The Commons Social Change Library Feed Items

Introduction

A resource list of materials focused on minority voices in Victoria, Australia, recommended by the PMI Victorian History Library.

Introduction

Who was Vida Goldstein? Learn more about Vida Goldstein, a leading suffragist, feminist and social changemaker in Australia in the 1900s.

Read Article

Vida Goldstein was many things:

• a leading suffragist (they’re the non-violent form of suffragettes),
• a Victorian (as in the state of Australia),
• the first woman to stand for national parliament anywhere in the Western world,
• a rousing speaker,
• a peace campaigner through World War I and
• a lifelong advocate for social justice. 

Vida is best known for her suffrage work, but her world and her actions were broader even than that. 

Vida Goldstein was born in 1869 in Portland, Victoria, and was a product of her upbringing and the support of her unconventional family. Her sister Elsie, for example, was married to the somewhat eccentric activist Henry Howard Champion, and they ran the fabulously named Book Lovers Library, which was a Melbourne institution until 1936. 

Introduction

Ricardo Borges Martins shares how organisers at the communications lab, Quid, used powerful organising and digital strategies to build civic engagement and overcome the far right in Brazil. Ricardo presented this case study at FWD+Organise 2024, a conference hosted by Australian Progress in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

Ricardo shares how communities in Brazil have been countering authoritarianism and misinformation through digital organising at an unprecedented scale. Ricardo leads digital strategy at Quid, a communications lab dedicated to engaging and informing civil society across Brazil. His team has created a digital network that reaches 25 million people through social media and operates WhatsApp groups with over 50,000 members actively involved in civic discussions – all without an email list. 

Below is a collation of lessons by the Commons librarians learned from Ricardo’s presentation with additional knowledge from two sources below by Pedro Telles, one of the co-founders of Quid alongside Ricardo.

Introduction

Explore resources collated by the Commons librarians from the FWD+Organise 2024 conference held in Naarm | Melbourne from the 5th – 6th of December.

The conference brought together community organisers and digital campaigners from across Australia and Aotearoa to share practical skills, learn innovative approaches to advocacy, and build lasting collaborations to win systemic change. The program included keynotes, workshops, masterclasses, and expert briefings.

It was hosted by Australian Progress, a national organisation dedicated to building the advocacy and campaigning capacity of Australian civil society to achieve systems change.

Thank you to the presenters who shared resources. If you presented at FWD+Organise 2024 and would like to add to this collection, please get in touch. Thanks to our volunteers for attending the conference and contributing articles alongside Commons Librarians.

Note: More conference resources are coming.

Introduction

Quick tips to think about in the lead-up to an election from a panel of political experts at the FWD+Organise Conference in 2024 in Naarm/Melbourne held by Australian Progress.

These tips were gathered by the Commons librarians from a panel of political experts in a breakout session called ‘What to do in the first 100 days: Building A Post-Election Gameplan’. The session was held in the lead-up to the Australian election, but the tips are applicable to any election. A list of resources under each tip has been added for you to explore further.

The panel included:

Introduction

Stories are powerful. So how do we ensure Story Telling always centres the Story Holder throughout?

Transformational Ethical Story Telling (T.E.S.T.) creates safer spaces for Story Holders, empowering them to create, curate and control their Stories, on their own terms. T.E.S.T. is an anti-oppressive framework which aims to flip the Story Telling balance of power, where each person’s rights and needs – regardless of their race, ethnicity, language, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, health, ability, economic status or background – must be respected.

Below are resources by Our Race including the TEST Framework, Story Holder Guide and Story Caretaker Guide.

The resources are continually updated. Please see the Our Race website for the latest versions.

Stories have power.
Your Stories are important.
Your Stories have value.
You are the expert.
Stories can be harmful.
Stories can trigger.
Stories can heal.
You and your Stories have the power to create change and reclaim power.

Introduction

Explore resources about Race Class Narrative including guides, examples and a checklist from We Make the Future in the United States.

Introduction

Cette boîte à outils comprend des conseils, des réflexions et des ressources pour ceux qui cherchent à prendre des mesures concrètes pour décoloniser leurs approches et soutenir de manière significative les mouvements autochtones. 

Décoloniser l’action climatique : Une trousse d’outils pour les ONGE du soi-disant Canada, a été élaborée par :

Des évaluateurs autochtones:

• Alexa Metallic, Première nation Listuguj Mi’gmaq.  
• Kahsennóktha, Première nation Kanehsatà:ke Kanien’kehà:ka.  
• Onagoshi Haymond, Première nation Kebaowek, Indigenous Climate Action.  
• Sakej Ward, Mi’kmaq, Première nation Esgenoopetitj.  
• Tori Cress, de la nation anishinaabe, Keepers of the Water, qui vit à G’Chimnissing, dans la baie Georgienne, sur le territoire du traité Williams. 

Rédacteurs et chefs de projet allochtones: 

• Jen Gobby, professeure adjointe affiliée, Université Concordia, coordinatrice et fondatrice de Research for the Front Lines.  
• Emily Lowan, responsable des campagnes sur l’approvisionnement en combustibles fossiles pour le Réseau Action Climat Canada et bénévole pour Research for the Front Lines. 

Graphiste et artiste:  

Introduction

As campaigners and organisers, we know stories of lived experience are powerful, and we’re eager to involve the community in our storytelling. But how do we do this meaningfully and with care?

This resource includes tips, tools and a presentation from a workshop session for digital storytellers and organisers working with affected communities.

The workshop was led by Zenaida Beatson and Kristin Gillies from For Purpose, a social enterprise from Aotearoa. They shared a framework and lessons on ethical storytelling with community including case studies from campaigns in Australia and New Zealand.

This workshop was hosted at a conference by Australian Progress called FWD+Organise 2024 and was held in Naarm/Melbourne.

Below are some tips and tools from their workshop session, and you can also access their full slide presentation below.

Introduction

Tips and an example checklist for community organisers about planning and promoting an event such as a town hall. This resource comes from a conference session called Town Halls and Turning People Out in 2024.

The conference—FWD+Organise 2024—was held by Australian Progress in Naarm | Melbourne. The session was run by Carly Robertson from the Australian Conservation Foundation and Caitlin Gordon-King from Huddle.

In the session, Carly Robertson, a community organiser with the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), shared lessons about ACF’s ‘organising playbook.’

ACF Community Groups

ACF uses a decentralised organising framework and has 43 groups (as of Dec 2024) around Australia. (See Map) The community groups are a network of independently organised, volunteer-run groups in the ACF community and are supported by paid community organisers. The community organisers provide support by:

Introduction

Alex Kelly and Jinghua Qian from the Economic Media centre share insights into the media landscape in Australia and the unique challenges this poses to movements working for economic and social justice, as well as practical tips and planning tools for engaging media.

This workshop was presented at FWD+Organise 2024, a conference hosted by Australian Progress in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

The State of Media in Australia: Challenges, Strategies, and Opportunities

Australia’s media landscape is undergoing significant changes, marked by a shrinking workforce and growing concentration of power.

Over the past 15 years, journalism jobs have halved, leaving fewer, less-specialised journalists covering more beats with less time. This, coupled with a lack of departmental fact-checking and editors, makes effective communication from spokespeople and organisations more crucial than ever.

Introduction

Sophie Hartley from the Commons Social Change Library presented this session on impact evaluation at FWD+Organise 2024.

​​As campaigners and organisers it can be challenging to show the direct links between the actions we take and structural changes in the world. How can we meaningfully measure our impact, and learn what’s working and what’s not so we can adjust our plans and resources accordingly?

In this session, Sophie Hartley, from the Movement Monitor research project at the Commons Library, shared tips on ensuring impact evaluation is built into your campaign and organising efforts from the design stage.

What is Impact Evaluation?

Impact evaluation lets us know how effective our campaigns, projects and organisations are. It allows us to observe and document changes in the world produced by our campaigns, projects and organisations.

Through your campaign or project you will engage in certain activities/tactics/strategies. Those activities will lead to particular outcomes and hopefully those outcomes will create some benefit to communities, environments or constituencies, and that is your impact. 

Introduction

Sarah Durieux (France), Riley Rocco (Pew), Darcy Gunning (AMWU) and Lauren Farrow (Renew Australia for All) presented this panel session on building coalitions at FWD+Organise 2024.

In a world of polarisation, how do we create spaces of agreement to work together?

This panel discussion heard from four campaigners about how building strong coalitions have helped to help achieve big wins.

• Sarah Durieux shared her experiences of building cross-sector collaborations during the recent elections in France.
• Riley Rocco shared how a deep organising approach built relationships with unlikely allies to win a ban on fracking in Channel Country in Queensland’s Lake Eyre Basin.
• Darcy Gunning talked about how a coalition of unions, employers and governments is helping to support a just transition in Collie, Western Australia.
• Lauren Farrow shared tips from building a coalition for the Renew Australia for All campaign. 

In this article, we’ve captured some of the core tips on coalition building shared during the session.

Introduction

Jordan Van Den Lamb (aka @PurplePingers) presented at FWD+Organise 2024.

Jordan introduced himself: “I hate real estate agents, make videos on TikTok and sometimes I argue with conservative people.” In fact, his housing activism has played an important part in highlighting the injustice of the housing crisis, empowering renters and agitating landlords, real estate agents and politicians.

@PurplePingers has over 200,000 followers on TikTok and you can follow him on You Tube, Instagram, and other platforms. He also maintains the ShitRentals.org website:

“This website is about giving power back to renters. As a renter, landlords and real estate agents have access to so much information about you, but you don’t get that same level of transparency from them.

Real estate agents often provide photos of properties that are years out of date, and don’t tell you what it’s like to actually live there. You don’t get to enter into a new rental knowing how difficult it might be for you to request basic repairs to be completed.

This website is here to help. It will always be free, and there will be no ability for landlords or real estate agents to pay for reviews to be removed.

Introduction

Learn about countering false information with tips to help you avoid the most common mythbusting pitfalls such as using the Truth Sandwich.

Read Article

Anyone familiar with the Common Cause approach to messaging will know we always caution against ‘mythbusting’ – that is, repeating (and thus inadvertently reinforcing) false or misleading information in order to debunk it. 

We recently reviewed the latest evidence from the fields of applied psychology and cognitive linguistics for any new research on mythbusting and its effects on beliefs and behaviours. 

The good news is that research on mythbusting has flourished in recent years – thanks to renewed interest in the science of correcting misinformation during the Trump years and the Covid 19 pandemic, where misinformation ran rife. 

While our literature review on mythbusting didn’t change our minds, we did discover some nuances we think are worth sharing. 

Before we get into the detail, let’s make one thing clear: 

In most cases, mythbusting or debunking misinformation works against us. There are many reasons for this, but here are our top two: 

Introduction

Celeste Liddle presented the opening keynote at FWD+Organise 2024. Celeste is an Arrernte woman living in Melbourne, Australia. She is a trade unionist and a freelance opinion writer, social commentator and public speaker.

Voice Referendum: Performance not Progress

I think I speak for many mob in the room when I say that in the twelve months that have followed the referendum, I have been called upon to reflect so many times on what its loss has meant to all of us in the Indigenous community. What’s more, I have, at times, felt pressured into a position, particularly by mainstream progressives, as an identifying progressive myself. There are many out there who want us to reiterate that the loss was a win for racism, that it has set the Indigenous rights movement back decades, and that the next steps are always going to be clouded with this failure.

Introduction

Sarah Durieux shares the story of the snap French election of July 2024 and the way the left collaborated to win. Sarah presented this case study at FWD+Organise 2024, a conference hosted by Australian Progress in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

Few expected these results, but I wasn’t surprised. It’s not the first time this year that we’ve achieved a seemingly impossible victory. Who thought France would get abortion enshrined into the constitution, which happened in March this year? Once again, over the last few weeks, we succeeded because we put into practice what we’ve learned, campaign after campaign, over the last few years.

Converging Movements, Accelerated by a Sense of Urgency

By calling for snap elections, President Emmanuel Macron created the most effective fuel for mobilization: a sense of urgency.

Introduction

Better understanding and measuring progress is an important part of strengthening narrative change strategies. This brief by ORS Impact offers insights into some of the questions facing practitioners, funders, and others interested in measuring this kind of work.

Narrative change is an approach with great potential for seeding transformative, durable social change. It is precisely because of this potential that understanding how to measure narrative change is important: it’s not enough to implement your strategy and then hope for the best.

That said, the complex, long-term nature of this kind of work makes measurement a challenge. Among those doing narrative change, there is a desire to better understand what works, how, and with who—and these are not straightforward questions.

→ How do you articulate the progress and value of the work you’re doing in the short term, when its full effects aren’t likely to be seen for some time?

→ What signals can you look for to indicate you’re moving the needle in the right direction?

→ And how do you understand the reach and impact of your work when it’s happening in a dynamic system, and there’s so much that lies beyond any one organization’s control?

Introduction

Disinformation thrives on stereotypes, scapegoating and soundbites. Direct conversations with people that go deeper into experiences and feelings have been found to be effective at reducing stigma and discrimination, shifting opinions and actions. 

Deep Canvassing

“Deep canvassing is a voter contact model where canvassers prioritize two things: 

1. Non-judgmentally inviting a voter to open up about their real, conflicted feelings on an issue. 
2. Sharing vulnerably about their own life, and asking curious questions about the voter’s life (especially the experiences that have shaped how they each feel about the issue).

In other words, deep canvassing is about working to create mutual understanding grounded in lived experience, instead of in debate or talking points. When we take this approach,  people’s experience leads them away from prejudice, stigma, or fear, and towards empathy and a willingness to consider progressive solutions.” The New Conversation Initiative

One-to-one conversations have been a key tool of community organising for many years. Deep canvassing builds on the approach by focusing on conflicted feelings and encouraging taking the perspective of others.

Introduction

The Commons Social Change Library gathers the collective wisdom of people engaged in social change and makes it available on one easy to use website. All of our educational resources are free of charge and available to everyone with internet access.

The Commons was a Community Partner for FWD+Organise 2024.

FWD+Organise 2024 was a conference that gathered community organisers and digital campaigners for two days of intensive learning at the Abbotsford Convent (Naarm/Melbourne, Australia) in December 2024. It was hosted by Australian Progress.

Introduction

A collection of guides and toolkits for civil society organisations on how to counter disinformation collated by the Commons Librarians.

Introduction

In this online workshop, How to Measure Narrative Change, narrative change and evaluation experts share a radical, values-aligned framework that narrative practitioners and movement workers can use to measure narrative change.

The workshop was held in 2024 by the Radical Communicators Network – a community of practice for social-justice communicators.

Whether working on a piece of art, a campaign, or power-building in local communities, narrative organizers are always exploring ways to measure the impact of their work.

The workshop provides:

• an overview of how to craft a narrative change evaluation strategy,
• a set of principles to guide their work and
• increased confidence in how to measure narrative change.

…and asks questions such as:

• Is your message grounded in your theory of change?
• Who is telling the story?
• Whose voice is being centred?
• How are you using storytelling to immerse your audience?
• What care is being taken for your storytellers?

The hosts of the workshop were:

Introduction

Here is a collection of inspiring quotes about narrative change and story telling collated by the Commons Librarians.

Please contact us if you have one to share.

Introduction

How do we change the narrative to make a better world? How do we tell stories for social change? Do you want to learn how to change hearts and minds on different issues?

Here is a live list of courses. Get in touch if you have a course to add.

Introduction

This toolkit, includes tips, reflections and resources for those looking to take real steps to decolonize your approaches and meaningfully support Indigenous movements. Decolonizing Climate Action: A Tool Kit for ENGOs in So-called Canada, was developed by:

Indigenous reviewers:

• Alexa Metallic, Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation.  
• Kahsennóktha, Kanehsatà:ke Kanien’kehà:ka First Nation.  
• Onagoshi Haymond, Kebaowek First Nation, Indigenous Climate Action.  
• Sakej Ward, Mi’kmaq, Esgenoopetitj First Nation.  
• Tori Cress from the Anishinaabe Nation, Keepers of the Water, living in G’Chimnissing on Georgian Bay in Williams Treaty territory. 

Settler drafters and project leads:  

• Dr. Jen Gobby, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Concordia University, Coordinator and Founder of Research for the Front Lines.  

• Emily Lowan, Fossil Fuel Supply Campaigns Lead for Climate Action Network Canada and volunteer with Research for the Front Lines. 

Graphic Designer and Artist:  

Introduction

A collection of resources about narrative change including best practices, evaluation, funding, infrastructure and case studies.

Narrative Change rests on the premise that reality is socially constructed through narrative, and that in order to bring about change in the world we need to pay attention to the ways in which this takes place.

Narrative change involves changing which narratives are dominant in culture and discourse, in order to shift how people understand society and their role in it. This can involve a change in the set of narratives in wide circulation, and/or a change in the relative prevalence of different narratives.

See the Narrative Directory Glossary to understand the different terms and definitions involved with narrative change.

Resources

Narrative Change Theory and Best Practices

Here is a collection of resources that provide a foundational understanding of narrative change strategy, from big-picture theory to applied practices.

Introduction

In November 1983 a major protest against global violence took place outside the US run military base at Pine Gap, which is on Arrente country in the Northern Territory, Australia. The installation is used to spy on Australian and overseas communications as well as target nuclear and other weapons.

Over a period of two weeks in November 1983 800 women camped near the base and undertook numerous non-violent actions in favour of peace and Aboriginal land rights.

These included a march to the base led by Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal people, trespass actions, weaving the fence with flowers, ribbons, messages and photographs, street theatre, workshops, speeches, graffiti, the removal of fencing, and solidarity protests for arrestees at the Alice Springs courthouse.

The 111 women arrested for entering the site all gave the name Karen Silkwood, an American anti-nuclear and union activist who died under suspicious circumstances in 1974. 

The protest was successful in drawing public attention to the base’s then largely hidden role in the US war fighting machine. It showed solidarity with the Arrente people as well as with women’s peace camps at Greenham Common in the UK and Cosimo in Italy.

Introduction

Looking for a sample brief to give to photographers/videographers to capture your action event/protest? Here is an example brief by Move Beyond Coal in Australia.

This photo and video content brief was originally developed for Move Beyond Coal activists in Australia targeting a major fossil fuel-funding bank, the National Australia Bank (NAB) in 2024.

Photo and video content briefs can help make the most of big action moments.

This document includes:

Introduction

This is a write-up from an event from the Leading Change Network’s (LCN) Learning Series on Organizing for Liberation: Hope & Solidarity in Global Student Movements for Palestine that took place online on the 12th August, 2024.

Over 60 people from 14 countries joined to hear stories from frontline student organizers in the U.S., Canada, and France. It was moderated by Besan Jaber (activist, researcher, and analyst at Georgetown University) and the panel featured these diverse speakers:

• Corinne Shanahan, student organizer, Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, US
• Ryna Workman, NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition, US
• Sara Rasikh, U of T Occupy for Palestine, Canada
• Khaled Abu-Qare, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Sciences Po, France

We explored key themes around hope, resilience, and community building that have kept the momentum going.

Introduction

A round up of some of the best articles and guides to help you process the 2024 US election outcome, consider options for moving forward, work with others, and take strategic action. If you have a resource you’d like us to include on this page contact the Commons Librarians.

Introduction

The Commons librarians have put together a handout of recommended resources for the upcoming Degrowth Festival held in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia on the 30 November 2024.

This festival is held by

• Degrowth Network Australia
• Brunswick Tool Library
• Sustain: The Australian Food Network.

More information and free registration here.

Degrowth is an idea that critiques the global capitalist system which pursues economic growth at all costs, causing human exploitation and environmental destruction… Degrowth means transforming societies to ensure environmental justice and a good life for all within planetary boundaries. – From www.degrowth.info

List of Resources

Follow the links below to access each resource.

Introduction

Research shows us that how people talk about issues can change how others think and act. Deepening people’s understanding of issues means learning how to use narratives and frames to shift mindsets. This shift is necessary for changes that make the biggest difference to people’s lives and the planet’s health.

Framing — decisions we make about how to present an idea or issue — connects people to best knowledge and unlocks action or can prevent them from connecting to it.

The frames and narratives we choose help open the door to particular information or knowledge being considered and shut the door to other information. This means frames and narratives strongly influence the actions, solutions, policies, and political decisions people are willing to support.

There are many existing shared mindsets. The information context — for example, who has framing and narrative power — determines which shared mindsets are switched on and used most frequently.

We can use our narratives and collective power strategically to connect people to the best knowledge and evidence, building support for the solutions that will make the biggest difference.

Introduction

The Reframing Migration Narratives Toolkit is a set of resources by the International Center for Policy Advocacy ICPA for progressive campaigners working to put diversity and inclusion back on the public/policy agenda and counter populist narratives.

Introduction

This article shares the lessons learnt from organizing for narrative change based on the case study of the Yes on 15 Schools and Communities First – Prop 15 campaign in California.

This article was originally published by NPQ online, on May 24, 2022. It is used with permission.

Read Article

How can community groups shift narratives? A ballot initiative campaign from 2020 provides some important lessons. That year, community organizing groups and labor unions across California launched a campaign to take on the corporate loophole in Proposition 13 and reclaim billions of dollars for public schools and public services.

They knew they faced an uphill battle. Proposition 13, or Prop 13—the 1978 ballot initiative that capped property taxes in the state and set the stage for the presidency of Ronald Reagan two years later—has long been described as the “third rail” of California politics.

Introduction

Climate messaging has a distribution problem. We need new tools for a new era of climate communications. Always put the audience first. A lot of climate content is only reaching existing supporters. That’s because it doesn’t align with the values of audiences outside the progressive base, and because it’s delivered via news, which many audiences just aren’t consuming.

This interactive guide, How to Reach New Climate Audiences, by Harmony Labs (in partnership with Earth Alliance) dives deep into audiences based on what they value, the media they engage with, the voices that speak to them, how they relate to climate, and the storytelling approaches that resonate.

This research invites climate communicators to start with audience values (based on Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Human Values) and engage people where they are, organically and authentically, in addition to relying on traditional messaging strategy or approaches.

The techniques they use to think about reaching audiences are useful to any issue area.

Introduction

Prevention, not cure, may be a more effective way to combat misinformation.

As they start their careers, doctors swear to uphold the Hippocratic Oath. If people tackling misinformation were to establish an equivalent oath, we should make sure to borrow one of the original’s phrases: “Prevention is preferable to cure.”

As with medicine, so with misinformation: It is better to prevent misinformation from spreading at all than to try to debunk it once it’s spread.

Here’s why. Debunks don’t reach as many people as misinformation, and they don’t spread nearly as quickly. If they do reach us, they generally struggle to erase the misinformation from our debates or our brains. Even when we’ve been told that the misinformation is false, research suggests it continues to influence our thinking.

So it helps to take a page from medicine: Prevention, not cure, may be a more effective way to combat misinformation.

Understanding how prebunks work (and how they don’t) is essential for reporters, fact checkers, policy makers and platforms.

Introduction

Here are steps to develop a risk mitigation plan from the Disinformation Toolkit 2.0: How Civil Society and Non-governmental Organizations Can Combat Harmful Mis- and Disinformation by InterAction. This excerpt is from pages 17 – 21.

Developing a Risk Mitigation Plan

This section summarizes steps you might consider taking to develop a strategy for identifying and responding to online disinformation that could affect your organization’s operations and the safety of your staff.

Think about your strategy in five parts, which are detailed below:

Introduction

A guide with resources, directories and media about strengthening democracy collated by the Democracy Resource Hub.

• Discover democratic reform strategies and civic engagement tools to enhance democratic institutions and defend against backsliding.
• Explore nonpartisan reforms, participatory democracy innovations, and civic tech solutions for inclusive governance and addressing historical injustices through citizen assemblies and digital democracy platforms.

What is ”Strengthening Democracy” and why is it important?

Strengthening Democracy is at the heart of the project for democratic renewal. It aims to create more inclusive, responsive, and just democratic systems and institutions. Strengthening Democracy includes: 

Introduction

Our job is to translate outrage over his agenda into action toward a truly transformational vision.

This article was originally published on Waging Nonviolence. Note: Minor formatting edits have been made by the Commons Library.

Read Article

For many of us, the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s decisive electoral victory has been a time of deep despair and mourning. There has been plenty of commentary trying to make sense of Trump’s win and the factors that led to it. But no analysis changes the fact that the outcome represents a serious blow to our most vulnerable communities, a sharp setback for causes of economic and social justice, and a profound challenge to whatever semblance of democracy America has been able to secure. We have lived through it before, and it feels even worse the second time around. It is right that we take this as a moment to grieve. 

But even amidst our feelings of sorrow or hopelessness, we can recognize that political conditions are not static.

Introduction

Explore how humor and dilemma actions empower pro-democracy movements by exposing authoritarian absurdities and fostering community resilience.

Humor and dilemma actions are powerful tools for defending democracy, especially in repressive environments. By placing authoritarian regimes in “lose-lose” situations and engaging public attention, these creative tactics help counter repression and strengthen communities.

As Ivan Marovic commented during the workshop, “Strategic humor isn’t about making fun—it’s about exposing the absurdity of power that claims to serve the people but often betrays them.”

The following insights are inspired by “Defending Democracy with Humor and Dilemma Actions Tactics,” a webinar hosted by the Democracy Resource Hub and Horizons Project on the 28 Oct 2024 as part of the Intermestic Learning Series, which fosters global knowledge-sharing to support democracy.

The global panel of speakers included:

Introduction

As Trump returns to power, we face more than two choices. We can defend a broken status quo or dismantle it. We can also transform it into something stronger.

Our government is stuck in the past, bogged down by bureaucracy and incompetence. The Democrats had their chance to fix it, but they chose to maintain the status quo. It’s time for real change. – Donald Trump, Oct 28, 202

November 6, 2024 – The day after a historic election, and the headlines on my phone are loud and clear: Trump Storms Back to Power. Across the country and around the world people are grappling with what this means—not just for the next four years, but for the future of democracy itself. Beneath the shock, a deeper message resonates across red and blue states alike: Americans are calling for change.

The key to taking effective action in a Trump world is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.

This article was originally published on Waging Nonviolence on the 4th November 2024 (prior to the US election) with the title ’10 ways to be prepared and grounded if Trump wins’.

Introduction

Polls are close and the ultimate election outcome may not be known for some time. Amidst the uncertainty, it’s important we squarely face the possibility of a Trump victory and what we’d have to do about it. 

Trump has already signaled the kind of president he would be: revengeful, uncontrolled and unburdened by past norms and current laws. I won’t go through the litany of awful things he’s pledged to do, since that’s been well-established with his words, Project 2025 plans and excellent analyses from authoritarian experts. 

Introduction

For communicators, activists, advocates, and content creators to understand what kinds of stories they can tell to convey the realities of poverty, they need first to understand what existing narratives they’re up against.

This report identifies the major poverty narratives found in the existing body of narrative research and offers practical advice about how to deploy counter-narratives to create better stories—and, ultimately, create social change.

Contents

Introduction 3
Existing Poverty Narratives 6
Counter-Narratives and Strategies
for Shifting Poverty Narratives 18
Outstanding Questions and Areas for Further Research 28
Summary Recommendations: How to Tell Effective New Stories 30
Endnotes 34
About FrameWorks 46

Summary Recommendations

How to Tell Effective New Stories

There are still questions about the larger counter-narratives discussed above, and more research is needed to answer these questions. Future research should focus on refining and supplementing the counter-narratives reviewed above in order to understand how these narratives can be used most effectively, including how they might be combined.

Introduction

‘Narrative change’ seems to be a catch-phrase at present. A number of foundations—including the Open Society Foundations—have engaged in narrative change work and a number of donors have funded narrative change projects. Hardly a conversation or meeting happens without the term ‘narrative change’ being used.

However, when a term becomes a trend, there is the danger that it starts to become shorthand for thinking—a term without precision—where everybody thinks they know what it means, but nobody really does for sure. Therefore, we need to be able to define the concept of ‘narrative change’ more precisely, to understand what it is and what it is not, why it is important, and how we go about it.

Firstly, what do we mean when we talk about narrative? A narrative consists of a collection or body of stories of characters, joined in some common problem as fixers (heroes), causes (villains) or the harmed (victims) in a temporal trajectory (plot) leading towards resolution within a particular setting or context (Jones & McBeth 2010; Frank 2010).

These stories together or collectively convey a common worldview or meaning—an interpretation of the world and how it works (Frank 2010; Fisher 1984). This worldview embeds within it particular power relationships.

Introduction

In this article Brett Davidson explores lessons and gives practical advice about the role of storytelling in political advocacy.

*Note: This article has been modified with formatting changes e.g. quotes, bullet points, headings, images and weblinks.

Abstract

A number of authors interested in how to translate evidence into policy identify the importance of policy narrative and argue that advocates of scientific evidence need to tell good stories to grab the attention and appeal to the emotions of policymakers. Yet, this general call for better narratives is incomplete without concrete examples and evidence of their effectiveness.

This article shows how these processes are described in the “grey” literature—defined as literature which is produced by all levels of government, academics, business and industry, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers.

This literature is often missed by scientists but more important to activists and advocates within social movements and the non-profit sector who frequently engage with or seek to influence policymakers.

Introduction

To improve the health and well-being of communities oppressed by racism and white supremacy, advocates for justice need to challenge some deeply held cultural assumptions, values, and practices.

This prerogative raises a series of questions:

• How can we disrupt the narratives that perpetuate racism and white privilege?
• What counternarratives and stories need to be told to shift cultural consciousness?
• What kinds of alliances, infrastructure, and institutions are necessary?

During a two-day convening, health practitioners, race theorists, academics, activists, community organizers, and cultural and media strategists met to examine these questions, reflect, learn, and share ideas. 

This convening report summary seeks to spark wider conversations—particularly in this fraught political moment—and mobilize people and resources in an effort to advance narratives that promote racial justice and expand our understanding of health, human rights, and the public good.

Introduction

Funders may be reluctant to support narrative work because progress is difficult to evaluate. Are these objections valid?

The article “Measuring Narrative Change: Moving from Theory to Practice” by Brett Davidson in the Stanford Social Innovation Review SSIR discusses the importance of measuring narrative change in social impact work.

It highlights how narratives shape perceptions and behaviours influencing societal change. It emphasies the need for practical frameworks and tools to assess narrative shifts effectively. Overall, the piece advocates for a systematic approach to understanding and measuring narrative change, enabling organizations to enhance their impact in social movements.

The question about assessing progress in narrative change has to become less theoretical and much more applied. How does a small organization with a limited budget assess progress? What sort of evidence is appropriate and “good enough” for them while being compelling enough to convince funders to invest in their work? What tools might we develop or adapt that would enable such an organization to gather useful evidence to help it learn and become more effective, without imposing a huge extra burden?

Introduction

This report by The Frameworks Institute introduces a model of narrative form for use in social change work, defining the elements and identifying the patterns in stories that comprise the narrative form.

Calls for narrative change abound in social change work. But what kinds of patterns qualify as narratives, and how narratives are embedded within particular stories, remains hazy. We developed a model of narrative, defining the elements and identifying the patterns in stories that comprise the narrative form. Our model identifies a set of features that make up a narrative, offering a practical tool for those working to change narratives within and beyond the issue of poverty.

There is widespread agreement that cultural narratives are “patterns of stories,” but thinkers and strategists in the narrative change space—including FrameWorks—generally haven’t explained what kinds of patterns qualify as narratives. As a result, it’s no surprise that narrative is frequently conflated with other types of frames, like values, metaphors, and emphasis frames.

This report, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, develops a model of narrative form for use in social change work. We think delineating the contours of narrative form is the key to unlocking a clearer understanding of narrative change. Focusing on form allows us to identify the types of patterns in stories that comprise narratives.

Introduction

This article, What Makes Narrative Change so Hard?, by Brett Davidson featured in Stanford Social Innovation Review. It discusses the challenges of narrative change in social issues, particularly in access to medicines. It highlights how entrenched systems can undermine efforts to reform policies and perceptions, pointing to the importance of re-framing narratives about medicines as public goods.

Introduction

Learn about political organising in electoral campaigns from the Leading Change Network’s Political Organizing Series (monthly online learning sessions held from July to October in 2024).

Kick-off: People, Power, Politics

This is a year of elections around the world, and practicing democracy is now more critical than it has ever been before. In this series of learning sessions, we explored with over 200 participants what is often called political organizing, electoral organizing, or field organizing, which is organizing in political campaigns or campaigns to shape what our democracies look like.

We discussed how organizing can build effective campaigns, strengthen our democracies, and win elections, while also being in community with people who share values and interests.

Lacey opened the series with her story about how she learned about organizing during her journey as a political organizer.