Application for Baltic PR Awards 2010 Category: Corporate Responsibility Agency: Hauska & Partner Client: Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia

1. Baltic PR Awards 2010
Category: Corporate Responsibility
Partnership for children safety
Situation
In developed countries, accidents are the main cause of death among children between the
age of 1 and 4 years. In Latvia, as in the rest of Europe, the leading causes of death among
children under the age of 14, after prenatal mortality, are due to external causes including
trauma and poisoning. The most frequent occupational risks during school age that children
and adolescents are exposed to, depending on the surroundings in which they find
themselves, are electrical and thermal contacts, falling, exposure to toxic substances and
many others.
In Latvia there had been several campaigns dedicated to children safety, but no campaign
addressed all most common occupational risks. Latvian Confederation of Trade Unions
involved Consultancy to plan and implement campaign for school children that could also
serve as a platform for collaboration of experts and businesses from different safety fields.
Research
During planning phase Consultancy analyzed good practice examples from other European
countries (Austria, Spain, United Kingdom etc.) to find out best solutions, channels for
reaching children.
Consultancy organized meetings with specialists from the Ministry of Education to find out
more about safety in curriculum of primary education. Information gathered during meetings
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helped to identify precisely target audience – 1 – 4 year pupils, as well as primary territory
of campaign – Vidzeme and Latgale.
Possible partners of campaign were identified and involved in a group discussion with the aim
to clarify safety aspects which should be covered during campaign.
Since optimization of primary and secondary schools had been carried out in September
2009, the Ministry of Science and Education could not provide organizers with the detailed
information about schools in Vidzeme and Latgale. Therefore lot of time was invested to
interview schools in the region, to collect and analyze numbers of pupils in target audience.

2. Strategy
Objective of campaign was to initiate topic of children exposure to occupational risks by
involving safety practitioners instead of theorists.
As a secondary objective Consultancy set a target to contribute to the development of
corporate social responsibility in Latvia by creating a platform for collaboration and giving the
opportunity for enterprises to share their expertise.
The campaign was directed at primary education students aged from 6 to 12 years in schools
from Vidzeme and Latgale regions. As a secondary audience parents and teachers were
identified. Content of the campaign was based on practical skills, live experience and
interactive elements which were implemented using direct communication with primary target
audience – children and supportive media communication with parents and teachers.
Taking into account the specific audience and the results of initial research of cases abroad,
the campaign was prepared in an interactive, positive, visually appealing and simple way. A
symbol for the whole campaign was chosen and children were involved to make up the name
for the mascot of campaign – safety glove. Afterwards the whole visual identity of campaign
was built around ToDo safety glove and its “house” – an interactive traveling display show
that provided hands-on experience on the risks children are facing at home, in schools etc.
The campaign was structured in three phases: development of a diverse range of teaching
materials, creation of a web portal and publicity campaign.
Consultancy invited different partners to participate and build their CSR experience: experts
from the Ministry of Science and Education, Institute of Occupational Safety and Environment,
Latvijas Gāze, Latvenergo, safety company GRIFS AG and State Fire and Rescue Service.
A real puppet called ToDo was created and it was the main object in all communication,
including media relations and campaign materials. To acquire interest of school children,
travelling show with the safe ToDo’s house was chosen equipped with multimedia devices, a
plasma screen TV, furniture, and campaign materials and containing information for students
on the prevention of occupational risks. Four instructors - experts in occupational risks -
guided the students during the visit and made real life demonstrations.
The website www.drosaistodo.lv still seeks to bring involvement and awareness about
prevention to all in the primary education community - teachers, students and parents – and
each has their own space in this portal. The student can find different games to entertain
while teaching about safe behaviour and rules. Parents and teachers can download and
update much of the materials to support activities at school or at home.
The project, materials and website www.drosaistodo.lv were designed to be used over
several years and campaign in year 2009 was only the first step to increase awareness and
attention to safety in school children and their teachers.

3. Results
For the first time in Latvia a safety campaign for children involved so many different experts
and partners, as well as addressed a whole range of occupational risks. At least 6 enterprises
and organizations contributed the working hours of their employees for socially responsible
activities and managed to gain experience on what CSR is all about.
Integrated communication tailored for a specific audience created immense interest from
school children and also their teachers and parents. Information about campaign raised high
interest from schools in other regions – organizers received more than 30 requests to visit
schools in Riga, Jurmala, Ogre etc.
Very precise planning resulted in reaching more than 5000 school children directly during
travelling show in Cēsis, Smiltene, Valmiera, Alūksne, Madona, Balvi, Ludza, Preiļi, Krāslava,
Daugavpils, Ilūkste in short period from 3 November till middle of December.
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During regional visits 3292 questionnaires from children were collected and will be used in the
planning of further phases of campaign. Results of questionnaires showed - only about 2% of
children can admit that they live in safe environment and have not experienced dangerous
situations.

4. www.drosaistodo.lv
more than
5 000
school children
reached directly

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Partnership for children safety