Media in Fragile Environments by Andrew Robertson, Eran Fraenkel, Emrys Schoemaker, - HTML preview

The IONA Framework

At the core of the IONA methodology is a data framework designed to capture social change. During a media assessment, the assessment team uses the IONA framework to organize information about social transformations that have already occurred in the target society. More importantly, the framework helps the team identify transitions that need to occur in order to achieve certain objectives that may help to reduce conflict and build peace.

The framework comprises six sets of components that define the desired social transformation. Shown in figure 2, these components are (1) the transformation from problem to objective (or need) defined in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors (KAB), (2) obstacles that block that transformation, (3) facilitators that enable it, (4) the position on the Change Ladder, (5) the level of analysis, and finally (6) solutions activities, that is, activities designed to enable these changes and eliminate obstacles.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors

In describing the transformation of an issue from a problem state (one that causes conflict) to an objective state (one that builds peace), both the problem and objective states are defined in terms of the KAB of targeted groups in a society.6 Knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors are defined as follows:

•  Knowledge is what people in the target society know be true based on cognitive rather than emotional responses.
•  Attitudes are what a people in the target society believe. These are often the reasons why certain knowledge is deemed important or why people engage in certain behaviors.
• Behaviors are what people in the target society do. Behavior is knowledge and attitudes made manifest in context, though not always with deliberate intent.

Figure 2. IONA Framework

Although knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors can interconnect in various ways, IONA does not always assume a causal relationship among them. It cannot be assumed, for example, that knowledge alone leads to behavior change. A child soldier who learns about an amnesty program will not necessarily stop fighting. At the same time, if a child soldier stops fighting following exposure to an amnesty media campaign, it cannot be assumed that this soldier stopped because of the campaign. In order to design the media campaign most likely to yield the intended outcome, the field team must identify which change in knowledge, if any, has the greatest likelihood of motivating which kinds of change, if any, in attitudes or behaviors.

Because the IONA framework structures input data (transformations that have happened and transformations that respondents hope will happen) and output data (transformations that will actively build the peace), the desired state in a transformation is termed either a need or an objective. A desired transformation described by a respondent is a need. After considering multiple interviews that report similar or conflicting needs, the assessment team synthesizes these discovered needs into an objective that respects the various needs of the different respondents and their communities.

Obstacles to Change

Interventions with objectives at the personal level may be stymied by risks or obstacles experienced at the group level. Similarly, intended outcomes sought at the group level may be thwarted by obstacles occurring at the societal level. Defined broadly, obstacles are individuals, groups, or institutions that endorse political, economic, social, and cultural practices that limit the possibility of a change taking place. To design successful media interventions, obstacles to change must be identified and then convinced, marginalized, or overcome.

Facilitators of Change

Facilitators are people, institutions, values, experiences, tools, or events that enable the intervention to meet the objective. A successful intervention does not require the identification and use of all facilitators; however, understanding relevant facilitators will increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Identifying where change has been successful in the past or where tangible gains have been generated as a result of social action are two basic strategies for uncovering facilitators. Successful facilitators for change in the past may be powerful facilitators for change in the present. At the same time, they may not be. Because an effective media intervention may be based on a strategy unimagined by respondents, the assessment team must also test hypothetical intervention strategies to identify new facilitators.

Position on the Change Ladder

Social change does not occur abruptly. Put another way, it is unlikely that current behaviors, no matter how problematic they may be, will be discarded without careful thought and testing. Thus, societies, groups within societies, and individuals move through a process of consideration, evaluation, and testing. An assessment team will develop more effective media interventions if it understands where in this process a society or a group within the society sits with regard to an issue.

The IONA framework posits social change as an incremental, nonlinear, four-stage process that culminates in permanent change (see table 2).7 Nonlinearity means that at any stage of change, a person or community may decide that it is not possible or desirable to proceed and may return to a previous stage until a more opportune moment arises to try moving forward again.8

Table 2. Four-Step Change Ladder

Field interviews enable the assessment team to understand a target group's current position on the Change Ladder regarding a given issue, as well as what interventions could be realistically implemented to help move the target group to the next step in the process. Combined with an understanding of what may prevent movement (obstacles) or what may accelerate movement (facilitators) along the Change Ladder, the team uses this information to develop interventions better suited to a society's current capacity for change.

The Change Ladder and the concepts embedded in it are a critical part of the interviewing process. Because the assessment team is investigating sensitive issues that drive conflict, the team should take care not to alienate respondents by beginning an interview suggesting that little has been done to address the problem. The IONA interview process starts by assuming that the society is in Step 4 of the Change Ladder and works backward toward Step 1. By assuming the best, the assessment team shows the respect that encourages an engaged respondent.

Levels of Analysis and Intervention Design

In most cases, the various problems that comprise an issue exist simultaneously at different societal levels. Problems must be defined and addressed at all relevant levels in a coherent and coordinated manner for an intervention to achieve its intended outcomes.

A well-designed and well-executed assessment will identify the levels of society that need to be targeted and the precise objectives for each level addressed by the intervention. The IONA methodology posits three ways in which KAB occur in a society.

•  Individual level. This refers to changes in KAB that affect how people in the target society conceive of themselves as individuals. For example, an intervention may illustrate the deleterious effects of ethnic stereotyping, with the objective of changing each individual's attitudes and behaviors in relationship to individuals from other ethnic groups.
•  Interpersonal/group level. Interventions at this level affect shared, assumed, or expected KAB that people or groups in the target society have for formal or informal groups. A strategy often used in interventions on this level changes group KAB by targeting the group's leadership or other key members. For instance, as a way of de-escalating conflict, one member of an editorial team may convince his/her colleagues to stop using language offensive to certain communities.
•  Societal/structural level. This is the most difficult level at which to effect change because it targets how people conceive of themselves as a society. Generally, these are institutional interventions that affect society as a whole, such as passing and enforcing laws that ban hate speech in the media.

IONA requires the assessment team to understand how problematic KAB manifest at various levels of society. Are KAB held by an individual? For example, "I am a Pashtun, not an Afghan, so why should I vote in the coming parliamentary elections?" Are they shared by a certain group? "We farmers believe that NATO security operations are a threat to our traditional way of life." Or are the KAB engrained institutionally in society? "The law does not permit people of mixed race to vote." Because problems may manifest at multiple levels in a society, media interventions must comprise activities that address those levels.

Solutions Activities

Here the assessment team describes the actual activities that enable transformation in KAB: developing radio dramas with particular themes and target audiences, building radio infrastructure to broaden the reach of media to illiterate audiences, or broadcasting a roundtable discussion among religious leaders showing that in Islam a wide range of opinions exist on the issue of educating girls.

There are two types of solutions activities: issue activities and obstacle activities. Issue activities directly address the KAB that define the problem and enable the transformation to the objective KAB. Obstacle activities transform KAB that block social change. To extend an example from above, if the issue activity is building radio infrastructure in rural areas, an obstacle is sabotage of the facility by partisans. Obstacle activities could be (in addition to enhanced security features at the broadcast sites) facilitating discussion with community leaders and designing pertinent programming to ensure strong community support for the radio towers.