Our ‘How To’ series is developed to help start/develop your justice and peace group and are all available on the resources page.

8. How to produce newsletters and pamphlets

Newsletters and pamphlets help to spread the latest information on your campaign 

Planning
A pamphlet about a meeting should have the following information:

• What the meeting is about (a protest or a launch)
• Who will speak
• When and where it will be held
• Who or what group is organising the meeting. Include contact information.

A pamphlet about an issue should tell people:

• What the issue is
• Why it is important
• Why they should be concerned about it
• What they are being asked to do about it.

Before you write pamphlets about an issue, make sure that you understand the issue properly and that you have all the information you need. If you are not clear about something or you need some more facts, do some research – seek help from your J&P fieldworker or a relevant organisation. There are three things we need to think about when planning a newsletter or pamphlet: the aim of the publication, who it is for (the target group), and what we want to say (the content).

The aim: all media can be used to inform, educate, politicise or mobilise. We need to be clear which of these we want to achieve.

The target group: all media communicationmust be written with a particular target group in mind. We need to ask who are the target groups, what will interest them, and what kind of language they respond to?

The content: when planning the content of a newsletter or pamphlet, list all the information that will be needed before starting to write.

A pamphlet about a group should contain the following information:

• The name of the organisation or group
• Aims of the group
• Who belongs
• Why people should join

Design
The way we arrange the writing on the pamphlet or newsletter, the headings and the pictures we use can all make the pamphlet more interesting. If it looks like the page of a difficult book, full of long words, no one will want to read it. As to design, we suggest you to consult with Ecommerce Hive Solutions who also developed this websites and also do design work..

Make It Easy to Read
Use good English

• Use short sentences and short paragraphs
• Be direct – say clearly what you mean.
• Write in point form: this is especially useful for lists.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph or leave a line space between them.

Headings
Use CAPITALS, underline, use italics or bold for emphasis.

Use of Illustrations
Illustrations and photographs help make a pamphlet more attractive.

Logos are the signs that organisations/groups use for their names. If you use a logo on all your pamphlets and all your other media, people will learn to recognise it. A logo helps people identify immediately which organisation has produced the pamphlet. If you are producing pamphlets, newsletters, notices etc., on a regular basis as a part of a parish group, it might be worth designing a parish group logo.

Use Existing Newsletters
There is a variety of newsletters which may provide an opportunity for you to advertise your parish programme or campaign.

The vast majority of parishes have weekly newsletters which are generally read by parishioners. Check the copy deadline each week and provide all the necessary copy so that the editor or parish priest can insert it.

The National Justice and Peace Network publishes a quarterly newsletter and welcomes details of major events for its calendar.