NHC member Habitat for Humanity International is taking a new approach to advocate for adequate and affordable housing worldwide. The organization recently launched a video campaign, Use Your Voice, to encourage people to come together in support of the billions of people who still lack access to adequate housing in the U.S. and around the world. The video explains the difference between advocacy and raising awareness and urges viewers to use their voices to collectively break the cycle of poverty housing so that all people can have access to safe and decent housing.
The video provides a fun and innovative approach to advocacy from the perspective of Theo, a character created to urge viewers to advocate on behalf of those who do not have adequate or affordable housing. Planning for the video began in November 2013, with filming starting in January. Use Your Voice was officially launched in February at Habitat for Humanity International’s annual legislative conference, Habitat on the Hill.
“We’ve gotten positive feedback from our affiliates and national organizations as they seek to grow their advocacy activities. We have a Spanish version as well as one with Portuguese subtitles in Brazil. [The video] has also been shared in various film communities,” said Habitat for Humanity International’s Director of Advocacy Communications, Piper Hendricks.
Hendricks stresses the team effort put into ensuring the success of the video, which has over six thousand views on YouTube. To accompany its release, Habitat for Humanity International also developed an infographic about advocacy efforts that incorporates images from the video. As the organization prepares for the launch of a global advocacy campaign on access to land for shelter later this year, Habitat for Humanity International has now made the video and audio files available to its global network to customize the video into different languages for various audiences.
“We want the video to become the face of advocacy,” Hendricks said.
View the Use Your Voice Advocacy Video on the Housing Communications HUB, where you can discuss this effort and show your own housing communications work.