Background 

Born from tragedy, the Christchurch Call emerged as a global response to the March 15, 2019, terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques that claimed 51 lives and injured 50 more. The attacker live-streamed the horrific event for 17 minutes, with the footage viewed over 4,000 times before removal. This devastating incident highlighted the urgent need for a coordinated global approach to eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online. 

Two months after the attack, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron brought together world leaders and technology sector representatives to adopt the Christchurch Call – a commitment to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online while preserving a free, open, and secure internet. 

Today, the Christchurch Call has grown into a community of over 130 governments, online service providers, and civil society organisations working collaboratively toward this critical mission. 

The Challenge 

By 2024, the Christchurch Call had reached a pivotal moment in its evolution. Initially hosted within New Zealand’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the initiative needed to transition to an independent charitable trust by July 1, 2024. 

This transition presented several complex challenges: 

• Maintaining stakeholder confidence during organisational change 

• Clearly articulating the Call’s unique value proposition 

• Draw from the extensive knowledge of a talented but very busy team managing the transition 

• Developing a sustainable operating model post-transition 

• Ensuring continuity of purpose and effectiveness 

• Communicating the transition clearly to the Call community and partners 

The Call team needed to focus simultaneously on: 

1. Successfully executing the structural transition to a charitable trust 
2. Clearly defining the new opportunities this transition presented 
3. Building excitement and confidence among stakeholders for this new phase 

The Approach 

ThinkPlace New Zealand partnered with the Christchurch Call team to develop a strategic framework and visual narrative for the transition. Our approach included: 

1. A series of strategic conversations with the team created a comprehensive framework that clarified the Call’s role within the broader ecosystem and how it would operate post-transition as a charitable trust. 
2. Co-creating a visual narrative to communicate the transition story effectively to those who work within, govern, or support the Call Secretariat. 
3. Outlining how the new entity would function during the critical transition phase after July 1, 2024, ensuring continuity while embracing new opportunities. 
4. Planning how to maintain and build stakeholder confidence throughout the transition process. 

Outcomes included were:

The strategic work delivered several key outcomes that positioned the Christchurch Call for successful transition: 

• A clear way of communicating the Call’s role and its value so they could consistently, confidently, and clearly communicate the future Secretariat model to the Call Community, funders, trustees, and other key partners. 

• To achieve this alignment of diverse, global efforts, the Secretariat excels at system-led leadership and a series of innovative visuals that bring the system’s many  ‘actors’ into view, who work together on this wicked problem.  

• This also included a high-level operating model that described the key phases of activity occurring regularly and the highlights where the Secretariat’s system roles apply. 

Another outcome was the capturing the valuable knowledge of team members who may or may not be transitioning, and ensuring they all felt equipped to share the new model and opportunity, with clear understanding of how the Call fits within the wider system, its role, and its value. 

The process generated excitement and renewed expectations about the role the Call would play in its next phase, and the impact this would have globally. 

Key Impact 

The work with the Christchurch Call demonstrates how strategic clarity and intentional communication can transform complex organisational change into opportunity.  

The Christchurch Call transition illustrates how thoughtful strategic design can honour an organisation’s founding purpose while creating new pathways for impact in a complex global landscape.  

By clearly articulating its unique position and value in the international ecosystem, the Call enhanced its ability to advocate effectively for safer online spaces globally. 

What began as a response to tragedy has evolved into an enduring force for positive change, with the strategic transition ensuring the Call’s vital work continues uninterrupted while opening doors to new possibilities. 

It was our privilege to work on such important work, we wish the Call, its founders and community great positive impact on this wicked challenge.