Storytelling in Development Communication [I]
How do we capture the successes of aid in the developing world?
In a previous post, Photography in Development Communication, I wrote about how photos can enhance development work, and the external image of development organisations. Without careful consideration, photo-opportunities can turn into a display of a saviour-like mentality. In the end, we want to avoid this portrayal of development work. I believe that more organisations could benefit from using these photography to encourage internal and external audiences to partner with them in what we could call human-progress work.
Before I entered development communication, I felt strongly against aid. I felt that it had a crippling effect; give me a hoe and teach me how to dig instead of giving me a sack of potatoes and maize – I do not want to keep expecting a sack of potatoes from you. Give me a fishing rod and show me how to use it instead of simply serving me fish – I do not want to take it for granted that you will also deliver fish for dinner. I still feel strongly about aid except I also can appreciate that life is more complex than I could appreciate when I was younger. Aid in the right hands and put to the right use is exactly what is needed in some [maybe even in many] circumstances.
I do not need to point anyone to the various instances of insecurity and instability across the world where aid is exactly what is needed right now. But sometimes, it does not take extreme cases of political instability for aid to make sense. Many times, it is merely the hard-to-reach places in our countries that need aid – especially when governments continue to fail their citizens.
Where does storytelling fit in? Maybe, everywhere.
Do you want people to know about the impactful work you are doing? Tell them a story. Don’t send them a report; keep that for your internal stakeholders. [Please also send these to external stakeholders i.e., funders who want to know the numbers or analyse data]. But for your publics - the people outside watching and judging your presence and work in the developing world, stories would be more impactful. What’s more is that numbers can be incorporated in stories.
Stories are like mirrors through which we see parts of ourselves in others. The words we use to weave together these stories, allow us to see familiar faces – familiar in the way they crease, in the way they smile, in the way they cry, when the blank stare turns into a glimmer of hope. It is this familiarity that likely moves us to want to partner with organisations and offer solutions. And deep down, we are all looking for a win – we want a win for others too.
Stories also give us a different perspective. In a world filled with listicles of how to get to the top and how to win, storytelling in development communication does something else: it offers a window into how our wins are not merely a result of listicles but rather because we are standing on the shoulders of others. Isn’t it interesting that there aren’t listicles of how to overcome being born in a hard-to-reach place? Well…because the listicle likely won’t reach there in the first place.
Storytelling is a useful tool for development agencies to use to not only solidify partnership but also to win and expand public support.
Image used for sharing purposes on social media and other platforms, taken Cynthia Ayeza, for USAID | 2017
