BUSH TV, through RAIN (Regional Aboriginal and Islander Network), is networking the Indigenous communities of Queensland by providing a corporate-level marketing and media network to remote Councils and community organizations.
The RAIN network involves a monthly TV show, a website (with individual community sites), a full-colour Magazine distributed to communities and government, as well as radio segments.
BUSH TV and RAIN utilise a theoretical marketing framework called Indigenous Community Based Social Marketing (ICBSM). This unique marketing strategy builds social capital by providing remote Councils and community organizations access to mainstream marketing and media tools and resources.
Indigenous community participation and involvement in all aspects of RAIN is integral for a clear, concise and culturally appropriate information exchange between government and communities.
BUSH TV acknowledges our partners in Local Government at the Department of Infrastructure and Planning.
What is Indigenous Community Based Social Marketing?
Indigenous Community Based Social Marketing (ICBSM) aims to build capacity within remote communities and Councils, as well as stimulating positive social changes. ICBSM incorporates a set of tools that, when implemented sequentially, offer real potential for genuine social change and a commitment to maintaining that change. The steps for change are: - identifying what barriers exist to social change by talking with the community through yarning circles; literature reviews; and community surveys that utilise local Indigenous social marketers
- designing a strategy that utilises proven social changes tools, such as gaining commitment from individuals and communities through incentive programs; and developing new community norms that reflect the desired social changes
- piloting the strategy with a small section of the community; reflecting on and implementing changes to the program following consultation with the community; rolling out the program to the entire community
- evaluating the impact of the program following implementation
ICBSM strategies for social changes are centred around community consultation and participation. Initiatives are introduced at a community level and are based on barriers to change identified within that particular community. Barriers may be external to the individual and require structural changes to be made, or internal to the individual, such as lack of awareness or knowledge which may require community education programs.
Following the identification of barriers to change within acommunity the ICBSM approach is to either remove those barriers and/or highlight and encourage the benefits of individuals and communities participating in the desired social changes. Gaining commitment from individuals and communities to the desired social change is central to this strategy.
Research suggests that commitment is achieved when social marketers come from the community where a social change is desired. These people negotiate directly with their fellow community members and are themselves the communicators of the intended social change message. In this way, social changes for individuals and communities are in direct response to personal appeals and social support for the changes coming from within their own community.
The following article showcases the ICBSM approach utilised by the BUSH TV crew, specifically in relation to encouraging changing behaviours around water demand in the NPA, Cape York.
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