Access to Justice Public Awareness Media Campaign

Many Indonesians mistrust the formal judicial system, lacking knowledge and confidence that the system works on their behalf and thus are reluctant to consider using the judicial system. Much as these misgivings broadly characterize Indonesian society, they apply more particularly to those segments of the population already marginalized due to their geography, socio-economic status, gender, or age.

The Access to Justice Public Awareness Media Campaign provided the public with information considered essential to using the judicial system. The program increased public awareness of basic rights to seek legal remedies to legitimate grievances. Furthermore, the program addressed the skepticism and/or cynicism towards the judicial system while also promoting greater use of free legal aid mechanisms. The Access to Justice consisted of a media campaign having the following elements:

Radio Drama

Radio drama has been proven to be a highly effective means not only to convey information, but more importantly to demonstrate the growth and acceptance of new attitudes and ways of behavior. Through fictional radio drama, it is possible to illustrate how citizens can gain greater access to the judicial system and justice. The medium of radio has been especially effective for people with previously limited or absent knowledge, confidence or skills concerning the legal system of Indonesia.

SFCG produced a radio drama series called Mencari Keadilan (“Looking for Justice”), which consisted of thirty, 30-minute episodes, divided into five blocks of topics: domestic violence , marriage, divorce, land and labor. The show was broadcast on 16 commercial radio stations in 6 major urban centers throughout Indonesia (Jakarta, Makassar, Padang, Surabaya, Denpasar and Jayapura), representing more than 50 million citizens. Mencari Keadilan was rebroadcast on more than 100 community radio stations, and can still be heard in communities across Indonesia. The program substantially increased awareness that the judicial system is accessible if approached properly, and millions of marginalized citizens benefited directly from this project.

Public Service Announcements
SFCG produced and distributed four radio PSAs to promote the messages of the Access to Justice project, and to inform listeners of the radio and quiz broadcast schedule. Each station aired more than 60 PSAs throughout the course of the series. SFCG also broadcast a number of television PSAs and advertisements on local TV in each of the six target cities, promoting the radio dramas and the quiz. The short 15-second PSAs served to reinforce radio drama themes, while promoting the show to a wider audience. In total, more than 350 TV PSAs were aired in the six media markets.

Finally, SFCG arranged for the radio stations to promote the radio series through a series of daily on-air promotions. Depending on the station, these ‘ad-libs’ were aired (at least) 2-3 times per day, each promoting the following day’s programme. Ad-libs are an important tool for promotion, and SFCG worked diligently to convince radio station partners that it was in their best interest to publicize Mencari Keadilan.

The PSA campaign provided audiences with specific information that increased their knowledge about their basic judicial rights, while improving their ability to access justice in their communities. The PSAs provided specific information, as determined by the outcomes of public forums facilitated by SFCG, on issues such as the accessibility of pro bono legal aid.

Interactive Talk Shows
SFCG worked with the nationally-recognized legal aid NGO, Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) to facilitate hour-long talk shows in each of the target cities, with each participating radio station. In doing so, radio stations compiled listeners’ profiles, as well as “Frequently Asked Questions,” both by phone and SMS. At the conclusion of each week’s broadcast of the serial drama, a talk show was organized to correspond to the issues prevalent in the drama that week. For example, after the first two weeks of the drama, talk shows were organized on each radio stations to address the issue of domestic violence. After the third week of the drama, talk shows were aired on each station relating to the issue of marriage. After the fourth week, divorce, and so on (land and labor). In total, five interactive talk shows were organized and broadcast on the target radio stations.

Know Your Rights Radio Contest

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In conjunction with the radio soap opera and talk shows, the production team designed an interactive “Know Your Rights” contest. The aim of the contest was to engage the audience in thinking about access to justice issues, and to give listeners a chance to demonstrate basic comprehension of their rights. The knowledge required to participate in this contest was contained in the radio dramas; meaning, the contest was a means of encouraging the audience to listen to the dramas regularly and attentively. SFCG worked closely with the legal experts from the British Council, as well as the media expert consultant to formulate the quiz questions. SFCG provided prizes (tee shirts, caps, CD/DVD players) to each radio station for distribution to quiz winners, providing yet another incentive to listen.

Know Your Rights Comics
Cartooning and comics have a venerable reputation in Indonesia as vehicles for conveying important information. SFCG designed Know Your Rights comic strips to inform the public of their basic rights to justice and reach a more marginalized audience that is less at ease with formal terminology. Relying on visual elements and colloquial language helped ensure that key messages were reaching the target audience. The comics served to reinforced key messages on domestic violence, marriage and divorce, and land and labor issues, as well as advertise the radio drama.

Theme Song
Search for Common Ground hired a local music group, Sanggar Semat, to compose and record the theme music for Mencari Keadilan. The lyrics are based on the main themes of the drama series and the project itself: rights and choices. Each episode opened and closed with segments of the theme music. In addition, SFCG worked with Semat to produce a full 3.5-minute song of broadcast quality to be distributed to radio stations nationwide. Based on experience in Indonesia and elsewhere, SFCG believes that social messages packaged as music are more readily accepted if they are disseminated as popular music rather than as social marketing.

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