Anti-Rumours Global Antirumours
A pioneering strategy against prejudice and misinformation present in more than 20 countries
Strategy
The Anti-Rumours Strategy (ARS) is a long-term process of social change with the aim of preventing discrimination, improving coexistence and harnessing the potential of diversity, promoting a change in people’s perceptions and attitudes and addressing the root causes of stereotypes, prejudice and misinformation.
To this end, the ARS focuses on three specific objectives:
- Engaging and empowering a wide range of social actors and creating a collaborative ecosystem of diverse actors
- Promote critical thinking, awareness and empathy through innovative methodologies.
- Influencing the political and social agenda for greater cross-cutting and long-term impact
For the creation of an EAR it is necessary to:
- Having an initial political commitment
- Create a driving group responsible for the promotion and coordination of the strategy.
- Conduct a diagnosis of the context and the main challenges, prejudices and rumours, as well as mapping what is already being done and identifying key actors and potential allies.
- Training of key actors and future anti-rumours agents.
- Create an anti-rumours network with the administration and diverse social actors.
- Define a short and medium-term action plan.
- Implement and evaluate the action plan and ensure sustainability of the strategy.
The typology of actions that can be implemented in the framework of the strategies aims to:
- Promoting knowledge, critical thinking, awareness and empathy
- Creating effective alternative narratives
- Competence development:
- to identify and challenge prejudices and rumours in a proactive and effective manner.
- on media, social media, misinformation and hate speech.
- Generate spaces and opportunities for positive interaction and linkage building
- Identifying and addressing the structural and root causes of prejudice and discrimination
Origin and evolution of the ARS
The first strategy was promoted by Barcelona City Council in 2010 and in 2013 we adapted it for the first time to different Spanish RECI cities (Intercultural Cities Network).
In 2015 the Council of Europe led a European project in which we adapted it to 10 cities in 7 countries and since then we have worked on the anti-rumours approach in more than 100 cities and 20 countries.
The Council of Europe, through its intercultural cities programme, has promoted the ARS as a good practice, and apart from European countries, we have also collaborated with institutions in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Japan and Morocco, among others.
In 2024 we designed the first state-level Anti-Rumours Strategy with the government of Malta, and that same year, the Ashoka Foundation recognised the strategy among the most relevant social entrepreneurship projects in Spain and we became part of the Ashoka global network of fellows.
One of the most stimulating lessons of these years is that the anti-rumours approach can be applied to many different fields and issues such as gender, sexual orientation, age groups or issues such as climate change or health.
Anti-rumours youth
Involving young people in anti-rumours strategies is a priority: as a target group of activities (workshops, campaigns, training, etc.) and as key agents of social change, actively participating in the design of anti-rumours actions, contents and tools.
Since 2016, the Anti-Rumours Youth Summit has been held every year, where 60 young people from different Spanish cities meet for three days and share experiences, train and design new anti-rumours tools to promote critical thinking and empathy.
In 2023, the first international Anti-Rumours Youth Summit was held in the Polish city of Lublin as part of the European Net-Idea project.
Many cities are promoting anti-rumours initiatives with and for young people, and at Diversit-Antirumours Global we focus on supporting them through:
- Anti-rumours training and training on the construction of alternative narratives both for young people and for professionals working with youth and municipal authorities.
- Design of innovative tools such as Escape Rumours, travelogues and new methodologies.
- Support cities to design their own tools, campaigns, workshops, etc.
- Participation in European projects on the involvement and participation of young people in anti-rumours strategies and activities.
Anti-Rumours Strategy
Presentation of the Anti-Rumours Strategy at ASHOKA 2024 event
What is the Anti-Rumours Youth Summit?
Support
Ayudamos a ciudades y organizaciones en las diferentes fases del diseño e implementación de una estrategia antirumores: diagnóstico, creación de una red, formación, diseño y evaluación del plan de acción.
También ofrecemos acompañamiento y apoyos puntuales para el diseño de acciones concretas, campañas de sensibilización o en cómo reforzar la transversalidad y la creatividad de la EAR.
Academy
We offer different anti-rumours trainings, from 2h sessions to 20h courses, on:
- How to design an anti-rumours strategy
- Basic training of anti-rumours agents
- Challenging prejudices and rumours
- Creating alternative narratives
And on other topics adapted to the needs of each organisation and target group (young people, technical staff, political leaders, entities, police, citizens in general, etc.).
Lab
Creativity is a central element of the Anti-Rumours Strategy because this gives it an innovative component that allows it to reach different audiences and have more impact.
The lab is where we imagine creative solutions and tools together with partners from different disciplines.
No. of countries
We have assisted and trained agents in the anti-rumours approach in more than 100 cities in more than 20 different countries, including Canada, Finland, Poland, Italy, Japan, Germany, Morocco, Portugal, Cyprus, Malta and others.
No. of people trained
In these years we have trained more than 3000 people in the anti-rumours approach, both from the public administration and from many areas of civil society.
No. of actors in anti-rumours networks
More than 5000 stakeholders have been involved in anti-rumours networks working with local, regional and even national governments, as in the case of Malta.
No. of languages Anti-rumours manual
The Anti-Rumours Handbook developed by the Diversit team and published by the Council of Europe has been translated into 9 languages, including Arabic and Japanese.
Resources
