the never ending stories: case study and insights on impact storytelling
DESCRIPTION
This report was created with the support of the Swedish international development cooperation agency, Sida. Sida did not take part in the production of the report. Reach for Change own full responsibility for its content. Reach for Change has been looking at how to share exciting stories of impact to create engagement and support. Read here our Never Ending Stories report that includes a mini-guide for Impact Story telling.TRANSCRIPT
NEVER ENDING STORIES
Case study and insights about
Impact Storytelling
--------------------------------
Introductory Word from Brian Palmer – The Power of Stories: 3
Impact Storytelling- Bridging Impact Monitoring and External Communication: 5
Stories of Change: Example: 9
Case Study: 12
Key insights from the Project: 20
Reach for Change’s Mini Guide to Impact Storytelling: 23
THE POWER OF STORIES
Introductory Word from Brian Palmer
--------------------------------
THE POWER OF STORIES4 REACH FOR CHANGE
This is a report about telling true
stories in hopes of inspiring social
engagement. It stands in a long
tradition of turning to stories for such
a purpose. As Susan Sontag put it:
“At the center of our moral life and
our moral imagination are the great
models of resistance: the great stories
of those who have said ‘No.’”
I was giving a lecture the other day about
Albert Göring, the brother of Hermann
Göring who founded the Gestapo and
became Adolf Hitler’s chosen successor.
Albert went the other way, rescuing
Jews. As a chief of Škoda Works in
Czechoslovakia, he took trucks to a
concentration camp, demanded workers for
his factories, and then released them in the
forest. He also sheltered anti-Nazi activists
at Škoda.
At the end of World War II, Albert faced a
chaotic Czech “people’s court” because
his brother was a war criminal. The court
did not believe that Albert was a resistance
hero, and it had powers to order immediate
execution. Albert’s Jewish and anti-Nazi
beneficiaries now returned the favor,
rapidly organizing and testifying to save his
life.
At that point in the story, I saw that a few
faces in the audience had tears running
down. Why just then?
---------------------------------
Brian Palmer is a social
anthropologist and scholar of
religion at Uppsala University
in Sweden. Previously he held
the Torgny Segerstedt Guest
Professorship at the University
of Gothenburg. For several years
Brian Palmer taught at Harvard
University, to 600 students per
term in his courses on civic
courage and engagement. He
regularly gives lectures outside
the university in both Swedish
and English.
Another life I often portray is Malala
Yousafzai. As an eleven-year-old, she
began blogging against the Taliban while
living in their shadow in northern Pakistan.
At fifteen Malala was shot in the head and
neck by a Taliban militant. Around the
world, people rallied to save the comatose
girl -- prayer vigils, raising money for her
care, an airlift to a hospital in England.
And it is at that point that some of my
listeners are holding back tears. Why
there?
Albert and Malala both expressed altruistic
courage -- stretching beyond their own
families and friends to try to protect
strangers. Few things are so beautiful.
And when it becomes reciprocal -- when
others act to return the love -- the beauty
is almost too much. A vision of the world
we want to live in. A foretaste of a humane
society.
The stories of Malala and Albert remind us
of what human beings are capable of. They
assure us that amidst the violence, greed
and indifference, it is still possible for our
species to shine so magnificently.
This report helps us think about how to tell
such stories -- stories that touch our hearts,
because those are the only ones that can
move us to unselfish action.
INTRODUCTORY WORD -FROM BRIAN PALMER
IMPACT STORYTELLING
Bridging Impact Monitoring
and External Communication
--------------------------------
6 REACH FOR CHANGE
IMAPACT STORYTELLING
THE IMPACT
COMMUNICATION
DILEMMA
Any organisation claiming, as Reach for Change does, to work for
a better world, needs to constantly describe and communicate the
problems that it is trying to solve as well as the impact it has.
One central function of impact communication, as we call it here, is that
of “selling” the organisation’s cause, i.e. fundraising or acquiring and
retaining support in other ways. Another central function for impact
communication is that of analysing and describing the efficiency of the
organisation’s programs and engaging in stakeholder dialogue to better
understand both the impact and different stakeholder’s perspectives.
The former traditionally translates into powerful emotional public
campaigns, the latter into more factual and sometimes academic impact
reporting.
In our view, both these forms of impact communication have specific
challenges and risks. On the one hand, strong, emotional, public
campaigns risk oversimplifying, generalising, or stereotyping, which can
undermine the cause or impact group. On the other hand, reporting can
be complicated and theoretical, thereby creating barriers for effective
and inclusive stakeholder engagement.
We believe that storytelling,
specifically Impact Storytelling,
offers a great opportunity to
integrate these processes and
to avoid the pitfalls of traditional
approaches.
-------------------------------
7 REACH FOR CHANGE
IMAPACT STORYTELLING
THE DUAL PURPOSES
OF IMPACT
STORYTELLING
01
02
Storytelling is a way of transmitting a message in an engaging and
memorable manner. Stories allow us to capture our listener’s attention,
and make it more likely that they will remember what we are telling
them. Finally, stories move people to take action. Purposeful stories,
those created with a specific mission in mind, are absolutely essential in
persuading others to support a vision, a dream or a cause. All of these
functions are useful for cause-driven organisations.
By ‘Impact Storytelling’ we mean going beyond using stories to acquire
and retain supporters for the cause. We define it as a strategic and
methodical process to produce, analyse and communicate true stories
about how specific individuals are impacted by an organisation. It
involves engaging various stakeholders throughout the process.
We see the opportunity of meeting two objectives with this approach:
Qualitatively evaluating the
organisation’s impact. This happens
both in the process of identifying
stories: Are there individual
examples of the impact that we aim
to achieve? And in the stakeholder
dialogues: How do our stakeholders
view the impact we are having and
what do they see as most significant?
Engaging people in the cause.
The approach not only lets the
organisation continuously gather
content for communication, it also
creates opportunities to engage
stakeholders as co-creators,
thereby learning more about which
type of stories the target groups
find relevant and engaging.
STORY BY MARTINE UMULISA
“NOW I CAN FORGET MY DARK PAST.”
8 REACH FOR CHANGE
IMAPACT STORYTELLING
REACH FOR CHANGE’S
JOURNEY IN IMPACT
STORYTELLING
Quite early in our history we started introducing mechanisms to
harvest stories in our reporting process. Our process for this is
inspired by the Most Significant Change (MSC) methodology.
In practice it means that every quarter each social entrepreneur
that receives support from Reach for Change must submit the story
of a child that they have helped during this period. This means that
in 2015, when our portfolio exceeded 100 social entrepreneurs,
we collected more than 400 stories, each describing a change in a
child’s life.
The stories collected were then used as a basis for stakeholder
dialogues around how they reflect the impact of the individual
entrepreneurs and that of Reach for Change. Increasingly, we have
also aimed to use this process to identify the stories best suited for
external communication and the best ways to use these.
In 2015, with the support of Sida, we launched a specific project
– The Never Ending Stories Project – to further develop and
make use of this approach. The aim was to launch a story-based
communication campaign to increase knowledge of African social
entrepreneurship among the Swedish youth. In the process we also
aimed to further develop our understanding and capabilities and to
initiate a wider discussion with our peers on how stories can be used
to communicate impact in a responsible, effective and impactful way.
STORIES OF CHANGE
Example
--------------------------------
STORIES OF CHANGE10 REACH FOR CHANGE
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
ABOUT
--------------------
LOCATION: TANZANIA
LONGITUDE: 39.2833 E
LATITUDE: 6.8000 S
STORY BY CAROLYNE CAROLYNE EKYARISIIMA
This story is told in the words of Carolyne Carolyne
Ekyarisiima, who shares what happens when a girl is
empowered with ICT skills:
I come from Tanzania, where digital literacy is very low.
This is a problem because it inhibits development both
for the children and for society as a whole. The literacy
is especially low among females - partly because there
is a lack of female role models in the field, and partly
because parents do not realize the value in introducing
their daughters to technology. This creates a digital
divide between girls and boys.
THIS STORY IS ABOUT MODESTA.
Modesta is a 15-year-old girl in a public secondary school
in Dar es Salaam. The first time I met her was in August
2014 when she came to one of the Apps & Girls coding
clubs that I arrange. Modesta already knew that she
wanted to do something for her community, but she did not
know what and how she was going to do so.
Even though Modesta’s father was an auctioneer for
secondhand computers, Modesta, like many girls in
Tanzania, had hardly ever used a computer.
STORIES OF CHANGE11 REACH FOR CHANGE
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS
The first day of the coding club, Modesta was quiet,
just sitting behind and watching over her peers’
shoulders as they coded. The second day, she had
gained enough courage to grab one of the computers.
She managed to turn it on, but she still did not know
how to use it. However, Modesta continued coming to
the coding clubs and her confidence and interest grew
day by day. Soon enough, she even started showing
up for mentorship programs on weekends and became
one of the best coders in the program and started to
teach her colleagues.
After attending just a few sessions, Modesta created
her own website to give a voice to students who
are harassed and abused by bus conductors while
using public transport in Dar es Salaam. She entered
Apps&Girls Annual competition 2014, and out of
38 participants, Modesta won the 3rd prize with
the project. In June 2015 she won the Tanzict and
COSTECH Innovation Fund worth about USD 4,500 to
implement her project which is already available online.
Modesta now stands as a role model for many girls. She is
setting up her own organization to become self-employed
and has found her way to contribute to her community -
through technology. She does not want to get employment,
but to create it.
Modesta is not exceptional or special; there are many girls
like her who can do this or even bigger things than what
modesta has done. I want to continue to empower more
Modestas who will create employment, solve community
problems and build an innovative generation - making
Tanzania a better place for all, despite their gender.
MODESTA HAS FOUND HER
WAY TO CONTRIBUTE
TO HER COMMUNITY -
THROUGH TECHNOLOGY.
CASE STUDY--------------------------------
CASE STUDY13 REACH FOR CHANGE
Through the Never Ending Stories Project we sought to use
our method for Impact Storytelling to increase the knowledge
and understanding of African social entrepreneurship
among youth in Sweden. Secondarily, we wanted to take the
opportunity to develop as Impact Storytellers, and to help
others develop as well.
Through our initial research we found that there are countless
theoretical models and guidelines for NGOs on how to work
with storytelling, but there were not many practical examples.
We have therefore taken an experimental and collaborative
approach in order to learn and share through open dialogue
with other relevant actors.
CASE STUDY14 REACH FOR CHANGE
At the centre of the project was a public campaign aimed at creating buzz and engagement around our impact stories from African social entrepreneurs. The campaign was created in collaboration with the creative agency Deportivo.
When creating the campaign we started with a number of initial insights and hypotheses:
Young people in Sweden
have a distorted image of
African countries based
on one-sided media and
fundraising campaigns,
which convey images of
disasters and crises.
01 0302 04 05
By communicating truthful
impact stories of African
social entrepreneurs
creating social change
through innovative solutions
we can challenge and
nuance stereotypes.
If we can impact young
adults, we can potentially
also reach a wider target
audience as young adults
are so called “organic
ambassadors” sharing feel-
good stories and societal
issues in social media.
They also have an impact
on opinion leaders and on
society in general.
As young adults in Sweden
are increasingly turning
away from traditional media,
and since the media budget
of the project is limited,
it makes sense to focus
on social media as a main
channel.
Young adults receive an
overflow of information, and
notice and share only issues
that have a great personal
relevance to them.
THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT
A COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN POWERED BY DREAMS
THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT15 REACH FOR CHANGE
http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//
http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//
http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//
This presented us with the challenge to connect
our stories to a concept that young adults in
Sweden could relate to and engage with. Our
response to this was to make the campaign about
dreams. We believe that all young people have
dreams, and every story of change starts with a
dream. Without dreams, no change is possible.
We also realised we needed to offer a unique and
engaging enough experience for young people to
care, and to share.
SO WE CREATED THE FIRST EVER WEBSITE POWERED BY DREAMS.
THE NEVER ENDING STORIES PROJECT16 REACH FOR CHANGE
We also utilized media
space that was provided by
our partners to promote the
campaign and spread the
stories further.
We began by connecting
five young adults from
different time zones – our
‘dream lab’ – to the website
through an electronic device
that measured their dream
activity.
When the dreamers
dreamt, new impact stories
appeared on the website
(theneverendingstories.com)
as stars being lit in a night
sky.
16 impact stories from
African social entrepreneurs
were shared on the website,
the majority of them in a
straight-forward text format.
One of the stories however
was presented in the form
of a short video. To ignite
the online conversation, we
contacted a few selected
people with influence in the
target audience that helped
spread the campaign
messages online.
http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//
http://www.http://theneverendingstories.com//
Ur drömmar växer idéer. Vågar vi följa dem kan vi förändra världen.
Se hur f ler drömmar utvecklas i realtid på theneverendingstories.com
THE NEVER ENDING STORIES- POWERED BY DREAMERS
Reach for Change är en ideell st if telse grundad av Kinnevik och Sara Damber
CASE STUDY17 REACH FOR CHANGE
The website was launched on
October 1st 2015, and the
dream lab was active for one
week. As the campaign spread
organically, more than 600,000
people were reached through
social media postings, shares
and retweets.
ORGANIC REACH
------------------------
INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE
------------------------
STORY VIEWS
------------------------
The biggest buzz, however,
was created in international
media. In Sweden, four news
articles and one interview
on TV reached 1,5 million
people. As the campaign was
also picked up by some of
the world’s leading online
youth and innovation media,
the international coverage
reached more than 55 million
people.
The stories presented on
the website (texts) and on
Youtube and Instagram (video)
were read or viewed 24,000
times. To investigate what
impact the campaign had on
the target audience, we used
a test panel of which 87%
showed that their knowledge
of social entrepreneurship
in Africa had increased
after seeing the different
components of the campaign.
600,000 55 million 24,000
RESULTS
CASE STUDY18 REACH FOR CHANGE
As mentioned, a secondary objective of the project was to learn and develop as Impact Storytellers, and to help others learn and develop. For that reason a lot of focus was given to collaborative work with our Change Leaders and other relevant actors, as well as on developing and conceptualizing our method. The following were central efforts in this work.
STAKEHOLDER DIALOGUE AND METHOD DEVELOPMENT
CASE STUDY19 REACH FOR CHANGE
On October 20th 2015, Reach for
Change organized a workshop
focusing on impact storytelling.
The objective was to initiate a
discussion among those working
with communication in NGOs and
aid agencies in Sweden, as well as
with related stakeholders such as
communication agencies and media.
With this cross-sector workshop,
potentially the first one of a series,
Reach for Change wanted to be a
catalyst for great ideas and good
practices on how to use storytelling
for change.
20 organisations, including
representative of the Swedish
development agency Sida, the
European Commission, Plan
International, Friends, the news
company Metro, and the PR agency
Edelman Deportivo, gathered at the
European House in Stockholm for a
2.5-hour seminar to share and learn
from each other on how to create and
share impactful stories.
During the first part of the meeting
Reach for Change shared their
perspective and way of working with
storytelling. The second part of the
workshop was built around thematic
discussions.
These were selected among Reach
for Change’s social entrepreneurs,
based on the quality of stories they had
submitted and on their demonstrated
interest in improving their storytelling
technique. The training took the form
of a three-day workshop in a remote
location outside Stockholm, where the
entrepreneurs received lectures and
individual coaching from the Reach
for Change communication team as
well as from external experts from the
media and communication sectors.
These included representatives of the
independent media house Fanzingo as
well as professional copywriters from the
media and advertising sectors. During
the workshop each participant produced
one to two stories.
Collaborating with communication
and media experts, and sharing with
peer organisations in the civil society
as part of the storytelling initiative
has been a great learning experience
for Reach for Change. Based on this
learning, we have been able to enrich
and revise our storytelling method.
Our updated storytelling guide will
be used as a resource for all our
supported entrepreneurs to further
build our organisation’s storytelling
capability. An abbreviated version is
also shared here.
A CROSS-SECTOR WORKSHOP ON STORYTELLING
AN INTENSIVE STORYTELLING WORKSHOP FOR A SELECTED GROUP OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS
A REVISION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE REACH FOR CHANGE STORYTELLING GUIDE
STORY BY MARTINE UMULISA
0201 03
“MODESTA NOW STANDS AS A ROLE MODEL FOR MANY GIRLS. SHE DOES NOT WANT TO GET EMPLOYMENT, BUT TO CREATE IT.”
KEY INSIGHTS
The Never Ending Stories Project
--------------------------------
KEY INSIGHTS21 REACH FOR CHANGE
Telling someone else’s
story comes with a whole
lot of responsibility. Our first
responsibility is to respect and
protect the integrity of the people
we tell the stories about. It is
important that individuals are not
shown as victims, but as agents
of their own life who are facing
difficulties and challenges.
The second responsibility is
not to perpetuate or nourish
stereotypes, both in the choice of
stories we tell, and in the way we
tell them. A story illustrates one
reality, one specific problematic,
which we address in a specific
way. Individual stories should
be used as an entry point to
a broader discussion and to
further information. It is important
that, in our communication, we
make it clear that there is more
to understand, more to read,
more to take into consideration.
Our stories should be nuanced
and contain sufficient details
for the audience to understand
the context in which the story
happens. Simple is good, but
oversimplification is dangerous.
Finally, as a community of
storytellers for change, we need
to make sure that the sum of all
the stories that we share with the
public aggregates into a bigger
story that reflects the reality, with
all the nuances and paradoxes
that it implies.
A specific responsibility of
Impact Storytelling lies in the
imperative of truthfulness, which
is not the case for all kinds of
storytelling. This of course limits
the artistic freedom – but it is
also a strong point. The fact
that a story is true, with its good
and bad sides, is a key factor to
make it engaging. In addition, a
true story will be told and retold
with a degree of assertiveness
that no fictional story could ever
equal.
However, even a story where
every detail is factually correct
can be misleading. On the other
hand, there are manipulations
of the truth that would be
considered acceptable by
most; such as changing the
name of a character to protect
their integrity, or leaving out
irrelevant information to make
a course of events more
comprehensible.
Therefore we believe that,
beyond fact-checking details,
there needs to be a proper
discussion about whether the
overall impression of each story
is ‘truthful’.
We have found that a simple
narrative model based on the
classic dramatic arch works
surprisingly well in order to
structure and analyse the
content of even the most
different impact stories. The
task of identifying key conflicts,
turning points, protagonists
and antagonists has been very
similar and very useful for all the
social entrepreneurs we worked
with. Both in order to help them
reflect on their own impact and
to attract the attention of others.
It has been increasingly
obvious to us that Impact
Storytelling is a collaborative
effort. Getting it right requires
the ability to reveal the most
relevant impact through
interviews with stakeholders
(in our case, children), a good
understanding of the problem
addressed and the impact
desired, an understanding of
the target audience and the
communicative landscape,
and a number of other factors.
Creating great impact stories is
a time-consuming craft. It is a
constant process of tweaking,
testing and getting feedback.
During our storytelling
workshop we found great value
in collaborative work, honest
feedback.
WITH GREAT STORIES COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
THE TRUTH IS OUR KEY ASSET BUT IS ALSO RELATIVE
ARISTOTLE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY TO TODAY’S SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS
TESTING, TWEAKING AND COLLABORATING GO A LONG WAY
01 02 03 04
It may come as no surprise,
but our experience from the
project has clearly shown how
powerful real human interaction
is in Impact Storytelling. We
have experimented with many
different formats, channels
and techniques, and they have
generated different response.
Unsurprisingly, the story we
shared in the form of a video
gained a lot more traction
than the ones presented as
text. We have found through
these experiences that the
most engaging medium for
storytelling is the social
entrepreneurs themselves,
telling their stories to a live
audience. Even with powerful
written narratives and creative
use of video and digital media,
the best we can hope for is that
as little as possible of the power
of the personal story is lost in
the distribution.
FACE-TO-FACE IS THE BEST SOCIAL MEDIUM – AND THE MOST POWERFUL
05
KEY INSIGHTS22 REACH FOR CHANGE
When creating that extra
element, there is always the
risk of being too creative, or
rather being creative at the cost
of being relevant. We believe
that this was partly the case
with our dream lab. Although it
seems to have resonated with
the target audience and created
a lot of attention, it most likely
also in some cases got in the
way of the actual stories and
the message we wanted to get
across. A stronger and more
easily understood link between
the overall campaign concept
and the individual stories would
most likely have increased the
impact of the campaign.
We do believe that good
impact stories should focus
on one specific individual in a
specific context. But in order
for the story to make sense and
engage, it also needs to evoke
universal concepts to which
your targeted audience can
relate and feel connected.
Essentially it is a lot easier to
get noticed when connecting
to a theme that your target
audience is already thinking
and/or talking about than to
explain to them why what
you want to say is important.
It may be a very profound
theme – such as a father’s
love for his daughter as in the
highly viral Dear Dad story
from Care Norway (youtu.be/
dP7OXDWof30). But it may
also be something a lot more
commonplace. Many of the
stories shared by Humans of
New York (humansofnewyork.
com) engaged the audience to
a large extent through capturing
descriptions of everyday events,
feelings and concerns.
Our campaign was executed
in Sweden primarily targeting
a Swedish audience. However,
it gained a lot more traction in
international media and reached
a vastly larger number of
people outside of Sweden. This
illustrates the fact that on the
Internet, specific interests are
often a more important common
denominator for sharing content
than geography.
Most of the organic sharing of
our stories in social media can
be traced to the influencers that
were contacted to help share
our messages. Even if a story
or a campaign has the qualities
to go viral, it needs to start
somewhere.
LIFE AND DEATH MAY NOT DO THE TRICK
THE COMMUNICATION CAN GET IN THE WAY OF THE STORY
A SPECIFIC STORY CAN ALSO BE UNIVERSAL
VIRAL SHARING DOESN’T RESPECT NATIONAL BORDERS
SOMEONE NEEDS TO LIGHT THE MATCH TO START THE FIRE
06 07 08 09 10
In the campaign we have been
working with real stories and
life-changing events, sometimes
about life and death. One might
want to think that would be
enough to make the stories go
viral when you put them online.
The truth is, that has not been
the case. There are countless
engaging and important stories
out there that compete for
people’s attention, and in many
cases it’s not stories about
life and death that create the
biggest traction.
The further away from face-
to-face contact, the more the
stories need an extra element
to be noticed and shared. It can
be something surprising, unique
or funny, but it needs to stand
out and it needs to be relevant
to the target audience.
STORY BY LILY KUDZRO
“I WAS THE ONLY PERSON WHO SCORED 90% IN THAT TEST. I FELT REALLY PROUD.”
MINI-GUIDE
Reach for Change’s Mini-Guide to
Impact Storytelling
--------------------------------
REACH FOR CHANGE’S MINI GUIDE TO IMPACT STORYTELLING24 REACH FOR CHANGE
Based on our experiences we have put together some guidelines
and specific advice regarding Impact Storytelling. It should be noted
that these are primarily developed for social entrepreneurs working
to support children. However, we believe that there are parts that
are relevant to any organisation working with Impact Storytelling, and
we are happy to share the key points of our approach, while looking
forward to continuing to learn from our on-going work and from our
peers. For a more comprehensive presentation of how we work with
Impact Storytelling, please contact us.
REACH FOR CHANGE’S MINI GUIDE TO IMPACT STORYTELLING25 REACH FOR CHANGE
To be able to tell stories,
you first need to find them
and to document them.
This is what we mean by
harvesting stories. Finding
stories are often a journalistic
endeavour, it will most likely
involve spending time with
the beneficiaries of your
programme and asking lots of
questions.
For each story that you use
in your communications or
reporting, you might need
to collect and consider
ten or more stories.
Thus, it is important that
collecting stories from your
operations becomes, if not a
prioritised activity, one that
is fully integrated into your
organisational processes. In
that way you will ensure a
regular and systematic story
harvesting and build a large
resource of stories that you
can choose and work from.
Starting by looking at your
vision and mission, you
need to understand what
change you want to show. In
that way, you will be able to
select a story that not only
reflects a significant change
for the person impacted, but
also echoes you and your
organisation’s overall story.
The main message of your
story should be: “this is how
we have impacted a person’s
life”.
To clearly demonstrate
impact, your story
must include the right
components:
BUILD A CULTURE OF STORY HARVESTING
CHOOSE THE STORY SHOWING THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
DEMONSTRATE IMPACT
01 02 03
--
OUR ADVICEIntegrate the collection of stories into another process in your organisation. As an example, the collection of stories from social entrepreneurs is part of the quarterly reporting process in place at Reach for Change.
--
OUR ADVICEOnce you have preselected a few stories that you feel reflect your vision and mission share them in draft form with friends and colleagues to see which one(s) represents the Most Significant Change to them. By asking for honest feedback you’ll get help telling great stories, while gaining insights into the impact you are creating.
--
OUR ADVICEAn impact, meaning a short and medium term outcome representing a change in the person’s life, such as new behaviours or new skills.
A person whose life has been impacted by your work.
A solution, meaning the support or programme provided by your organisation to address this specific problem, and which will constitute a turning point towards the resolution of the problem.
An impact, meaning a short and medium term outcome representing a change in the person’s life, such as new behaviours or new skills.
A problem to be addressed, meaning the initial situation the person supported is facing.
REACH FOR CHANGE’S MINI GUIDE TO IMPACT STORYTELLING26 REACH FOR CHANGE
Well-constructed narratives compel and engage the reader.
This feeling of being drawn in is a neurological response in
the human brain to certain elements of the story.
Thus, constructing the narrative properly can be seen as
somewhat of a science. It involves gathering a lot of data,
and then strategically selecting elements that effectively and
engagingly tell the story.
See whether you can find and clearly describe events in the
narrative that correspond to these plot points:
USE THE DRAMATIC ARC TO BUILD TENSION AND TRIGGER EMOTION
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OUR ADVICEIntegrate the collection of stories into another process in your organisation. As an example, the collection of stories from social entrepreneurs is part of the quarterly reporting process in place at Reach for Change.
The Introduction
This is where you introduce
the main character and the
context of the story.
The Ignighting Incident
Any classic story will
revolve around some sort of
conflict (typically good vs.
bad). The Igniting Incident
is the moment in time when
this conflict is introduced
– the bad guy appears or a
problem arises.
Raising the Stakes
After the problem has been
introduced, normally there
is a series of events where
conflict escalates drama.
In the case of an impact
story this would be adding
information that increases a
feeling of urgency about the
problem.
Turning Point
This is where the drama
reaches its peak and the
hero’s fate changes. In
an impact story this may
be where the beneficiary
comes into contact with
the solution. Resolution
The part where the conflict
unravels. In an impact story
this would be where the
impact is presented.
REACH FOR CHANGE’S MINI GUIDE TO IMPACT STORYTELLING27 REACH FOR CHANGE
Needless to say, your story
should feature real-life
characters and events. Make
sure they are in focus and
that the story reflects their
perspective and in some way
is told through their eyes. A
very effective way to do this is
to quote the person portrayed
in the story and let them be
heard in the story. When
characters speak in a story,
it lends immediacy, urgency
and authenticity. Let them use
their own voice and their own
words. People care about
people. In the same way,
pictures of the main character
and of his/her environment
can be a valuable addition to
a story in order to reinforce a
sense of reality.
Keep the amount of technical
information to only as much as
is needed for your audience
to understand what is at
stake in the story. Adding too
much detail when describing
the context of the story or
elements of your programme
may make it difficult to
follow the narrative. On the
other hand, in describing
for example specific
environments, colours, smells,
feelings etc, great detail can
make the story come to life
and help the audience follow
the narrative.
When communicating your
story you will have a better
chance at being heard the
more you can adapt it to
your target audience. In
order to connect with your
target audience you should
understand them as much
as possible. Find out what
they’re interested in, how
much they know about your
topic, and how much time
they have for your cause.
Some techniques that are
used to engage readers
include:
In the end, you will most
likely only be able to tell your
story to a limited number
of people. For it to spread
widely, it must be shared and
retold by the people that hear
it. People sharing your story
will also most likely recall it
better and be more likely to
feel responsibility for your
cause. To encourage this,
and to minimize the risk of
it being distorted along the
way, make sure that the core
message of your story is easy
to understand, remember and
retell.
LET THEIR VOICES BE HEARD INCLUDE THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF DETAIL
ADAPT YOUR STORY TO YOUR AUDIENCE AND TO YOUR OBJECTIVE
MAKE THE STORY SHAREABLE
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OUR ADVICEAn interview with the main protagonist can be arranged after you have identified and drafted a story in order to capture reflections and quotes. Once the story is finalized, it is important to share the story with the subjects of the story and to get their (and in the case of minors, their parents) signed consent to use their stories and images.
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OUR ADVICEWe are aware that a story only shows one reality. To avoid distracting from the story itself, you can refer the audience to another document or webpage for more information about the context of the story.
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OUR ADVICECreate many stories out of one story! It is a good exercise to practice your storytelling skills, and a great way to capitalize on a good story. Work on different target audience, length and communication supports.
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OUR ADVICETry to retell your story in three sentences without losing the key message (which will most likely entail your solution and your impact). If it can’t be done, try to see if you can further simplify or clarify your key message. Ask others to retell your story to see if they have understood the core of it. If they haven’t, try to rework it until you have a clear key message.
Connecting to a theme that is relevant to the target audience.
Directly addressing the target audience.
Help the audience identify with the person in the story by focusing on details that they can easily relate to.
About Reach for Change
Reach for Change is a non-profit organisation founded by the Kinnevik Group and
Sara Damber to improve children’s lives. We find and develop Change Leaders – local
social entrepreneurs with innovations that solve pressing issues facing children. The
entrepreneurs are helped to scale their innovations through seed funding, access to
business expertise and networking opportunities. Launched in Sweden in 2010, we
are now present in 17 countries across three continents, supporting more than 200
Change Leaders globally. We are steadily moving into more markets and increasing
our global impact.
We have identified a strong drive amongst NGOs and
aid agencies to further work with storytelling as a key
component of their communication strategies to create
awareness, opinion and engagement, as well as for
reporting and transparency purposes. At the same
time, this drive comes with a set of challenges both
from a communication and from an ethical perspective.
We see that there is a clear need for dedicating time
and space for organisations to meet and share best
practices for Impact Storytelling, thus we have created
the We Are Storytellers for Change community on
LinkedIn.
Please join us in the We Are Storytellers for Change
LinkedIn community to continue the discussion about
Impact Storytelling.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY OF STORYTELLERS FOR CHANGE!