What was the purpose? To encourage the Supreme Court to continue its recent bold actions against the culture of corruption in Nepal and to unite common Nepali citizens to feel responsible regarding the issue.[break]
Follow the bright spots: One effective way to bring about change in Nepal is to investigate factors at work and build upon it. Corruption is an evil that is plaguing Nepal.
The current Supreme Court team is an institution, actively fighting to check the same, has witnessed some amounts of successes lately. We wanted the team to continue building upon this momentum by going after corrupt public officials and politicians.
Script the critical moves: Don’t think of a big picture, think in terms of specifics.
To increase the momentum against corruption in Nepal, we started by asking a simple question, “What can I do today, right away, to help combat corruption?” One answer was simply saying, “Thank you”.
We could immediately thank the Supreme Court for taking bold actions against corruption by writing a simple thank you letter to them. And we started right away. Just do it!
Collaborate with a small committed team: You only need a few other like-minded people like yourself to start off. So, a few of us started sharing draft letters with each other on the Internet. We came out with an English and a Nepali version, keeping in mind, Nepalis on the internet those that converse in English and in Nepali.
Point to the destination: Change is easier when your participants know the direction they are headed to while realizing its worth. Our participants knew that this letter would go to the Supreme Court with their names in it. They were aware that this would provide a moral boost to those taking bold action.
Shrink the change: Always make it easy for people to be a part of change. So we logged on to Face book and created a page for an event and, invited our friends here to join us. Here is the link in case you are curious, http://on.fb.me/nepalacts
We wanted people to invite as many of their friends, hence kept that option open for them. Don’t be stingy while sharing credits.
One could invite someone thousands of kilometers away with just a mouse click. Technology does help shrink the world :) Within a day, we had 1,000 people who pledged, Yes, I will be a part of this campaign.
Within a week we had nearly 5,000 and before we closed the event. 22,000 Nepalis were still in line waiting to attend.
Set clear directions: Initially we put the event location as the Supreme Court. This confused a lot of people who replied, “No” to our event because they thought they had to personally come to the Supreme Court to say “thank you”. We immediately corrected the details, apologized, clarified and moved on!
Find the feeling: Being aware of something isn’t always enough to bring people together. We aroused feelings by promising the public that their names would be included in the letter and by showing them various articles related to corruption epidemic in Nepal.
We instilled a feeling of care among those interested, by personally addressing each of their doubts about the event or the organizers. We made people “feel” united.
Grow your people: We gave a new identity to participants by branding them, “Activists against Corruption in Nepal”. This gave a sense of identity and created a sense of unity amongst people. This allowed each individual to grow into their roles as “responsible” Nepalis.
Tweak the environment: Previously people applied the door to door strategy to enlist others to join their campaign. It was an exhausting process. We tweaked this environment by using technology (social media) to our huge advantage.
Before, there was no easy way to unite Nepalis from all over the world. We did it without any funds, while operating from living rooms within our homes. The Chief Justices were surprised when we informed them, that this collaborate effort came together in a week’s time!
Build habits: We looked for ways to encourage habits to become active. We asked people to write in their views. Simple, agreement to the campaign would also be a good start.
People were starting to talk to each other. Cultivating a habit of talking about issues and finding like minded people does help start a culture against silence.
Remember, silence breeds corruption.
Rally the people: When you pledge, “yes I am part of this campaign against corruption”, this behavior becomes contagious.
Help it spread. Your friends are more likely to say yes now. That is why this message went viral and people picked it up fast.
Towards the end of the week, friends had invited nearly 22,000 other friends to the event. Unfortunately we closed the event within the time specified hence many were not able join in.
To prove to our fellow campaigners that we had actually handed over the letter to the Chief Justices with the names, we made a short video and again put it on You-tube video sharing site, so people could watch it from anywhere in the world.
So now, that you have a rough idea, how about starting a “new” campaign to solve a problem you passionately care about?
Ujwal Thapa, co-founder of Entrepreneurs for Nepal, provokes you to change yourself to protect Nepal. Visit his blog for more. www whynepal.com.
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