LookDeeper: There’s More than Meets the Eye

Background

In 2015, the United Nations agreed on an ambitious but achievable plan to halt climate change and to end poverty and inequality for everyone, everywhere by the year 2030. We know that together, a better world is possible. But in order to make real, sustainable progress by 2030, our solutions must move beyond charity.

As a coalition of organizations dedicated to global cooperation, peace and justice, SCIC members work to tackle the root causes, not just the symptoms, of interconnected global issues. But in order to transform our world into the world we want by 2030, we need everyone.

So we created LookDeeper, a campaign to raise awareness of sustainable solutions to widely known global challenges – hunger, health, education and conflict – in order to create momentum towards to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

As one person, we can each learn more, and take small actions that can lead to big things. When we take responsibility for our impact in global systems, we help to create sustainable, justice-based solutions. So where do we start? Looking Deeper is the first step.

Look Deeper is an education and awareness campaign calling on Saskatchewan people to:

1. Look below the surface to find the root causes of four major global challenges: hunger, health, education and conflict;
2. Learn about sustainable, justice-based solutions that tackle root causes by focusing on: equality and power, healthy ecosystems, partnerships and solidarity, and dignity and human rights;
3. Inspire others, using creativity and the power of the human voice, to join a global movement of people working to create lasting change and to make the world a better place.

Resources

LookDeeper.ca Online Learning Portal | Poetic Ads | Poetry Book | Social Media Campaign

Behind the Scenes

In 2015 SCIC launched LookDeeper – an ambitious, unique and creative public awareness and education campaign inspiring Saskatchewan people to learn about the many ways that we are all connected as global citizens, and to explore the root causes of major global challenges in order to find more sustainable solutions. Over 4 years, the campaign engaged citizens through an interactive education website, poetic radio ad campaign, a poetry contest, writing workshops, social media and billboard campaign, and publishing a book of poetry.

Phase 1 – In collaboration with local artists, two poetic radio ads we recorded and aired across the province inviting Saskatchewan people to feel connected and encouraging them to explore the issues at LookDeeper.ca, and submit their own poems for a chance to be recorded as the next radio ads.

Phase 2 – After a series of writing workshops, two poets emerged as the 2016 Speak Up, Inspire Change poetry competition finalists, earning them the chance to professionally record their poems as 60-second radio spots which aired province-wide in May 2016, and again during International Development Week in February 2017. The work of two semi-finalists was also recorded and made available online at LookDeeper.ca

Phase 3 – SCIC expanded the campaign, taking to the radio waves, skylines, and social networks through the poetic radio ads that reached well over 400,000 people, 12 eye-catching billboards estimated to have been seen more than 2.4 million times, and a targeted social media campaign reaching another 74,000 Saskatchewan people. Billboards were raised in 7 communities including Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Weyburn and Yorkton asking citizens to consider the root causes of our shared global challenges.

 Phase 4 – In its third year, the campaign expanded once again into a new format through the publication of a book of poetry, Speak Up, Inspire Change: A Collection of Poems from Saskatchewan’s Global Citizens. The book includes poems submitted by Saskatchewan people from the first phase of the campaign – the Speak Up, Inspire Change poetry competition – as well as poems written by high school students from Sheldon-Williams Collegiate in Regina.

The student poems were created through an inspiring spin-off project made possible through collaboration between Kyla Wendell-McIntyre – the Mindful Creative Writing teacher at Sheldon Williams Collegiate and a participant in the Speak Up Inspire Change competition – and Cat Abenstein – a spoken word artist, and one of the competition’s winning poets.

When you read the book, you can also listen along to the winning poems at LookDeeper.ca or stream through SoundCloud [soundcloud.com/SaskCIC/sets]. Contact us to get your free copy!