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LIVE GREEN CAMPAIGN A Social Media Campaign Initiative of the Climate Change Division
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM)
Project Report
October, 2012
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; [email protected]
BACKGROUND
Prior to the recent events of ravaging floods across different communities in Nigeria, we could say
environmental consciousness was at a very low level in the country. In addition to this observation, we
also discovered that there was barely an awareness of the basic positive environmental practices such as
separating household dirt.
In order to address these issues, that climate change arm of Social Responsibility Managers (SRM), a
local non-governmental organisation, decided to launch a campaign that will not only be informative but
will be geared towards behavioral change.
ACTIVITIES
Campaign Messages
We identified many of the diverse practices which indicate positive environmental culture that are
practiced across the world but were yet to gain ground in Nigeria. Been aware of the local constraints,
challenges and realities, we narrowed down the number of practices to seven that are practicable in the
Nigerian environment and could be easily adopted by the average resident.
The final seven major practices selected are:
Reduction of shopping bags
Waste disposal
Energy conservation
Separation of household dirt
Reduction of CO2 emission through cars
Tree planting
Use of renewable energy
Style of Language
We knew the kind of people we wanted to reach with the messages, the average Nigerian who possessed
at least a mobile device for accessing the internet. So, we decided that the messages had to be carved in
simple, down to earth words that would be easily understood by anyone with minimum of basic
education i.e. nine years of formal schooling. We also wanted the messages to be easily transferable
through word of mouth.
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; [email protected]
Messages
Based on the preset descriptions of what and how the messages would be, we developed the seven Live
Green messages.
Message 1
Live Green: Use less nylon bags while shopping. You can join your items together in one bag or take your
own shopping bag to the market.
Message 2
Live Green: Store and throw ALL dirt into a designated dustbin. Don’t litter the roads, gutters or canals so
we can all be safe from floods.
Message 3
Live Green: Switch off all indoor and security lights during the day to conserve energy. Switch off all
appliances when not in use.
Message 4
Live Green: Separate all plastic, glass and tin containers into a different bin bag from household dirt so
that it will be easy to use by recyclers.
Message 5
Live Green: Leave your car at home - Arrange with friends who live around the same area and work in
same area to share cars so as to reduce emission caused by cars.
Message 6
Live Green: As much as is within your power, endeavor to plant a tree in your surrounding
Message 7
Live Green: Buy green products (solar, wind, hydro or bio-diesel powered) where you can.
Broadcast Medium
To communicate the developed messages to the public, we wanted to adopt a cost effective, yet
qualitative medium that would afford us a measure of monitoring and evaluation.
Using Facebook seemed our best choice and this was further strengthened by it’s position as the most
visited website by Nigerians on the Alexa ranking.
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; [email protected]
We also decided we would prefer not to work in isolation but be able to use the project as an opportunity
to collaborate with other non-state actors in the environment circle. So, we contacted one of our mentor
organisations, Paradigm Initiative headed by Gbenga Sesan to help recommend ambassadors that would
join us in broadcasting the messages.
Eight ambassadors were selected based on their demonstrated dedication to social causes and number
of connections to friends on Facebook and they were –
Adewole Taiwo Babatope Soremi Bayo Olotu
Deolu Akinyemi Esther Agbarakwe Gbenga Sesan
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; [email protected]
Message Broadcast
The ambassadors were informed of their role on the project which involved posting each message on
their Facebook wall on a specific day of the week for a period of seven weeks so that Message 1 was
posted by all ambassadors during week 1 of the project and this continued for all the messages.
The broadcast of the messages began effectively on August 18, 2012 and ended on September 28, 2012.
The number of ‘likes’ and comments generated from all the ambassadors’ walls at the end of each week
were monitored and it is presented below:
Likes Comments
Week 1 36 8
Week 2 29 8
Week 3 27 11
Week 4 15 12
Week 5 22 15
Week 6 12 5
Week 7 25 8
Total 166 67
Jide Adeyemi Owojori John Titilayo Soremi
Social Responsibility Managers (SRM); 7 Abubakar Sadiq Street, Works and Housing Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja;
+234 803 355 9820; +234 802 716 8450; [email protected]
CONCLUSION
Live Green campaign has proven that collaboration and social media can form the bedrock for success of
non-profit initiatives. The show of enthusiasm and willingness to adapt to the new practices as depicted
by various comments following broadcast of messages indicate an awakened consciousness of Nigerians
to environmental issues.
