Guidance on Creating Content for the Digital Platform

We always aim to ensure content on the Digital Platform is engaging, framing messaging at the appropriate level and in the right format. Your content could be aimed at a particular type of stakeholder (eg academics or refugees), at those working in a specific area (eg on health or gender-based violence), or at everyone interested in the GCR. The Digital Platform is mostly visited by GCR Stakeholders but is available to anyone wanting to know more about the Compact.

A recently completed pledge, an inspiring project, an interview, new report, or a video? There are many opportunities to publish on the Digital Platform, but for content to be a good fit, you need to identify how your subject is related to the GCR and ensure linkages to its objectives and/or initiatives are highlighted in every piece. You also must ask yourself what do you want your audience to do with this information? There does not need to be a clear call to action, perhaps you are looking to promote a partnership approach or celebrate the achievement of a pledge and inspire others to implement theirs.

Article, video, report, infographic, etc. What type of content is your audience most comfortable with/used to? Can you get your message across with that format? If it can be condensed into a short message, perhaps a video would be best. If it’s quite a lot of information, a report or policy paper might be better suited.

The Digital Platform offers information ranging from the simple, such as explainer pages, and stories, to the more complex, including reports, policy papers, and dashboards with much deeper levels of data.

General information pages on the Digital Platform, for example About the Compact, What is a Good Practice?, and Matching Pledges, are owned and maintained by the GCR Coordination Team.

It is the responsibility of UNHCR to ensure the accuracy of, and maintain, these pages.

The reports section is a collection of relevant reports, including reports published by other stakeholders. The actual reports themselves (PDFs) do not have to be hosted on the Digital Platform – if a report is published on another website, stakeholders may send a link which can then be included. 

The content on these pages and in the reports are the responsibility of the GCR stakeholders who produce them.

The GCR Coordination Team endeavours to write and publish articles celebrating the work of GCR Stakeholders.

Additionally, articles written by stakeholders (including UNHCR colleagues) can be published on the Platform, and where relevant, can state the author.

We recommend articles should be no more than 900 words long, and should be clearly related to a pledge, or one of the areas of focus for the GCR.

Good practices on the Digital Platform follow a very specific structure, based on the form for submitting them. They are owned by the submitting stakeholder, however UNHCR may make small amends to these before publishing to ensure accuracy and readability.

Due to data protection concerns, only forms managed by UNHCR can be hosted on the Digital Platform. Forms hosted elsewhere can always be linked to from the Digital Platform where relevant.

Events can and should be promoted across multiple websites where possible – stakeholders should feel able to promote events such as the GRF and the High-Level Officials Meeting (HLOM) on their platforms, and request that their events are promoted on the Digital Platform.

• Promote inclusive approaches towards refugees, stateless, and other displaced people. Meaningful refugee participation is a fundamental tenet of the GCR.
• Be accurate and truthful. Every effort is taken to ensure the accuracy of content on the Platform. And while we ask that stakeholders are respectful to and about one another, we do encourage content that acknowledges and addresses the challenges faced.
• Inform and educate. We want to ensure we provide relevant information and avoid repetition. We strongly encourage the inclusion of links to other relevant pages and additional information throughout the content, enabling the reader/viewer to choose the amount of detail they want.
• Be fair and empathetic. Language used should be respectful and considered.

• Write in short, clear sentences. Not everyone is a native speaker of your language – using concise, simple language is easier for everyone to understand and works best for people who use automated translation software.
• Include perspectives of refugees and host community members wherever possible, and where not, explain why.
• Include images and other media. Make sure to get permission from the subjects of any images (clear permission for this specific use) and include all appropriate copyright information. Find out more about ethical communications.
• Include sub-headings and sections to break up longer pieces.

• Use unnecessary jargon – technical language and legalese are fine where absolutely necessary in reports and other such documents but can also make points harder to understand and remove some of the human element to content. So ask yourself: is there a simpler way to phrase this?
• Overuse acronyms unless there is a clear case for this.
• Be deliberately provocative to other stakeholders.

The language used should be reflective of the author. For example, pages managed by UNHCR will largely abide by UNHCR’s style guide. Stakeholders should write with their own voice and style, to help ensure the Platform is a truly multi-stakeholder website.

The correct names and titles for GCR stakeholders should be used in any content produced for the Platform. For example, the official names of States should be used, people’s names spelled correctly, correct capitalisation for brands.

Inclusive approaches, particularly in relation to age, gender, and diversity (AGD), are a key tenet of the GCR. In addition to ensuring pledges are AGD inclusive, we must ensure our content is too.

When referencing something relating to someone’s age, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, health, religion, spirituality, or anything similar:

1. Avoid stereotyping. Represent diversity only when it is relevant to the story, and highlight how the pledge has impacted different groups. Do not represent disempowered groups (such as persons with disabilities, children, or ethnic minorities) with the objective of evoking compassion; instead showcase clear evidence on how the pledge or project has addressed their needs and rights. Whenever possible, always check with the person on how – if at all – they want you to speak about them.
2. Do not use gendered language. For example, use the terms chairperson, spokesperson and cameraperson, rather than chairman, spokesman, and cameraman. Terms like “woman CEO”/”female CEO”/”SheEO” should also be avoided. Don’t call groups of people “guys”.
3. Use the correct term for the person. A girl is a female human child, and the word should never be applied to anyone over the age of 18.
4. Do not use ableist language and phrases. Terms such as ‘handicapped’, speaking of people ‘suffering’ or being ‘victims’ of a disability, and phrases such as ‘falling on deaf ears’, ‘the blind leading the blind’, calling things ‘lame’ or ‘dumb’ must not be used. If writing about someone with a disability, and it is relevant to the content, ask them how they wish to be spoken of. Some prefer person first (a person with autism), while others prefer identity-first language (an autistic person). Follow the advice reflected in the UN Disability-Inclusive Communications Guidelines.
5. When writing about sexuality and gender, words such as “lesbian”, “gay”, “bisexual” “transgender”, “queer”, and “LGBTIQ+” should be used as adjectives, not nouns.
6. Additionally, a person’s race and nationality might be relevant (speaking of where a refugee came from before finding safety, for example), but should only be included where it is, and subject to the person’s consent.

Please bear in mind that providing too much information about someone (full name, age, country of origin, where they now live…) might make them or their families vulnerable. Always ensure they have given their consent to have such information published.

Acronyms

A few commonly used acronyms are:

• GCR – Global Compact on Refugees
• GRF – Global Refugee Forum
• HLOM – High-Level Officials Meeting

The Digital Platform has been designed to be accessible to all, implementing best practices for both the design and the content produced. It is particularly important for people who are blind, or have impaired vision, and rely on screen readers and other software to navigate websites’ content.

Anyone wishing to create content for the Platform must observe the following points:

Using subheadings correctly in both webpages and PDFs is important to help screen readers understand the structure of the document. Subheadings should always be nested correctly – ie there should not be a heading 3, unless it is under a heading 2, nor a heading 4, unless it is under a heading 3. Do not use paragraphs with larger text or bold type in place of headings and subheadings.

Each letter is read individually by the screen reader, meaning words in all caps are fully spelled out.

When writing an article or content for a webpage, do not put key information/text in images alone – ie do not include images with a lot of text where the text is key to understanding the rest of the article. Ask yourself: can the article be understood without this image? If not, the information should be included in some other way. For example, note the difference between these two:

1. This is text

The words in point one are added as proper text. You can highlight the individual words or letters and copy and paste them and then edit the text.

The words in point two are an image. You cannot highlight the words or copy and paste them, nor can you edit the text.

For example, add links on the titles of documents. Avoid links on words and phrases such as “click here”, as this does not describe where the link points.

The page layout will be different on different devices, so the direction may not be accurate for everyone. And for those using a screen reader, it will not be relevant. For example:

Standard rules apply. Capitalize names and titles.

• Numbers under ten (10) can be written in full – anything over ten should be written as the numeral, except when starting a sentence, eg:
  • There were eight events with 32 competitors.
  • Thirty-two competitors took part in eight events.
• Write fractions, rather than using numerals:
  • With more than a quarter of all pledges completed.
• Use commas for numbers with more than three digits.
• Write currency with the three-letter currency code before the number, to ensure clarity:
  • EUR 1,000,000
  • MYR 1,000,000
  • USD 1,000,000
• Specify time zones where necessary.
• Use italics and bold type sparingly – italics should be used for titles of reports, documents, etc, and either italics or bold type can be used to emphasise words or phrases. Do not combine bold and italic fonts. Do not use underline to emphasize things.

• Ensure all required permissions have been given for the use of photos and videos – both the permission of the subjects within, and the copyright permission.
• Provide the required copyright text that should accompany any images.
• Where possible, using a range of images which belong to different stakeholders can help add to the feeling of partnership approaches.

• Do not include large amounts of texts as images (see accessibility section of this guide for more information).
• Make sure videos have closed captions enabled, so that people with hearing impairments, and those where the video is not in their first language, can also consume them.