COMMUNICATION PLAN

I COUNT:
2022 YOUTHS IN
NATIONAL
ELECTION

ANG ALBARIDO BALBERO CASTILLO TAC-ON VITO CRUZ

RAFAEL AIRA MARIE SAMANTHA KEYLA MARIA ELOISA KATHERINE JOSHUA
 Communication Plan
I Count: Youths in 2022 National Election

COMMUNICATION PROGRAM FLOW

I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 3

II. Partner Organizations …………………………………………………………... 3

a. Roles and Responsibilities ………………………………………………….. 6

III. Definition of Problem …………………………………………………………… 7

IV. Target Audiences ………………………………………………………………... 7

a. General Audience ……………………………………………………………. 7

b. Primary Audience ……………………………………………………………. 8

c. Secondary Audience ………………………………………………………… 9

V. Communication Goals ………………………...……………………………….... 10

VI. Communication Objectives ………………………………………………….......

11

VII. Communication Channels …………………………………………...………..... 11

VIII. Potential Messages, Materials, and Activities ………………………………… 14

IX. Programme Timeline …………………………………………………................ 15

X. Role of Staff ………………………………………………………………............

17

XI. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………............. 18

XII. Proponents ………………………………………………………………............. 18

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INTRODUCTION

Election day is fast approaching. Politics and societal issues are rip-roaring.

Polarization and multitude of promises permeate the political atmosphere. On the 9th

day of May, year 2022 holds one of the most anticipated events in Philippine history as

it will again proclaim who shall take the powerful seats in the government. However,

winning the hearts of Filipinos today might be more strenuous given that voters,

nowadays, are becoming increasingly perceptive when it comes to things that concern

them. According to COMELEC, as of July 2021, total registered voters now comprise 60

million Filipinos - higher than the expected number of 95 million. Out of that total, 31

million voters are within the age bracket of 18 to 40 years old, classified as youths. In

line with this, electoral agencies and other political groups have begun encouraging,

raising awareness and influencing every Filipino to register and vote wisely. As the

quotation says, “there’s a power in numbers,” that number should make up the critical,

informed, and responsible young voters.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

To make a changed society into reality, it is important to consider the means and

ways to employ. Through this comprehensive communication plan, we intend to make it

happen. The first phase of this plan is to establish a foundation of relationship in order

to help the plan be delivered successfully..

● YouthVote Philippines

YouthVote Philippines is a coalition of youth and youth-serving organizations

focused on democratic engagement through electoral participation and post-election

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initiatives. It calls for strengthened youth voters' registration, education, and

empowerment. Launched in 2008 to encourage the youth to participate in nation-building

– it has succeeded in developing voter's registration, education and civic participation

programs for the youth in 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019. YouthVote Philippines is a

nonpartisan group which aspires and thrusts for the institutionalization of issue-based

elections in deviation from the traditional personality-based and patronage politics in the

country.

● Young Public Servants

YPS or Young Public Servants is a group of young dynamic individuals focused

on promoting Good Governance and Democratic Citizenship among the youth.

● National Youth Commission

The National Youth Commission also known as the NYC, is a government

agency in the Philippines that specifically addresses issues surrounding the Filipino

youth. The NYC is the Philippine government's sole policy-making body on youth affairs,

but also coordinates and implements programs designed to respond to and raise

awareness on youth issues. Its mandate is enshrined in the 1987 Philippine

Constitution: "The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and

shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-

being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism; and encourage their

involvement in public and civic affairs."

● Commission on Election

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 The Commission on Elections, usually abbreviated as COMELEC, is one of the

three constitutional commissions of the Philippines. Its principal role is to enforce and

administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of elections, plebiscite,

initiative, referendum and recall for the. purpose of ensuring free, orderly, peaceful and

credible elections.

● National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections

The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections or NAMFREL is an election

watchdog in the Philippines. It was the first and one of the most famous election watch

campaigns. NAMFREL's goal is to ensure "free, orderly and honest elections" in the

Philippines. It is a non-partisan organization with over 250,000 member-volunteers from

different religious, civic, business, professional, labor, youth, educational, and non-

government organizations.

● International Foundation for Electoral Systems

IFES or International Foundation for Electoral Systems collaborates with civil

society, public institutions and the private sector to build resilient democracies. As a

global leader in the promotion and protection of democracy, their technical assistance

and applied research develops trusted electoral bodies capable of conducting credible

elections; effective and accountable governing institutions; civic and political processes

in which all people can safely and equally participate; and innovative ways in which

technology and data can positively serve elections and democracy. Since 1987, IFES

has worked in more than 145 countries, from developing to mature democracies. IFES

is a global, nonpartisan nonprofit organization based in Arlington, and Virginia.

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 A. Roles and Responsibilities

Fundamentally, the roles of these project partners are as follows:

● Produce attainable, innovative, and timely ideas for promotion, education, and

projects to generate smart and responsible young voters for the upcoming 2022

election.

● Facilitate activities and other engaging pursuits to stimulate the youth’s

participation towards acquisition of learning and experiences concerning the

upcoming 2022 election.

● Create promotional materials (text, picture, video format) to captivate public

attention, increase awareness, and impart educational information.

● Extend influence and reach out to more people through their respective

organizations.

These potential partners have been proactive and driven in advocating smart and

responsible youth voting, we thought that they could be influential in terms of scaling up

and developing the ends of our plan. We chose them because they have a dynamic

presence in the media, active advocacies, with similar objectives as we do in our

communication plan.

DEFINITION OF PROBLEM: WHY IS THE PROJECT BEING DEVELOPED?

This year, 2022, May 09 to be exact, will be the 2022 PH general election for

executive and legislative branches of the government on national, provincial, and local

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levels. According to statistics, youths now comprise the 52% of voters’ population which

can make a huge significant difference for the next year’s election. Moreover, one

expert stated that youths now, who are politically engaged and intend to vote, are able

to fact check therefore, that means they can stipulate political awareness and

engagement.

The project is being developed for the purpose of producing more well-informed

and responsible young voters for the upcoming 2022 election essentially through this

comprehensive communication plan.

TARGET AUDIENCES

A. General Audience

Every single generation brings their own relevance towards the current political

climate. Rendering one generations' perspective towards the progressively shifting

political world, allows an interchange of ideas inclusive of different directions and paths

the country might be led in.

The youth being the very foundation of the nation's future, we decided to choose

them as our main audience, with a growing amount of unregistered and apathetic young

adults. Having both knowledge and the resources to obtain that knowledge, the youth

has the most effective tools to make an impact towards the political environment.

B. Primary Audience

We segmented the youth population into three:

● Students

Students are growing with more and more curiosity towards political

processes. With many becoming more engaged in activism and having their

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 voices heard, raising their awareness towards current issues and how their vote

can make a difference for the world will help in developing the possibility of

results that stem from action and not results that stem from inaction. With both

the knowledge and motivation to impact the world, students should be one of the

most pertinent voters.

● Employed

Employees and workers of the youth, although many young adults are still

new to the whole professional world - wages, taxes, benefits, social security,

health care, laws and environmental issues, being exposed to the environment

and having the responsibility to deal and adjust towards the passing times, with

both the energy and capability of a young adult to follow trends and conduct

thorough research, and having the experience and ideas of the real world, the

votes of young employees bring a strong effect towards the improvement of

national issues and political discourse.

● Unemployed

Lastly, we also included those who are not studying or working, as these

groups understand the underlying issues behind a corporate and professional

world. Those who spend their youth in poverty, in sickness, with many difficulties

that arose causing them to be derailed from a path, their insights towards what

the right thing to do to help fix poverty, prevent sickness, clean up garbage

ridden sites and create more laws that may be able to help develop progress

towards not only the advancement of the economy but to help find ways to

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 construct strategies in dealing with the increase of what we call "Tambay" or

NEETs (not in education, employment or training).

C. Secondary Audience

Some of the secondary target audience who can influence the decisions of the

primary audience include:

● Influencers

Youtubers, Tiktok Stars, Instagram Models, the youth are generally

inclined to magnet themselves towards those they relate to, those they see as

genuine and down to earth whilst providing them sufficient entertainment.

Influencers have the ability to sway the opinions of the youth and as such, we

aim to target them as well.

● Celebrities

Although considered to be less relatable to some, celebrities mirror an

ideal version of the youth and thus their opinions hold weight towards the

growing numbers of unregistered youth voters.

● Brands

Brands also have the ability to sway the opinions of the youth. With many

who use popular products following every single post they make and engaging

with the content they create and advertise.

● Media

The media brings the public's eye towards an issue and also helps provide

knowledge towards political topics. Although the trust towards media is wavering,

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 many from the youth choose to participate and contribute to the ever growing

media, and thus the media is also one of our target audience.

● Educators

Educators should have the ability to develop the youth to become more

mature and sensitive about worldly topics, this including the side of how the

government should run the country. Targeting them as one of our secondary

audiences can help us more efficiently deliver the information towards the youth.

COMMUNICATION GOALS

● Increase the awareness and consciousness of the youth towards the political

climate.

● Heighten engagement towards the spread of political information.

● Widen the threshold of the information library of political knowledge for youths all

around the nation.

● Increase the number of young active voters in the entire country.

● Enhance the turnouts of people who voted to  registered voters ratio.

COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

● Provide factual and persuasive information in social media about the need to

vote.

● Create fliers and posters about how large the potential effect of one person's vote

is.

● Conduct webinars and discussions about the effect of voting towards the current

political climate.

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 ● Create videos, photos and passages about the promises and the history of

several political candidates to provide ease of information towards the youth.

● Populate social media with memes to both entertain and display a lighter side

towards political discourse which could encourage youth’s political participation.

● Organize spotify playlists containing podcasts that circulate political info towards

the listeners.

COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

● New Media / Social Media

As for the youth, they can be easily reached out through various social media

platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, YouTube and Spotify. It is also

an effective tool for raising awareness and creating sustained movements based on

Pew Research Center. Therefore, Social media pages and accounts will be made in the

aforementioned sites to utilize the dissemination of educational posts regarding political

topics.

A. Facebook - As per Global Social Media Stats, Facebook remains the

world most widely used social media platform, hence this will be effective

in disseminating information to the masses.

B. Instagram - A findings of Statista states that Instagram is a platform

specifically popular with teenagers, by using it the general audience of this

communication plan will be well targeted.

C. Twitter - A study was conducted by Constance Duncombe arguing that

Twitter can both represent emotions and provoke emotions, which can

play an important role in political discourse.

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 D. Tiktok - As Tiktok is one of the newest social media platforms that is well

known with young people, it is also the platform of many political

controversies. Therefore I Count's goal is to combat the proliferation of

disinformation and fake news on the platform.

E. Youtube - It is a perfect platform for sharing video contents, and tops as a

widely used social media platform for respondents aged 18 and older, thus

persuading those ages to use their power to vote is one of the plan’s

objectives.

F. Spotify - As one of the objectives focuses on organizing a playlist of

podcasts that circulate political info towards the listeners, so that the youth

can multitask and still be educated even while they are preoccupied with

other matters.

● Flyers and Posters

Students, employees and unemployed will also be reached through social media,

although aside from online means, disseminating information through Flyers and

Posters will be helpful to expand the plan’s reach. It will be posted and distributed near

campuses or universities, and business establishments to cater the employed audience.

The poster and flyers will contain information about I Count’s upcoming activities as well

as information about I Count’s goal and objectives.

● Online Messaging and Email

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 For the secondary target audience, messaging through their social media

account or their professional email address will be used as the communication tool to

invite them. It would be more personalized since they have the power to influence and

invite their audience to I Count’s upcoming event.

For I Count’s potential partners, Email will also be the primary communication channel

to use in order to extend alliance with them. It would be formal and convenient for both

sides since there’s no need for face-to-face communication.

● Videoconferencing

Videoconferencing specifically using Zoom will be used to conduct webinars and

talks about the effect of voting towards the current political climate. This is to increase

productivity, save time, encourage collaboration and reduce travel especially

considering the public health risk. Although an exemption for other staff since it would

be more uncomplicated for their roles to prepare altogether for the activities, but

assuring that the guests, and audiences can participate with more simplified online set

up.

POTENTIAL MESSAGES, MATERIALS, AND ACTIVITIES

● Target Audiences (Youth: students, employee, and unemployed)

“Vote Purposefully: Why Your Choice Matters” is the main message that the

program is trying to input to the audiences. The importance of voting with a purpose and

that purpose is to help build a better and sustainable nation.

Young people must be involved in formal political processes and have a say in

shaping today's and tomorrow's politics in order to make a long-term difference.

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Inclusive political involvement is not only a basic political and democratic right, but it is

also essential for the development of stable and peaceful communities and policies that

address the demands of younger generations. Young people must be informed about

their rights and given the necessary knowledge and capacity to participate meaningfully

in political institutions, processes, and decision-making, particularly in elections, if they

are to be adequately represented in political institutions, processes, and decision-

making.

● Secondary Audience (Influencers, Celebrities, Media, Brands, Educator)

These people need to reach out to youths because they have the best

multimedia platform to influence and to share right and factual information. What really

matters is “the start of conversation.”

1. Acknowledge where the youth is coming from.

2. Understand influencers.

3. Engage!

● Activities

Virtual Theater Play

1. Title: BATA BATA, SALI AKO!

Description: This activity will highlight the importance of voting and its

effect on our country, as well as the involvement of youth in today's election.

Raffle for Book/ Internet Allowance

2. Title: TAYA!

Description: Random winners (5) "TAYA" of a book/internet allowance

amounting to PHP 3,000 each, for registered youth voters. This exercise will

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 urge young people to register to vote in the upcoming election, and

participants should also see the virtual theater performance. Their

participation in the raffle will be terminated if they do not attend the virtual

play.

PROGRAMME TIMELINE

12 Weeks 10 Weeks 8 Weeks 6 Weeks 4 Weeks 2 Weeks DAY OF THE

prior to prior to prior to prior to prior to prior to PROGRAM
the the the the the the
program program program program program program

1.Conducti 1. Defining 1. This is 1. At this 1. Training 1. At this 1. Proper

ng a the goals when the stage, we of the staff time, we implementation
Research and key will begin and other will do a and execution
Study to objectives messages developin personnel press of the plans
determine of the are made. g the that will be release that were made
the communic media in the announcin weeks prior to
situation ations lists to be program g the the program d-
analysis, program. used in on-site or program. day.
including 2. Begin promoting online.
current to the
status, develop program.
governmen 2. Defining press kits 2. We will
t programs the key and 2. Begin also draft
audiences publicity one-on- and

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who of the materials one distribute
support program. in-person meetings PSAs and
these and with key begin
programs, online. influencers hosting
why some that can online
of these 3. Begin to promote community
programs detail the the forums.
are not strategies program.
supported, we plan to
which use.
sector
needs it
most, who
will be our
target
population,
etc.

2.Defining
the
community
we are
trying to
reach.

3.Understa
nding why
key
stakeholder
s need to
be
involved.

ROLE OF STAFF
● Program Organizers:
○ Facilitate the program.
○ Provide instructions for the volunteers and other staff.

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 ● Online Facilitators:
○ Facilitate the program (invites the participant through emails and social
media posts), host the program and navigate the presentations and
technicalities of the online program/forum.
(In-case of the Pandemic Ease)
● Volunteers/Facilitators/Security Personnel:
○ Greet people and ensure they are at the correct place and to guide them
as appropriate.
○ Provide security.
○ Provide traffic monitoring for drive-throughs.
○ Manage the documents, forms, fliers and other physical materials to be
used on the day of the program.
○ Monitor the traffic of people and observe proper health guidelines since
we’re still in a pandemic.
● Technician/Utility/ Sanitation:
○ Provide good ventilation.
○ Assigned also for the audiovisual presentations during the program.
○ Make sure that the area where the program is held is safe and clean
before, during and after the program.

CONCLUSION

Voting is a fundamental act of civic participation through which young

people contribute to democracy. While it’s one of many ways that youth

engagement can take, it is a powerful way for youth to make their voices heard

and to have an impact on issues that affect them and their communities. Their

votes can be influential and even decisive. And, because elections happen

everywhere, they are universal and frequent opportunities for civic learning and

engagement that can also serve as entry points to other forms of participation. In

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conclusion, we aspire for this communication plan entitled, ‘I Count: Youths in

2022 National Election,’ to aid the learning, education, awareness, and

engagement of the Filipino youths all around the country.

PROPONENTS

This entire communication plan was generated by six 4th year BA

Communication students from University of the East - Caloocan.

● Rafael Ang

● Aira Marie Albarido

● Samantha Skey Balbero

● Maria Eloisa Castillo

● Katherine Tac-on

● Joshua Vito Cruz

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