Strategic Communication Archives - Metgroup

Launching the Pro-Democracy Narrative Playbook Initiative

Sarah Dotlich — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:23:21 +0000

Metropolitan Group and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) are excited to announce the launch of the Pro-Democracy Narrative Playbook Initiative.

The assault on democratic principles and institutions—both here in the United States and around the world—is not just a threat to freedom, it also threatens the successful advancement of every social issue. From health care, education, and religious liberty to environmental justice, racial equity, and economic opportunity, authoritarian narratives and actions are actively undermining and threatening to erase hard-won progress. We need shared and effective pro-democracy narratives to both defend against these attacks and to create a positive vision to stand for.

Over the last year, MG and our partners have conducted significant qualitative and quantitative research; mapped the narrative landscape; developed and tested effective pro-democracy narratives, underlying messaging, and motivating values; and developed a narrative guide and application resources for the U.S. This work aligns with similar work we’ve conducted in 11 other countries on five continents.

In early December we launched the Pro-Democracy Narrative Playbook website to provide free access and updates to all of these resources and are launching a dissemination partnership program to support organizations and movements working on diverse issues to share the resources with their networks. Email us at dissemination@prodemocracynarrativeplaybook.org to learn more about becoming a partner.

Visit the new resource hub to learn about this new initiative and how to apply the pro-democracy narrative resources to your work and share them with others. Together, we can advance democracy rooted in freedom, fairness, and fearlessness.

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Addressing Global Challenges in 2025

Somya Singh — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 17:06:46 +0000

As we enter 2025, we see so many places where challenges and potential solutions don’t have borders (geographical or by issue area). From biodiversity loss and climate change to infectious disease and information integrity, what happens in one part of the world affects others. Just as advances or challenges to one issue impact others. Democratic principles, such as freedom of expression, open and honest government, and protecting human rights, advance issues from clean water and Indigenous land rights to women’s health and safe work environments. Environmental health from forest health to air quality—alter everything, from food security and natural disaster prevention to chronic disease and economic equity. Similarly, public health—from health care access to the removal of toxins from communities—influences everything, from economic vitality to life expectancy. And just as innovations and solutions cross geographic borders, so do challenges.

At Metropolitan Group and our sister company Impacto Social Metropolitan Group (MG/ISMG), we are privileged to support and collaborate with leaders in the public, nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors who are working to address these global challenges. We are working with leaders and communities in over 20 countries, strengthening civic space and the people’s voice on issues that impact them, advancing responsive government, bolstering public health and well-being, accelerating biodiversity conservation, addressing climate impacts, countering misinformation, fighting corruption, standing for human rights, and fostering inclusive economies. We see the potential power and opportunity to increase social change by supporting connections at the intersections of issues and facilitating learning from different countries and cultures.

We are excited to share tools, models, learnings and stories from this work and to invite conversation and collaboration. We invite you to visit and access the resources on our Addressing Global Challenges page.

We look forward to learning, collaborating and working with you in 2025 and beyond to address global challenges.

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Vernice Miller-Travis speaks at the first ever White House Summit on Environmental Justice in Action event

Somya Singh — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 19:14:07 +0000

Vernice Miller-Travis was asked to provide opening remarks at the first ever White House Summit on Environmental Justice in Action. We are so incredibly proud of her work and service, and feel immeasurably grateful to call her a friend. In her words she says: “The Summit will highlight the current administration’s progress advancing environmental justice, celebrate local efforts to create healthier communities, and catalyze further action to build a more equitable and just future. It will bring together community leaders, environmental justice advocates, senior administration officials, and more.”

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Addressing structural racism to remove barriers to health and well-being

Somya Singh — Mon, 06 May 2024 16:59:02 +0000

“To reach a Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and wellbeing, we must identify, understand, confront, and remove the structural barriers to health and wellbeing, including racism, powerlessness, discrimination, and their consequences.” This statement anchors a resource page on Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) website that offers durable and persuasive messages, metaphors, and visual cues to communicate about the connection between racism and health, the persistent structural barriers to a Culture of Health, and the opportunity to build new bridges in place of barriers. MG has been a collaborator in the research and message development that informs this work, and in 2023, our team created an animated video that links message and visual metaphor, and co-presented trainings for RWJF grantees. The video and tools are free and available for broad use. This work was done in partnership with Lake Research Partners.

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Our 35th Annual Letter to Stakeholders

Somya Singh — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:27:22 +0000

As Metropolitan Group (MG/ISMG) begins our 36th year, we are more committed than ever to supporting and working in partnership with change agents to respond to truly global challenges, and to directly impact and drive needed changes on issues that require collective action and significant shifts in norms and public will.

Across sectors and across geographies the need to create proactive narratives, social expectations, and systemic changes that center fairness, freedom, equity, justice, and peace is profound. We all need solutions we can work toward while we also work to effectively counter rising authoritarianism, hyperpolarization, the use of fear and othering, and attacks on information integrity. We see this combined work of building up just solutions while robustly pushing back on injustice in the work of our clients and the communities they serve every day.

We see the power of voice and its ability to activate change in the work of advocates, civil society organizations, dedicated public servants, artists, and advocates.

This 35th annual letter to stakeholders shares updates on our team and stories of our clients’ work and impact. As we begin our 36th year of social impact work, we are focused and committed to the shared mission of advancing public health, environmental sustainability, and social justice. We are excited to collaborate with you on this journey.

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Advancing the Rights of Women Agriculture Workers in Tunisia

Somya Singh — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:43:09 +0000

In Tunisia, more than 600,000 women work in agriculture across the country. Despite the important role of this industry in the Tunisian economy, there are limited regulations for workers—especially female workers—which has meant they’ve been subjected to physical, psychological, and financial abuse. These women, who are striving to establish economic stability for their families as well as provide food for their communities, also face the injustice that the laws in Tunisia created to protect them are not currently being enforced.

MG/ISMG launched an innovative project called “Advancing the Rights of Women Agriculture Workers” to apply social and behavior change (SBC) strategies to shift narratives and perceptions about these workers.

Learn more here.

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Finding Common Ground with Decision-makers in Health Policy Negotiations

Somya Singh — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:51:06 +0000

Advocates can face both strategic and personal challenges when engaging with decision-makers and elected officials with differing views on public health policies. Constructive dialogue in these instances requires them to find and build on shared values and common ground with policymakers, and to care for their own needs, feelings, and sense of safety. To support both policy progress and advocates’ well-being, we created a research-driven guide and training that helps them assess decision-makers’ mindsets and priorities and explore, in less polarizing ways, policies that support children and families.

MG used the science of archetypes, which are typical examples of a person or group, to more fully understand the idea of “conservative decision-makers.” Initial archetypes drew on research from Pew and others and were informed by our conversations with message researchers, a political scientist, and influencers with conservative and progressive viewpoints.

The result is Finding Commonalities and Solutions With Decision-Makers, an online resource that includes not only the topic-focused messaging and information on archetypes and nonpolarizing-communication practices mentioned above, but also access to recorded training modules, live webinars, and technical assistance, so advocates feel more equipped to constructively engage with conservative elected officials during policy conversations, either on topics we created messaging for or others.

Learn more here.

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Our new Vice President of Digital, Rebecca Gerber

Somya Singh — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 18:40:04 +0000

Metropolitan Group is overjoyed to introduce our new Vice President of Digital, Rebecca Gerber! Rebecca is a dedicated digital leader with over 15 years’ expertise in digital advocacy, creative storytelling, and multichannel engagement strategies that inspire and mobilize people to take action. Please join us in welcoming Rebecca to the MG/ISMG team, we look forward to working with her and doing incredible social impact work together.

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Countering Corruption Through Social and Behavior Change

Somya Singh — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 22:13:08 +0000

Corruption negatively impacts millions of lives across the globe. Petty corruption, such as bribery or cronyism, erodes trust in basic services and institutions, while large-scale kleptocracy steals public resources meant to deliver critical services to communities in need. Corruption impacts the delivery of health care, the safety of infrastructure, the livelihoods of families, and access to justice. Fighting it is key to strengthening democratic institutions, advancing equity, and building trust in our leadership and our community. Too often, anti-corruption efforts focus exclusively on technical and policy solutions without addressing the social norms, dominant narratives, and enabling environments that allow it to flourish. Can applying social and behavior change (SBC) approaches to anti-corruption work make a difference?

As part of its efforts to update and develop strategic, technical, and policy guidance on countering corruption, USAID ACTF commissioned Metropolitan Group to conduct research on the use of SBC approaches to address social norms and behaviors related to corruption, and develop recommendations on how SBC approaches might be used to improve current and future anti-corruption activities.

MG’s final report, “Countering Corruption Through Social and Behavior Change,” presents the findings identified through five case studies of anti-corruption initiatives that utilized some SBC approaches or elements:

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Guatemala)
The Construction Transparency Initiative (Malawi)
The Anti-Impunity and Gender Equality Initiative (Mexico)
Maia Sandu and the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) (Moldova)
Addressing Bribery in the Health Sector (Tanzania)

If you would like to discuss this report, share other case studies, and learn more about how SBC, anti-corruption, and other democracy strengthening efforts might intersect, please email us at SBC@metgroup.com. Our final analysis report is also supplemented by a shorter executive summary, and a brief visual two-pager.

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Introducing our newest Vice President, Melissa Navas

Somya Singh — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 22:10:20 +0000

We’re overjoyed to announce our newest vice president Melissa Navas. Melissa roots herself in community and melds her experiences in public service, policy, and communications to advance racial equity and justice for meaningful and lasting change. Melissa focuses on public health and works at the intersection of policy, communications, and politics. She has served in leadership roles for Multnomah County, Oregon’s most populous county, and as press secretary to two Oregon governors. Melissa’s communications background spans political campaigns and journalism. As a reporter, she wrote about education, public health, and diverse communities. She also supported students as director of career development at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, a nonpartisan organization inspiring young people to pursue public service.

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