The Commons Social Change Library Feed Items

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.

Introduction

A report by Fandom Forward about Fan Activism which is the practice of organizing fans of pop culture for social change.

FANDOM is a human instinct. For as long as people have been telling stories, we’ve been driven to share those stories with one another: through retelling, reimagining, and remixing. Fandom happens when media is consumed in community.

Introduction

A list of key resources collated by the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling IRIS exploring narrative change, popular culture, cultural organizing and cultural strategy.

Resources

Cultural Strategy: An Introduction & Primer

Nayantara Sen, Art/Work Practice and Power California, 2019

Introduction

This guide aims to support progressive community groups and organisations to make a statement to their supporters to counter the influence of the far-right, particularly in pivotal moments of far-right momentum like the 2024 US election.

By coming together to make strong public statements, we aim to ignite broader discussions on countering far-right narratives and affirm the importance of solidarity and community organising in our justice movements.

Please note: This guide has been written by people in Australia for the Australian context. You may like to adapt this for the context in your country or community. 

For further resources, updates and community events on countering the far-right you can sign up for email updates. (Note: Your email would be collected by Will Potter for this purpose only and will never be shared. All resources developed will be for the Australian context).

Introduction

This resource, Un cambio narrativo para ampliar la conversación política: Aportes desde el periodismo feminista del Sur, is available in Spanish only.

Is it possible to change narratives in a world in crisis? Can changing the way we talk about how bad the world is make it better?

On the path to building bridges, forming virtual hives and coming together with colleagues from different movements, territories, organizations and roles, we have created a new station where we can stop and join forces with this workbook – A Narrative Shift to Broaden the Political Conversation: Contributions from Feminist Journalism in the South.

A few years ago, pressed by increasingly regressive situations in terms of rights and increasingly polarized societies, we tried to find the right questions that would move us to change the ways in which we communicate to LatFem audiences and the general public our view of the world, its powers and its multiple crises.

How do we respond to polarization, violence, and misinformation? How do we get beyond our followers and supporters? How do we make people fall in love again? How do we make feminism great again?

Introduction

The Narrative Directory is a co-created international resource to support those using storytelling and narrative strategies to drive progressive change. It is a tool for building narrative power.

About

The Narrative Directory is a tool for activists, civic innovators, independent storytellers, journalists, researchers and funders to locate one another, exchange knowledge and see the bigger picture of the global impact storytelling and narrative change ecosystem. By sharing resources openly with each other, we’re better able to make connections, seed collaborations and build shared narrative power.

The Directory is hosted and curated by IRIS (International Resource for Impact and Storytelling)—a funder collaborative devoted to ensuring the field of narrative change becomes influential, widely accepted and generously supported.

How to Use the Directory

Searching

Search by:

Introduction

Erica Chenoweth, a US political scientist known for groundbreaking research work on nonviolent civil resistance movements, shares five paths social movements can take in a disinformation era. 

From the Arab Spring to the Black Lives Matter movement, civil resistance occurs around the world. But how can nonviolent social movements succeed against the rise of fictional narratives in the media? Erica Chenoweth, Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs, discusses these topics and more during this 2020 Wiener Conference Call.

Listen to Podcast

Social Movements in the Age of Fake News with Erica Chenoweth

Read the full transcript

Introduction

A report from the FrameWorks Institute, Mindset Shifts: What Are They? Why Do They Matter? How Do They Happen?, explores the best practices and most effective strategies for moving mindsets.

This report is intended as a resource for all those working on and funding mindset shifts.

Mindsets—fundamental, assumed patterns of thinking that shape how we make sense of the world and act in it—are highly durable with deep historical roots. They emerge from and are tied to social practices and institutions that are woven into the very fabric of society. As such, they tend to change slowly.

The research yields clear lessons and recommendations for how advocates, activists, funders, and other practitioners can maximize the impact of their efforts to change how we think about social issues in order to change the contexts and structures that shape our experiences and realities.

The report is organized as follows:

Introduction

This report offers eight lessons about narrative—provided by luminaries in marketing and advertising, entertainment media/narrative arts, psychoanalysis, and technology—which can be applied to enrich narrative change work.

Contents

Introduction 3
Eight Lessons 5
1: Empathy 5
2: Momentum 7
3: Complexity 9
4: Experience 12
5: Participation 14
6: Attention 17
7: Aspiration 18
8: Distance 19
References 21
About FrameWorks 22

8 Lessons

See the full report to learn more about the 8 lessons. Each lesson looks at the two following elements –

• What does this mean for narrative change work?
• How to put this into practice

The 8 Lessons discovered about narrative are:

Introduction

What are the best ways to fund and support narrative change, power and systems? Here is a collection of resources including indepth reports, podcasts and recent articles with insights and recommendations.

This is a living list please contact us if you have any related resources to add.

Resources

Reports

Funding Narrative Change: An Assessment and Framework by the Convergence Partnership
2022, Mik Moore, Rinku Sen, Convergence Partnership

Introduction

Disinformation has been spreading like wildfire in Australia’s democracy. How can we combat it?

Watch this video of a forum featuring 3 case studies of disinformation. This forum was hosted by PEN Melbourne and NonFiction Lab on the 15 August 2024 in Naarm/Melbourne.

It featured the Legal Director from the Human Rights Law Centre, Alice Drury, in conversation with three experts who examined how disinformation is operating across the world. The case studies were:

Introduction

In a nutshell, campaigns are sustained efforts at a specific social justice goal. Campaigns are a powerful way of strategically building the capacity, developing experience, and laying the groundwork for future movements. Simultaneously, campaigns win solid victories for social justice. – Daniel Hunter

Strategy is the art and practice of developing effective plans of action to achieve objectives and win campaigns. This guide highlights a number of resources which are contained in the Commons Social Change Library.

If you are new to the topic then you may want to start by checking some of the introductory resources listed below. After that it may be helpful to choose a strategy template to guide you through the process of planning. Depending on your approach to change, the manuals listed can provide a comprehensive immersion in that approach, with a number of tools you can use and lessons you can apply. 

If you’ve been involved in campaigns for a long time perhaps you might like to try some individual tools to get a fresh perspective, experiment with the guides to creative and systemic thinking, or dig deeper with the books.

Introduction

Holding a stall is a great way to engage with people face to face about your campaign issues. Stalls allow you to raise awareness of issues and can help you recruit supporters for your campaign and group.

To get the most out of your stall, it is worth putting some thought into planning it to ensure its effectiveness. Try these tips to get you started.

Tips

1. Decide your Aims and Message

Ask yourself:

• why are you doing the stall?
• What is the message you hope to get across about your campaign?
• Do you want to recruit supporters for your group, or get people to take action? It may be both of these.

Identify the main reason for your stall and focus on that.

2. Design an eye catching display

Take some time to think about how you want your stall to look. Maybe use display boards, posters, fliers, props and costumes.

Take things that focus on your campaign but make sure not to clutter your stall as this can overwhelm people. Have fun and be creative!

Introduction

The Lived Experience Guide to Climate Campaigning provides guidance to organisations seeking to campaign with people with lived experience of climate impacts.

This guide aims to introduce concepts, practices and guidelines that can be used by organisations when they work with people with lived experience and when designing communications and campaigns. It was developed with input from climate-impacted people as well as advocates, psychologists and campaigners with experience in supporting people with lived experience to be storytellers and change agents.

As we experience escalating disasters and extreme weather we are yet again reminded that Australia is on the front line of climate change. Climate impacted people are experts in how climate change has impacted them/us and their/our communities and can be powerful advocates for change and action. In supporting people with lived experience of climate change, there are a range of important considerations that lead to better outcomes while minimising harm.

If you would like to contribute (including examples) please contact Serena Joyner on ceo@bushfiresurvivors.org

Introduction

This study by Erica Chenoweth and Zoe Marks, Pro-Democracy Organizing against Autocracy in the United States: A Strategic Assessment & Recommendations, explores nonviolent resistance strategies that could be relevant for protecting local communities and groups under a hypothetical authoritarian administration. The study delves into the next phase of pro-democracy struggle and recommends a four-pronged strategy that can ensure ongoing, effective pro democratic mobilization even if a nationwide authoritarian transition takes place.

Executive Summary

Many groups in the US are focused on preventing the further rise of authoritarian forces by raising alarms about authoritarian power-grabs in key states; by building financial, legal, and electoral strategies to advocate for democratic practices and outcomes in state and national politics; and by scenario-planning responses to contested election outcomes in 2022 and 2024.

This urgent and important work must continue and intensify in the coming months. This report aims to expand the conversation to also prepare for effective organizing and mobilizing in the aftermath of a nationwide authoritarian transition, should one occur after the 2024 election.

Introduction

Here are some tips to get the most out of conversations on stalls, at events, or door knocking. Whether you are looking to recruit people, build your contact list, or encourage people to take action here are some basic guidelines.

Initiate contact!

Through activities like stalls and handing out leaflets we are seeking to interact with as many people as possible.

If we sit back and wait for people to come to us, we will miss many opportunities. This isn’t about being a nuisance, but it is about being active and initiating contact with people. We have something important to talk to them about.

If we sit back and wait for people to come to us, we will miss many opportunities. This isn’t about being a nuisance, but it is about being active and initiating contact with people. We have something important to talk to them about.

When setting up a stall consider standing in the front or to the side of it, rather than behind. As people walk past you could step towards them, or walk with them (without being intimidating).

Have a friendly greeting which introduces you and what you are doing eg

Introduction

‘Narrative power and collective action’ is a collection of curated conversations between Isabel Crabtree-Condor, a Knowledge Broker at Oxfam, and a diverse group of people working in the narrative change and collective action space.

Part 1

Narratives are a form of power that can mobilize and connect, as well as divide and isolate. Social, public or dominant narratives help to legitimize existing power relationships, prop them up or make them seem natural.

As an anthology of perspectives this knowledge offering is one way to amplify different and diverse ways of knowing and doing narratives. Narratives are made up of many stories, tweets, online content, offline conversations. They keep deeply held ideas about society and people in place, for good and bad.

Narratives are not something that happen over there, they are part of us and we are part of them. We can challenge or reinforce narratives on daily basis. We see powerful damaging narratives at work in the COVID-19 response, and in systems of oppression that perpetuate inequality.

We can use this knowledge to guide us now and as we move into the future. Narrative knowledge and framing know-how can help us to open civic space, collaborate better and amplify others, helping us to be part of the biggest ‘us’ we can be.

Introduction

Introducing Erica Chenoweth’s book Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know. This book is a “sweeping overview of civil resistance movements around the world that explains what they are, how they work, why they are often effective, and why they can fail.

Civil resistance is a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods (strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, and many other tactics) to prosecute a conflict without directly harming or threatening to harm an opponent. Sometimes called nonviolent resistance, unarmed struggle, or nonviolent action, this form of political action is now a mainstay across the globe. It was been a central form of resistance in the 1989 revolutions and in the Arab Spring, and it is now being practiced widely in Trump’s America. If we are going to understand the manifold protest movements emerging around the globe, we need a thorough understanding of civil resistance and its many dynamics and manifestations.

Introduction

Whether you are an organiser, a curator or a participant, this Feminist Influencing Basket of Resources is intended to guide you through proven tools and exercises.

The resource is a go-to guide on ways of working and engaging at different levels using an intersectional, feminist, participatory approach, where women, gender non-binary and marginalised or silenced groups can:

• Unpack power dynamics through personal and collective reflection, learning and action to strengthen collective power.
• Propose an ethic of care through practical feminist rituals for safety, wellbeing, vulnerability, and creation of safe spaces.
• Enhance feminist narratives in joint actions to create “a bigger us”.
• Design practical feminist influencing strategies and actions.
• Use feminist, participatory monitoring, evaluation and action learning.

The resource aims to make visible the many systems of oppression, understand how they reinforce and support each other, and strengthen strategies to challenge them together and separately using the Feminist Influencing Basket.

Introduction

Since the 2016 election, interest in the concept of “narrative” has spiked in the nonprofit and philanthropic worlds. There exists a growing consensus among people committed to social justice that traditional change efforts like organizing, advocacy, and litigation cannot be fully effective or lasting unless they are integrated with a narrative change strategy. Definitions of what narrative means vary greatly, and the art and craft of changing it can seem mysterious. But experience and research point to clear, replicable approaches for reshaping public narratives in support of social justice.

What is Narrative and Why does it Matter?

At The Opportunity Agenda, we define narrative as “a Big Story, rooted in shared values and common themes, that influences how audiences process information and make decisions.”  Narratives are conveyed in the political and policy discourse, but also in news media, popular culture, social media, and at dinner tables across communities.

As recent experience shows, many audiences are invulnerable to facts that do not fit within a narrative that they can understand and embrace.

Introduction 

The culture of the progressive sector—as with all sectors—is rooted in stories. They are stories that convey values, mental models, assumptions and identities, all of which ultimately guide our behaviors.

Unsurprisingly, the most powerful stories that define the culture of our sector are not the stories about the issues we work on, but rather the stories we tell ourselves about who we are (and aren’t) and how we should act in the world to make change (and shouldn’t).                    

Narrative is now a big buzzword in the field of social change. That is more a testament to people wanting to understand narrative, however, than it is a testament to people actually understanding it.

Evaluating our overall approach to narrative, as well as the specific narrative changes we have determined to achieve, comes down to a foundational question:

What is our own narrative about the role that narrative strategy plays in social change—our own narrative about what it is, what it takes to do it well and what’s at stake in our success? We tell ourselves a story about storytelling, a narrative about changing narratives. What purpose is it serving? Is it the right narrative? Is it the one we need?

I believe we have the wrong narrative about narrative.

Introduction

This guide is for anyone who wants to create social change, and who wants to learn how storytelling can help.

The guide is divided into four color-coded sections.

• The STRATEGY section is about how to use storytelling to best effect.
• The STORYTELLING section offers ideas on how to tell a good story.
• The METHODS section covers some techniques in storytelling.
• And the STRUCTURE section looks at how to incorporate storytelling into your everyday work.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

• About this guide 1
• Introduction 2

STRATEGY

• Why tell stories for social change? 4
• How do we develop a storytelling strategy? 6
• How is storytelling used for social change? 8
• Where can we tell stories? 9
• How do we do research to support our storytelling? 10
• How do we reach new audiences? 12
• How can we piggyback on pop culture? 14
• How do we balance short-and long-term storytelling? 16
• How do we make stories actionable? 18
• How do we combine the personal and the political? 20

STORYTELLING

Introduction

Watching tragedy unfold in Ukraine, I have been thinking about the powerful, rapid, and often unexpected impact that major, shocking events can have on narratives that underpin our understanding of the world.

While narrative and culture change work tends to take years, events have the power to bring about rapid change, often in unexpected ways. 

In 2011 the Fukushima nuclear disaster changed the conversation about nuclear power. It still resonates more than a decade later. The murder of George Floyd sparked a global protest and placed policing and structural racism at the top of the public agenda.

Introduction

I’m an organiser and a trainer who is also the parent of two Neurodivergent children and on my own journey of discovery about my own brain. I want to share a few ideas and general supports to encourage people to set up training spaces that are supportive of neurodivergent brains.

These measures don’t take a lot to put in place but they can make a big difference to a person who has probably spent a lot of their life masking to fit into neurotypical worlds. It is by no means a full list of what works for all people and I am by no means an expert in all the best supports a neurodivergent person may need, but there are lots of resources out there if you want to find out more.

The best place is to start by asking someone what would support them in the situation.

Setting up training spaces that are affirming of neurodivergent people, allows everyone to show up as themselves, rather than expecting them to fit into a space that treats neurotypical as the ‘norm’. Many people have spent a lifetime masking and working out how to fit in. This can go on until they hit a breaking point (burnout) or start to discover why things have always been a struggle.

So be patient.

Introduction

This document paints a picture of the ecosystem of actors who are working to build narrative power in movements, as well as of the movements themselves. The picture shows different groupings – or kinds of actors – within this ecosystem and the relationships and interconnections between them.

It seeks to include actors within movements who we believe are at the heart of narratives work, and not only those practitioners who are helping to develop and disseminate narratives.

It takes a cross-movement perspective: reflecting the breadth of our process as well as the widespread appetite for collaboration across movements around narratives. It also seeks to take a global perspective, looking outside any particular country. Most importantly, it highlights what practitioners and members of movements are themselves saying about the contexts in which they are operating and what they need.

This is a perspective that we believe is too often missing from analysis of this ecosystem. This picture is, ultimately, based around a vision of what a healthy, just and successful ecosystem for narratives work could be.

This is one where the key actors have strong relationships; are able to align their efforts when they need to; are resourced for the long run; and where they are able to share and benefit from the learning that they are collectively generating.

Introduction

In 2018, JustLabs, along with a group of funders, held a series of labs on producing narratives as a response to the increasingly antagonistic tide towards human rights around the world.

Our starting point was the diagnosis—based on a series of workshops we ran with human rights leaders from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the United States, Asia and Latin America—that the human rights field was undergoing a long-term period of profound transformation instead of a moment of crisis.

In this new, permanent state of existential doubt about the human rights field’s relevance and way of working, we needed to carry out this exploration process in a way that had not yet been done systematically in the field—an honest experimentation where failure was a given, where we worked with people from disciplines often unheard of in our circles, and where we aimed to surprise ourselves with something bold and fresh, and sometimes even “scary”.

To do this, first, we mapped the world according to the level of crackdown against civil society and ended up with three types:

• 1) relatively open but with signs of closure;
• 2) dangerously closing space for civil society; and
• 3) almost closed space for civil society.

We selected four countries per type:

Introduction

Assessment is essential for effective artistic activism. Assessment isn’t just about measuring impact, it’s about clarifying your intent so your outcome will be more impactful.

Without some form of evaluation, how can you know what sort of affect your project generates and the effect it has? 

But assessment isn’t just about measuring impact, it’s about clarifying your intent so your outcome will be more impactful. 

We’ve put together this Æffect Planning and Assessment Toolset to help you plan, strengthen, and evaluate your creative projects.

These tools are not going to tell you what to do or how to do it, instead, they will guide you through a series of questions so you can discover these things yourself. Using creativity for social change demands accountability, and artistic activists need to learn how to evaluate their work themselves.

These tools are based on years of research and practice that we put into something we call the Æffect Assessment Methodology. This is not a one-size-fits-all evaluation method. It was designed to be as flexible, and contextual, as the practice of artistic activism. 

Introduction

Introducing resources by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe including a guide, How to Message on Human Rights: A Communications Guide for Organisations Promoting Human Rights, and related course.

These resources are for organisations in the human rights sector that want to communicate more effectively with the public to build support for human rights-related causes. This includes civil society organisations, foundations, international organisations and national bodies promoting human rights.

How to Message on Human Rights: A Communications Guide for Organisations Promoting Human Rights

The guide is divided into three parts:

Introduction

The Words to Win By Podcast, formerly called Brave New Words, takes listeners on a journey around the globe with renowned communications researcher and campaign advisor Anat Shenker-Osorio as she unpacks real-world narrative shifts that led to real-world victories.

To read transcripts follow the weblinks.

Listen to Podcast

Words to Win By

Introduction

The Anti-Trans Disinformation Handbook is for the media, civil society, and Governments for combating anti-trans disinformation.

Trans and gender diverse people deserve the freedom to be themselves, to enjoy the same rights and protections as everyone else, and to feel safe in their communities.

However, in recent years, our community has increasingly become the target of campaigns to erode our rights, our access to health care, and our freedom to live our lives happily and authentically. A major strategy of these campaigns is disinformation.

Disinformation is false information and media, produced with the intention to mislead the reader, often for political purposes. Anti-trans groups spread disinformation about trans and gender diverse people, our health care, and rights in order to sway public opinion and policy against the trans community.

Their goal is to prevent our community from having the freedom to live our lives, and to build popular support for a highly regressive political agenda. Many of the groups involved in anti-trans campaigns are also opposed to reproductive rights, LGBTSBIQA+ equality, and an inclusive society.

Introduction

How do you build a broad coalition, a united front, despite frictions in ideology and political positioning? Are there examples from other countries that have been able to do this?

The above question was posed to members of the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) and they have generously shared their insights with you below.

Community Answers

Recognize that Broad Coalitions are not Long-term

I can tell you first hand, it is impossible to maintain a broad coalition for a long period of time. Unless you find some sponsor who’s willing to pay and keep everybody together. Other than that, coalitions get formed when there’s a common cause. You find the common denominator.

What is it that brings you all together, and that’s what you can work on. It’s going to have to be something that’s very general and vague, because the more specific you get, the more particular it gets to each individual group. So at this point you’re wanting to build on ideology.

Introduction

How do we make it accessible and support individuals to share their stories, especially if they do not feel safe doing so?

The above question was posed to members of the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) and they have generously shared their insights with you below.

Community Answers

1. Identify the Purpose for Sharing and Risks Involved

I think it is helpful to firstly be clear on what people want to get out of it e.g. you can’t promise they’ll get a policy change from sharing their lived experience. You need to provide a high level of support with a focus appropriate to what the person wants to get out of it.

They’ll need different support (like comms training for the first one, or therapeutic support for the second one).

Don’t underestimate how emotional it might be even if they don’t expect it, include aftercare as part of the package.

Make sure there is a clear risk assessment and do it with the person so they can think through the risks and safety plan/ decide not to share their story.

Introduction

How do you simplify your message and discourse for your target group when creating a campaign message?

As civil society organizations, we sometimes create our message in a format that is difficult to understand to create a rights-oriented language, which creates a barrier to access to our campaign target group. 

The above question was posed to members of the Global Grassroots Support Network (GGSN) and they have generously shared their insights with you below.

A guide to the Coalition Building topic in the Commons Social Change Library, including key concepts. 

Introduction

Welcome to the Coalition Building topic in the Commons Social Change Library. To help navigate within the broad scope of this topic, we start by highlighting some key concepts used to discuss coalitions. Following this, we have collated introductory resources, frameworks, tools and guides for building capacity in coalition relationships, resources for understanding the roles and tensions that can emerge in coalitions, and examples that highlight lessons for building coalitions that contribute to lasting change.

Introduction

Learn how the ECDA team used Sosha, a social media engagement tool, in this year’s EU elections, and how your organization or political party can also use organic social media to win.

This article has been adapted from the original with consent which was published on SoSha by Areti Livanos, Email Communications Lead at SoSha.

Using SoSha to build Toolkits

Ahead of the 2024 European Union elections, ECDA set out to support progressive organizations across Europe to engage their communities and mobilize support for critical issues such as women’s rights, environmental protection, workers’ rights, and the rights of refugees.

Shifting algorithms make it difficult for followers to see much of the content produced from their connections, let alone attract new supporters. Additionally, legislation in many countries protects private data, complicating the generation of new email lists.The ECDA team used SoSha to build toolkits, collections of ready-made posts, for anyone on the internet to share on their own accounts with their followers. These toolkits were instrumental in petition and fundraising efforts leading up to the EU elections in early June.

Introduction

Disinformation is confusing! In order to respond we need to make sense of what is happening. The Commons Librarians have collated definitions, types of misinformation and disinformation, and common tactics used to spread them. You may like to use these materials to start conversations in your community, run training sessions, or inform planning. 

Definitions: Disinformation, Misinformation and Malinformation 

Wardle and Derakhshan provide the following definitions in their report “Information Disorder” (2017):

• Dis-information – Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country. 
• Mis-information – Information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm. 
• Mal-information – Information that is based on reality, used to inflict harm on a person, organization or country (2017: 20).

Shout Out UK produced this short video to explain the differences: