From: Government, to Citizens - Writing with Care-

This paper presents an Effective Communications Strategy implemented by an agency of the Colombian Government that was based on the integration of insights from evidence-based policy design, design thinking, behavioral economics and plain language techniques. Effective communication creates an emotional connection that effectively communicates a message. It also encourage citizens to take action. The strategy encouraged citizens and businesses to present accurate reports and pay contributions to the Social Protection System. First, we describe how we integrated insights from different disciplines in order to design and implement an Effective Communications Strategy. We then show how we applied this integration into mass-mail letters and e-mails sent to employees in order to encourage them to act as first line auditors of their employers and to enforce their rights. As we advanced in the design thinking process the percentage of employees who opened and read the letters increased from 17 to 94%. This was a significant result, achieved before it was decided to implement the strategy on a larger scale. The paper represents an attempt to contribute to the way governments can design and implement effective communications by integrating and applying knowledge from different disciplines