Action Plan for child soldiers
Use social media and the internet to raise awareness
Advantages
-Can reach the largest audience out of any other action plan, as well as your message can be spread across the whole world.
-Reaches out to generations of the future because many youth use social media
-The topic can be talked for a longer time because EVERYONE is on social media, all the time.
Disadvantages
- Many people do not take things they see online seriously or follow through with plans they make online
- It is easy to spread fake information about the cause that is being supported, and you can start losing supporters.
Organize a benefit concert for child soldiers
Advantages
- Music is a very effective way to get a message across
- Could raise money for the issue
- Can reach a fairly large audience, and will affect that audience better than other action plans.
-If you pick musicians who feel passionately about the topic, they can have a powerful influence on the people, and raise a lot of awareness.
Disadvantages
- People could focus more on other things, such as the music from the concert instead of the cause.
-The concert does not create much awareness of the issue because people who go to a benefit concert for child soldiers will likely already be informed about the issue. For more people to come, you would need to promote the concert over posters, billboards, and social media sites.
-The concert would only last for a specific number of hours, and then everyone could stop focusing on the topic.
Candlelight vigil
Advantages
- A great visual representation of tragedies that have occurred, motivation for people to get involved
- Interests people because many people have never seen one before
- Seeing a visual representation of what happens to other children around the world, helps people really think about the issue
Disadvantages
- Some people would not fully understand issue.
- Can’t reach that big of an audience
-The candlelight vigil only occurs for a few hours, so there is only focus on it for a specific amount of time
The action that would be most effective in raising awareness for the plight of child soldiers is social media because it can reach the largest audience in the least amount of time. Although a benefit concert or candlelight vigil can reach a fairly large number of people, it cannot compare to the millions of people who use social media. For example, if you make a very effective video, and you have the right people promoting the video, you can get a lot of people aware of the topic. Although, the one major disadvantage with social media is that a large number of people will become aware of the issue, but the majority of people do not follow through with actions after viewing online. This is where an in-person awareness session like a candlelight vigil or a benefit concert has an advantage over social media. Seeing a physical presentation versus a digital one would most likely allow for a more personal message to sink in deeper, making it more likely for the people to get involved. A disadvantage of the concert or vigil would be that these two options would only last for a specific number of hours, and the danger is that everyone could stop focusing on the issue.
However, our goal at this point is to create AWARENESS so the use of social media is a better option than the candlelight vigil, or benefit concert. One of the reasons social media is more effective is that it can reach an audience of hundreds of millions of people. Although the cause may not get a lot of attention at first, as you continue to promote your cause, it will receive more and more attention from the public. When enough people start to pay attention to something online, there is often a domino effect of people following. In the world today, there are over one billion Facebook users, and over 500 million people on Twitter. Due to the massive numbers online, it is extremely easy to promote, and share global issues around the world. The key to succeeding online is to create something like a video or web page that will motivate and inspire people to get involved, as well as help promote the cause. The best way is to be creative and to appeal to people’s emotions. People, and especially parents who see a child holding an AK 47, will feel obliged to help them. If someone feels empathy towards these children, they will feel compelled to support them. That is why it is important to include a way for people to get involved. There are simple things people can do online, like making a direct donation, sponsoring a child or volunteering with organizations that are helping the cause. This will allow more people to get involved. With more involvement, momentum is created and even more people will become aware. Social media is the best and most effective way to raise awareness because it allows everyone to stay connected with global issues around the world.