make improvements and recommendations to the business plan to increase profitability and brand awareness.
So we had to get involved from market research, creation of a new logo and a financial analysis that would allow the company to have a better offer than the competitors. We also had to focus on the digital and social networking strategy which is a global trend.
My team and I the day of the final exam. The cake represented the learning through books and the cupcakes represented the importance of brand communication through social networks.
Time is going so fast that in the blink of an eye we were standing celebrating graduation day.
My friends and I during my graduation day in the gardens of the university.
All these months taught me that persistence and discipline are important factors for success. We don’t always have the encouragement and time that studies demand and it is so easy to give up on a goal because of fear or lack of trust, but that is where we must remember that not everyone has the same opportunities as us and that knowledge is the power we need to change things.
We must always surround ourselves with our family and positive people who encourage us to be better.
My mother and sister to whom I dedicate this triumph
The graduation day was one of the best days of my life because I not only managed to finish my studies but I was also awarded for academic excellence, something that I waited for a long time, and that I hope will inspire more students to achieve their goals.
Once again, I am very grateful to the foundation that believed in me and gave me the privilege of representing Guatemala.
How you can support in your country
If you are a market researcher, a national market research association, an NGO involved in research or a university interested in a scholarship in your country please contact us at info@esomarfoundation.org
Partners & Sponsors
We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an organisation looking to understand more about how you can support us, please find more information here or contact: info@esomarfoundation.org
“Around the world, children are showing us their strength and leadership advocating for a more sustainable world for all. Let’s build on advances and re-commit to putting children first. For every child, every right.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres
This year’s celebration marks the anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We can all play an important part in making World Children’s Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations. We, at the ESOMAR Foundation, want to celebrate this special anniversary by offering our readers and followers a few of the many examples of how solutions have been found and impact has been made on the lives of many children around the world with the help of the skills, knowledge and support of the data, research and insights community.
Winner of the Most innovative Not-For-Profit case study of the ESOMAR Foundation Making a Difference Competition 2018. “With deep and nuanced understanding of what was driving oral rehydration salt (ORS) uptake, we developed a radically revised theory of how to increase the use of ORS to treat diarrhea in children. Instead of focusing exclusively on RMPs, programs should create demand for ORS by reframing caregivers’ perception of the treatment. This would help RMPs to bridge their “know-do” gap and prescribe ORS with confidence.” This project was carried out by Surgo Foundation in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Health Access Initiative
Children represent one of the most vulnerable groups in a society. They also represent a society’s future: future decision-makers, leaders, consumers and employees. Despite the progress achieved in numerous areas, children continue to face high distressing situations across the world.
“For 2017 World’s Children Day, UNICEF’s goal was to give the world’s children a voice. The overarching objective was to see the world through their eyes: to hear their perspectives on the most pressing issues affecting children globally and in their home country, to understand their hopes for the world’s children, to hear what they would change if they were in charge. To put results in perspective, we also wanted to understand their world: who they admire (and are influenced by), whether they feel they are being heard and if so by whom and get their opinion on world leaders’ job at addressing children’s issues.This research is an attempt to give children a voice and make the rest of society aware of what children are concerned about, and what changes they would like to see so their opinions are also taken into account in the decisions being made. It is also a reminder to all to make sure we are talking to the right people.”
This research is the product of the collaboration between UNICEF, Grey Advertising (the communications agency for the World’s Children Day) and Kantar’s Lightspeed Research: for the technical aspect of the research project.
The survey aimed to define the vulnerability and the level of awareness of human trafficking among nine groups of children and youth in Ukraine. The survey covered children in difficult life circumstances and orphans; children from foster families and family-type homes; children displaced from the conflict zone in the East of Ukraine; children with special needs; homeless children; young people detained in penitentiaries; and youth of vocational schools.
The International Organization for Migration mission in Ukraine (IOM) implements a variety of human trafficking prevention activities. To improve the existing counter-trafficking practice, it conducted specific surveys on a regular basis to identify the most vulnerable and at-risk populations. Taking into consideration the results of the commissioned survey, IOM supported NGO small-grant projects in every oblast of Ukraine focused on targeted awareness increase and prevention work among the identified key vulnerable groups of children and youth with the highest risks of human trafficking. As a result of these projects, more than 63,000 vulnerable children and youth increased their knowledge of various types of human trafficking and basic rules of safe migration and employment.
Stunting is the impaired growth and development of children caused by poor nutrition and repeated infection resulting in their height being two standard deviations below the WHO Standards. Indonesia has a higher incidence of stunting among ASEAN Countries …1 in 3 children. Feedback from the National Nutrition Communication Campaign (NNCC), IMA World Health suggests that we are on the right path … “This research program has made a big contribution to our mission …helped us start right. Stunting is no longer invisible. It’s a mainstream issue backed by the government and local communities. We have no doubt that we will see progressive reduction in stunting.
The government of Indonesia has committed to an integrated National Nutrition Communication Campaign (NNCC) for behavior change targeted at individuals, communities and stakeholders to minimize stunting. To this end, IMA World Health was commissioned by MCA Indonesia to design and implement an effective NNCC resulting in behavior change and lower stunting incidence.
Kantar TNS Indonesia conducted the in-depth study for the understanding of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behavior related to mother and child nutrition and stunting – to identify the motivators and deterrents to desired behavior, including the role of different influencers and influences to aid integrated communication strategy development covering message and media/touchpoint strategies.
How Street Invest and Big Sofa created a remarkable video: ‘I am One in a Million’ from qualitative research findings – with the objective of changing the public perception of Street Children – to humanise them.
The power of this study lies in the shareable and impactful output film.
Through this research, street children have been able to share their own stories, using in their own voice, in a manner which can be shared with those who have the power to change their lives.
*All the street workers involved were trained in Child Protection and informed consent was gained from the young people who participated in the filming.
Blog post from Innocent Rwamba Nyaga who is following the MS in market research at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Innocent is the recipient of the ESOMAR Foundation / MSRA Scholarship sponsored by WIRe and Unilever.
As I’d mentioned in an article I’d written earlier this year, I was in the process of getting a definite thesis title. I finally settled on ‘The influence of social media on consumer buying behavior among MBA students at the University of Nairobi’. I chose this topic because I felt I was interacting with social media so often and I did not want a boring, exhausting project to handle. I am at the final stages of binding the project and getting ready for the December graduation. I am so elated I could scream (I have actually, a number of times)!! It has been a journey that’s worth sharing with my grandkids, God granting. I have learnt so much, most of which is patience and tunnel focus determination. Most days it was difficult to decide which was more important self, work or this project but I’m glad I pulled through.
On matters work, this year has been a tough one. From May 2018 the National Museums of Kenya (my employer) partnered with Google to digitize Kenya’s natural and cultural heritage housed in the institution. We digitized over 10,000 objects, created 16 virtual tours of our regional museums around the country, created over 100 digital stories based on the diverse cultures and beliefs of the Kenyan people and created 4 expeditions (Google expeditions) allowing visitors to virtually sample the various galleries highlighted using the Google virtual reality (VR) cardboard. All these and more you can find on https://artsandculture.google.com/project/kenyan-cultures and prepare to be blown away. This is an opportunity for all those that haven’t had a chance to visit my beautiful country, have a look-see!
The cherry on top is the unending favor, love, wisdom and joy attained from the Heavenly father! Prayers were (and still are) paramount for me to handle all the responsibilities placed on my lap. Many times, had it not been for this Spiritual dependence, I wouldn’t be here to pen the heights I’ve scaled. Even the way I received this scholarship was through His phenomenal, unexplainable ways that no one can comprehend but, that’s a story for another day. I am the first in my family to attain a master’s degree and I couldn’t be happier. I would like to say, Jesus is real, He’s alive and He has been my number one support system. That’s my year’s trifactor in a nutshell! On repeat all year round! What I feel now is immense relief and need some R&R in readiness for 2020!
My name is Esther Tot. I am 21 years old. I am a young Cambodian lady that received a scholarship awarded by the two amazing Data Research industries, ESOMAR Foundation and Women in Research Organization. These two organisations have helped me since my first day in university and now I am in my 4th year and they are always here supporting me throughout my education journey.
This is my follow-up story:
I can’t believe that I am in Year 4! the final year of university life. From my first to the third year I always wished I could graduate soon, but I’m finally in my year 4 and I can feel that it is going to be over soon, and I don’t want it to be over! I start feeling like I’m going to miss school, missing all my teachers, my friends, and school volunteer events and meeting new foreign friends, seminars, and especially all the fun exchange programs. Now I have just figured out that I never expected my uni-life to finish this soon. My aim is to apply to continue my master’s degree abroad wherever possible according to God’s plan.
I honestly have no idea what journey awaits me in this semester, but I am trying my best to prepare for it. Nonetheless, I have great news! I have passed all the subjects in the last semester of my 3rd year. I was so scared that I would fail Finance class but – thank God – I passed it all! I am so proud of myself that I continue to improve and survive this university life. They say, Life will move on even though you wanted it to or not, so I either move along through life or I get stuck in my pathetic pass. I quit my part-time teaching job as I needed more time to focus on my studies, especially on my Finance class. However, I am ready to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I hope I could get one good career during my internship or when I will graduate. I always wanted to open up my own business, but I have no budget. I also want to work in the embassy and become an ambassador one day…
In conclusion, I would like to encourage all young ladies to be free to dream a big dream and work toward achieving it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. Remind yourself that you can! Because achievement can depend on your thought as your thought influence your action. Be brave, be confident, step out of your comfort zone and achieve your goal.
Lastly, I want especially to say thank you to ESOMAR Foundation and Women in Research! They are the amazing data & insight research industry organisations that are giving me the opportunity to change my whole life. This is the most amazing gift that I have ever received. It is a life-changing gift from heaven. These two organisations have helped change a lot of young citizens’ life and offer them a good education for a future career.
Partners & Sponsors
We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an individual or an organisation looking to understand more about how you can support us, please find more information here or contact: info@esomarfoundation.org
Blog-post from Esther Tot, who received the ESOMAR Foundation Scholarship to study at the English based Bachelor Degree program in International Business at the National University of Management (NUM) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
It has been quite a while since I wrote my blog, due to a lot of circumstances that are going on in my life right now. What I’ve learned from life is that “The older you get, the more you know and learn and even life get tougher each time you get older”. During my vacation break I’ve spent my time on a part-time internship as a part-time English teacher in the evening from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm at the American Bridge International School (ABI). I have been teaching students aged between 13 to 20 years old, and I can say this is a new and different experience.
I like to push myself far and step out of my comfort zone and try something new and different which I never have done before. As people know me, I am a kind of an introvert person and so stepping into a teaching type of person is a whole new level of experience. I have learned to be more extrovert as teaching has required me to talk to people I have not known before, such as my students and my colleagues. I have to be quite creative to teach to teenagers, cause I was once a teenager and I understand that we don’t like boring stuff, so I have to make learning fun. This is what I always wished it to be for me as well. School always makes students feel bored, scared, nervous and lazy, and I always wished school was more about making learning fun, boosting students’ enthusiasm and make them want to come to school to learn and study and be able to enjoy it as well. And this is my chance to try and make my students want to enjoy learning English.
However, besides my teaching internship, I try to spend most of my time focusing on my study. In this junior year, there are a lot of assignments, projects, presentations. It keeps on increasing, and there’s nothing to complain cause that’s how life is. By completing all those assignments and projects it is like self-learning and self-discipline. I can learn a lot through those works. Especially, cooperation with many different kind and type of people and teamwork despite the different perspectives and opinions and overview. We somehow still manage to cooperate together to achieve our goal, which will also apply later when we will graduate and go out to work in a company. Meanwhile, in each semester, we always have new teachers at least one or two per semester and sometimes all new five teachers. I enjoy meeting them and learn more through them because different persons and different mindsets are interesting. In this Year 3 and 2nd semester on Monday we have Financial Management class taught by Mr. Suy SokRaksmey, on Tuesday is Marketing Research class by Mr. Nikhil Mani, Wednesday is Business Law by Professor Robert Longo, Thursday taught by three different teachers: two foreigners and one Cambodian – Mr. Andrew – who teaches PowerPoint right now, Mr. David will teach Introduction to Technology, and Cambodian teacher will teach Excel, and lastly on Friday we have Cross-Cultural Management class by our Korean Professor, Mr. Chuck Chung.
In conclusion, I am looking forward to more adventures and journeys ahead of me for next year which is the very last year of my university. In my Year 4 class I would love to take on a new experience of internship in one of the embassies, companies, or organizations to fulfill one of our course. I am also feeling excited ahead for my graduation hopefully in 2021. I never forget where I come from and how I got here as it is all because of ESOMAR Foundation, National University of Management, and Women In Research Organization that have helped me achieve my educational dreams and give me a better knowledge and life, as well as become a better person. I will always be grateful for all the help, support and love that everyone has given me.
Partners & Sponsors
We are always on the lookout for partners and sponsors. If you are an individual or an organisation looking to understand more on how you can support us, please find more information here or contact: info@esomarfoundation.org
When talking about market research we usually discuss its commercial applications, such as product testing. Less is known about its contribution to the common good, even though development is a multi-billion sector. We ask several non-profits how data supports them in their powerful, world-improving endeavours – from making invisible street children visible, to tracking the spread of Ebola outbreaks.
Rebecca Lim
Rebecca Lim is Head of Our Better World (OBW), the digital storytelling initiative of the Singapore International Foundation, whose aim is to strengthen mutual understanding between global communities as well as enrich lives and effect positive change. The research that supports this work won an award at this year’s first edition of the ESOMAR Foundation ‘Making a Difference Competition’. Lim stresses the importance of reliable facts. “The data we have from our analytics informs us about what our online audiences are interested in, what they’re clicking on, and it guides us in our storytelling.”
OBW shares stories from non-profits from across Asia in video, photo and text form, to create a bigger awareness of good causes. The goal is to entice people to support them, says Lim. “It’s critical for us to have data, because that gives us insights and helps us get better in how we tell stories and how we get our audiences involved in the different causes.”
When the platform started six years ago, there was no research in digital storytelling for social impact in Asia. Primary research was needed to understand national psyches and uncover drivers of culturally and socially relevant story themes, to better connect with audiences. Only by understanding this, would OBW be able to nurture and grow an online community of action takers.
OBW approached Kantar Millward Brown to form a partnership to undertake this primary research. The study into digital audiences demonstrated how different triggers inspire people to act. “In India, for instance, the aspect of social change is most important. People want to be able to play a role in changing a flawed system. Having that insight, we created a video story about child sexual abuse in the country. This started a conversation online and many people approached the non-profit Cactus Foundation with stories about their abuse experiences, including a 70-year old lady. This also resulted in over 1000 volunteer enquiries to the Cactus Foundation. So that was really powerful.”
“We’re all about real stories, especially in this age of fake news, we feel these are all the more relevant.”
With such sensitive topics, it’s crucially important that Our Better World has access to the most reliable data. In case of a dispute or even a denial of social injustice, the organisation can always substantiate its stories by referring to data sets from credible sources. “We’re all about real stories,” stresses Lim. “Especially in this age of fake news, we feel these are all the more relevant.”
Sema Sgaier
Another winner in the ESOMAR Foundation ‘Making a Difference Competition’ 2018 is the Surgo Foundation, a privately funded action tank which partners with organisations and governments to help unlock some of their biggest challenges. “Our key principle is data,” says the foundation’s Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sema Sgaier. She explains that this is a multi-billion sector. Each year over 170 billion dollars is spent to improve the lives of people who live in poverty. This money is spent by multinationals, governments, donors etc. “It’s a pretty data-heavy sector. The question is how this data is being collected and used.”
As an example of smart data use, Sgaier tells about increasing the coverage of vaccines and immunisation to save children’s lives. “Spreading the vaccines is usually quite successful, but what’s lagging is the usage. We’re failing to treat the users as customers of a product because we don’t understand the detailed ecosystem they live in. So we try to close that gap with data and insights that are not traditional in the sector. With these we can design programs that improve the uptake of these services.”
The people whose lives the Surgo Foundation is trying to improve, are what Sgaier describes as populations who are in the dark to the private sector. “For example, many big brand products don’t reach places in rural India. Big manufacturers don’t reach these people through research. So for us, the challenge is to get the data, both on a large scale and on a detailed, deep level.” In order to get the much-needed facts, the foundation has developed its own multi-disciplined teams. It also partners with NGO’s, governments and large suppliers such as Ipsos, who have data collecting teams on the ground, as well as with start-ups who have developed new methodologies. “It really is a collaborative effort,” says Sgaier.
What distinguishes the Surgo Foundation within the non-profit field is its use of private sector-type insights in the public domain. “As an innovation lab, we’re trying to bring methodologies and approaches to the development sector that are not common, and in many ways are unique there. One example would be psycho-behavioural segmentation. In market research it is bread and butter, but in development it is new. In our sector we tend to look at demographics, at age, not at psycho-behavioural profiles. We’re really trying to shift the sector in its approach to thinking about data and how to collect it.”
Hugo Rukavina
Hugo Rukavina is Systems & Information Manager at StreetInvest, a International Development NGO that wants to improve the opportunities and safety of street children around the world. The organisation aims to better inform and positively influence stakeholders through research, data collection and advocacy. “To do this we need to demonstrate the impact of street work on street-connected children,” says Rukavina. “Research and data are key to supporting street-connected children. Without it, we do not know where they are or how best to support them.”
“The absence of this data makes these children invisible.”
Street-connected children exist in every country of the world, yet the lack of systematically collected and disaggregated data means StreetInvest does not know how many there are. “The lack of a standard methodology for counting them results in data which is contested and which lacks credibility. The absence of this data makes these children invisible, which leads to policies not being developed or measures that are ad hoc, temporary or short-term.”
StreetInvest’s headcounting methodology has been recognised as the sector-preferred approach to counting street-connected children, and has been used by a range of partners, including UNICEF. It seeks to provide a standardised, scalable, rights-respecting approach to collecting quantitative data on the number of street-connected children in a specified geographical location, explains Rukavina. “This data can then be disaggregated in by age, gender, disability and activities. The analysis and dissemination of this data is intended to inform the design of policies and programmes which affect street-connected children.”
The numbers have to be absolutely correct. Inaccurate data does not help street-connected children. Wildly inflated numbers can make policy makers and the public believe it’s an unsolvable problem because there is just too many of them in need of support. “Some NGOs may inflate numbers to attract funding, or they are simply based on poor estimates. Underreporting may have the opposite effect: if there is no hard data to show the existence of street-connected children in an area, the authorities can easily dismiss it as a minor issue that doesn’t require intervention.”
Bringing a wide group of stakeholders together, including governments, is one of the positive outcomes of StreetInvest’s headcount, says Rukavina. “It is not just about getting data, the process is also about bringing people and stakeholders together to reach a common understanding of the issues facing street-connected children, and that working with them in a rights-based and child-centred way is the best way to support them.”
Marie Stafford
Marie Stafford is European Director for the Innovation Group, JWT, an in-house futures consultancy that delivers trends, insight and thought leadership to its clients. She’s long been an advocate of businesses sharing their data for the common good. “If we agree that business has a role to play in helping to build a better world, then data philanthropy offers another route to achieving that goal. A lot of important data is held by businesses and organisations can’t get access.”
“Companies have an obligation to help solve social problems and this is an attitude they will bring to the workplace.”
The conversation is growing, she observes. Although she describes data philanthropy as still an emerging field, Stafford does see many signs of it gaining momentum. “Some data suggest that use of the hashtag #dataforgood has gone up by around 68 per cent in the last year. I think participation will definitely grow, but it’s going to take time. Participation is being driven by data scientists themselves, keen to put their skills to positive use outside the day job. Generation Z thinks companies have an obligation to help solve social problems and this is an attitude they will bring to the workplace. Gartner is now predicting that by 2020, employers with a data for good programme will have 20 per cent higher retention rates for data scientists. So it’s going to be a good way to motivate valuable talent.”
“Business has a role to play in helping to build a better world, then data philanthropy offers another route to achieving that goal.”
Stafford adds that consumers also rate ‘good’ companies higher. “Data philanthropy is just one way in which companies can demonstrate those values and pursue a social mission, and they have a big role to play in its future.” In a recent study JWT conducted on sustainability, 89 per cent of people across the UK, USA, China and Australia said they wanted to know more about companies’ efforts in the space. “I think in the contexts where it is appropriate and relevant, brands could involve consumers in the process, by actively eliciting their support for data sharing, even if this goes beyond the current legal requirements. At the end of the day data is generated by people, so it’s their data. It’s only right that they should also be able to take some credit for any positive impact.”
Good examples
Marie Stafford believes companies already hold data that can be put to work for good. She lists examples of data philanthropy:
IBM has a programme that connects its scientists with NGOs and academics.
DataKind is an organisation with global chapters that can match data scientists and analysts with causes that need help.
UPS donated handheld parcel-tracking devices that were used to help distribute supplies to refugees in Mauritanian camps.
Vodafone shares anonymised smartphone data with the Ghanaian government on human population movements, in order to track the spread of Ebola outbreaks.
Waze shared data on traffic flows to help academics tackle air pollution in Mexico City.
US food safety officers have used consumer review data from Yelp to help them prioritise their inspections.
Syngenta shared agricultural efficiency data gathered from more than 3,000 farms.
Intel and Google have been helping the National Center for Missing and Endangered Children track down trafficked children more rapidly through visual recognition and artificial intelligence.
Ghislain Mukuna
Ghislain Mukuna is Program Manager of the ADMIRE project, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All around the world, CRS is using new technologies to understand and visualize data. “This helps us extract practical information that can lead to improved programming, expanded impact, and better insights on different issues,” says Mukuna. He gives an example: CRS’ data from DRC shows that girls miss more school days than boys. “Better menstrual hygiene management could help address this problem, but we found that inadequate infrastructure, lack of equipment and knowledge are obstacles to better menstrual hygiene management, whether at school or at home.”
Mukuna feels there’s a good chance the community can break the taboo around menstruation if the issue becomes part of the discussions in the community. “This remains a hypothesis, because the pilot hasn’t yet taken place, but we would like to test approaches that would improve knowledge about puberty and menstruation by facilitating communication between adolescents and their parents on taboo subjects.” Indeed, studies in the DRC have demonstrated that parents are adolescents’ main sources of information on menstruation.
At CRS they are optimistic that this pilot will lead to a high impact, given the positive response of the community to the results of this research. “Working together, we believe we can change the current menstrual hygiene management situation in communities.” The exchange of information is crucial, adds Mukuna. “We want to share insights like this one with CRS staff, partners and other stakeholders to leverage lessons learned and draw the public’s attention to an issue so we can work together to create a better world.”
A review by Phyllis Macfarlane, ESOMAR Foundation Board Member
At the beginning of May I had the unprecedented pleasure of attending the UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Festival of Action, which has been held annually in Bonn, Germany, since the SDG’s were launched in 2015. I just can’t tell you how energizing and inspiring it is to be in the company of 1500 mostly young people (I think I might have been the oldest person there!) who are all doing their best to make the world a better place – either through their jobs or by setting up their own NfP organisations (or both). And it was fun, as well!
The Festival aims to share different perspectives, test and accelerate new ideas, and build an environment where the SDGs become a priority for political engagement, democratic participation and personal behaviour, while deepening the coalition for SDG action. That’s what it says on the website. For me what came across was the emphasis on personal action – that unless we each take action as individuals then things won’t change. One of the overall themes was the ‘butterfly effect’ – the phenomenon that small actions started in one place can have big consequences all around the world, and …
Float likeabutterfly, sting like a bee,
The hand can’t hit what the eye can’t see…
…was the very unexpected quotation we had thrown at us at the beginning of the second day’s plenary session.
Both surprising and unexpected because it sounds quite aggressive, and the first day had been very celebratory, showcasing the Awards and all that had been achieved. But on the second day we settled down to the serious business of facing up to how much still needs to be done – hence to the emphasis on individual action – and also to an exploration of measurement (my favourite subject!). So the phrase –the hand can’t hit what the eye can’tsee… is actually extremely relevant. You will remember that ESOMAR Foundation supports Paragon Partnerships, and that Paragon’s main objective is to help the UNmeasure progress with the SDG’s.
I was at the Festival with Hayk Gyuzalyan, expert social researcher, at the invitation of the UN SDG Action Group, and representing Paragon Partnerships. I was invited to be a judge of the UN SDG Action Awards, and Hayk to talk about the questionnaire library that we (mostly he) has developed to measure awareness and perceptions of progress with the SDG’s at country level.
Judging the Awards was an awesome experience – they had over 2000 entries from 142 countries and the quality was unbelievably high. These are very prestigious awards. There were 7 categories: innovators, mobilizers, connectors, storytellers, communicators, visualizers and includers – clever names, aren’t they? All themes and activities which help spread good deeds and the word across the globe!
I was on the judging panel for Story tellers and Visualisers, and I presented the Award for the Visualiser category. The winner was my personal favourite: Safecity – who have created a platform that crowdsources personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces, in India. This data gets aggregated as hot spots on a map indicating trends at a very local level. The idea is to make this data useful for individuals, local communities and local administration (like the police!) to identify factors that causes behaviour that leads to violence and work on strategies for solutions. It allows us a new perspective at looking at the problem and trying to solve it. or sexual violence
Hayk spoke at a session on MyWorld which is an online questionnaire/survey about awareness of the SDG’s – we, as researchers, want a proper nationally representative random sample approach, and can be a bit ‘sniffy’ about unrepresentative samples – but for the UN SDG Action Group there’s also the concept of the survey as a voice of the people – of those who care. Governments have to take notice of such ‘voices’ these days.
So, two new concepts to think about : firstly research as an expression of popular tension – like a petition – the voice of those who care enough to say something – and secondly the new power of youth expressing through individual actions the desire for global change, justice, peace and equality – in many ways the exact opposite of current political ‘populist’ thinking movements which are about conservatism and localness, preservation of the status quo and suspicion of others/outsiders. Technology is, of course, the new enabler, for everyone, but the leadership and commitment of the young people that I met in Bonn, makes me bet that they’ll win in the long run.
As from all good events, I came away with a different perspective – full of respect for the young people who want to change the world and are not going to be beaten down – but also with a new view of research as a ‘voice ‘for the NfP sector. And, after all, that’s what ESOMAR Foundation and Paragon are all about – we want donors and implementors to do research to listen to the voice of the people they are trying to help. And, by listening better, to make more of a difference.
Phyllis Macfarlane ESOMAR Foundation Treasurer and Board Member
This is theeighth blog-post from Paola Loy Villagran, the recipient of the ESOMAR Foundation scholarship in Guatemala sponsored by WIRe and Unilever.
My life in recent months has been quite busy. We are about to start the final phase of studies and I am pleased with the work I have done updating myself with topics about Digital Marketing, Finance, teamwork and others for business process improvement.
The Digital Marketing course was basically about the act of promoting and selling products and services online and through any electronic devices. It is a fact that our buying decisions are based on the reviews we read, the solutions feature and the prices that we find and compare between brands. That being the case, an online presence is necessary regardless of what you sell.
We can take many strategies but the most important ones to mention are SEM / SEO which help a brand appear in search results, social media, website intelligence, return on investment and E-mail Marketing among others.
Also, during these first months we had the opportunity to work with a foreign professor from Venezuela, the class was totally interactive and very creative, since the theme of development was branding and creation of new products, even as part of the final project we had to make a video of ourselves as a personal branding exercise because at the end of the day each one of us plays a role in our work, in our family or in the student world, so whatever we do we must be excellent and committed so we have the best version of ourselves.
I can not stop mentioning my family during this process because they are the ones that encourage me to keep going until I finish my master´s degree. Especially my nephews with whom I had the opportunity of spending time in this Holy Week.
We had a very special moment admiring processions the last week.
My nephews and I, they are wearing traditional gowns in royal purple.
The color purple along with red, black, white and gold, has an important symbolic meaning as the color of royalty and suffering. They symbolize the suffering of Jesus Christ during the crucifixion.
For those, who have not read my words in previous posts, I am a huge fan of the traditions of my country, because although we have many problems politically and economically speaking I think the best attribute we have is our people, our faith and so many talented people who are trying to demonstrate the good things we have.
Proof of them I would like to talk about the incredible “masterpiece” carpet that students elaborated in Antigua Guatemala. Just looking at the colors, textures, and the meaning they sought to capture was impressive, with so many visual elements.
Most seen this week:
The carpet designs reflect traditions, biblical symbolism and scenes from nature.
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Blog post from Innocent Rwamba Nyaga who is following the MS in market research at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Innocent is the recipient of the ESOMAR Foundation / MSRA Scholarship sponsored by WIRe and Unilever.
To this day, I am amazed at how I landed (got awarded) this scholarship. Every time I try to explain the steps I took to interested parties, the unmerited favor that was poured out on me, words fail me. All I am is grateful and forever indebted to ESOMAR Foundation-WIRe. THANK YOU! You have UPGRADED my life to another notch, I might (if God so wishes) be a manager soon and all to a girl under 30 years (28 years to be exact). It is a great achievement but it has been work. I am so happy now for the panicky days, the unsure days, the joyous days, and the days I was so overwhelmed but I have now come out on top.
This year 2019, has been a busy year and it has started so well I cannot explain how excited and how expectant for the future I am. I am among some that might be receiving a promotion in a couple of weeks and I am so ready for the interview, I will ace it!! I should say that (if I haven’t mentioned before) my colleague and I (note we are only the two of us) are the pioneers of the marketing department in the National Museums of Kenya. There has never before been a marketing department so we have so much on our plates (very happy about this) to put systems in place that will inform the future bearers of this office on best practices. We are setting up anew and it’s exciting as it is a huge responsibility on our laps. It is true, to whom much is given, much is required!!
As for my studies, I finally decided on my thesis topic; how does social media influence consumer buying behavior? I am pleased to say that unlike many students ahead of me, I will be conducting a qualitative research study instead of a quantitative one. Sometimes I get in my head and put so much pressure on myself saying that such an undertaking isn’t an easy one, I wonder how I will make it happen with all the responsibilities I have to see through. But then I remember during my 1st year 2nd semester when I had 6 units, Monday to Saturday classes, a full time job and I made it happen. Then I’m encouraged that even this (school project), I shall see through to it and I will give it very my best! So, I’m not sure of much these days but I’m taking it one day at a time. My supervisor Prof Munyoki, has been my rock during times when systems in the University worked against me. He is a kind and humble man, I look forward to working with him to make my thesis a reality and a success!!
I would also like to state that my relationship with Jesus has been my strength, why I’m so happy, so expectant for the future. My faith in Jesus has been my armor, my hope, my joy. Simply put, MY EVERYTHING!!
I will keep you updated and hopefully someone out here will be encouraged to keep moving. That it might seem like you’re juggling a lot but a time will come when you look back and can’t imagine how you made it through the storm!!
