Update 28 January 2020: For those who missed any of the four sessions of the online dialogue series, Changing the Narrative: Weaving #ShiftThePower throughout the #Globaldev Sector, sponsored by the Global Fund for Community Foundations, you can access all the recordings and slides here. You can also check out my tweet thread summaries here, here, here, and here.
Painting a fuller picture of people’s lives in our rapidly-changing world is becoming part of everyone’s job, and reimagining a new world is central to fighting global poverty and inequality. It was so heartening to see such a strong turnout and so much support for the series overall – over 200 people signed up!
I’m currently considering hosting a ‘Monthly Online Salon’, a space specifically for communications professionals in the #globaldev sector grappling with how to tell compelling stories without trivializing people’s lives…but more importantly, a ‘Monthly Online Salon’ could be an open space for those who want to promote a more nuanced global narrative about what it takes to achieve lasting change to connect and learn from each other. If this would be of interest to you, please be in touch!
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Please join us for an online dialogue series in December and January entitled, Changing the Narrative: Weaving #ShiftThePower throughout the #Globaldev Sector, hosted by Jennifer Lentfer of how-matters.org and sponsored by the Global Fund for Community Foundations.
Get meaningful opportunities for reflection, learn practical #ShiftThePower actions you can take right now in your organization, and develop lasting connections with brilliant peers you didn’t even know you had!
About the dialogue series: Following the 2nd #ShiftThePower Symposium taking place in November in London, we want to put our heads together on how organizations’ communications strategy, framing, and tactics can support collective efforts to #ShiftThePower in aid, global development, and international philanthropy.
How do we inspire wider collective action without eliciting guilt, pity, or shame?
Charitable portrayals of “helping” often conjure up victimhood and passivity in order to validate the assistance being given. There is a growing awareness that these portrayals uphold, rather than counteract, historical and politicized notions of “the other.” This leads to reinforced narrative frames and deepened ignorance among the general public in rich countries, and perpetuated distorted and powerless stereotypes among people who are poor in formerly-colonized countries.
Designed for communicators, Jennifer Lentfer of how-matters.org will lead participants in creative and practical writing, editing, and reflection exercises and interactive conversations to share insights and practical ways of telling compelling, yet not stereotypical nor overly-simplified stories about how social change occurs.
See descriptions of the dialogues below and be sure to RSVP here. Once registered, you will be sent an email and calendar invite with the Zoom/call-in information prior to each session.
Dialogue #1: Tuesday, December 3rd at 4pm Nairobi/1pm London/8am U.S. Eastern
Who’s Helping Whom?
What are the dominant narrative frames based on hierarchical notions of “helping” that have shaped the social good and global development sectors? Why do assumptions and generalizations about who people are, what they need, and how they can be helped exist? How they can be shifted?
Dialogue #2: Thursday, December 12th at 4pm London/11am U.S. Eastern/8am U.S. Pacific
Hearing (and Saying) What We Need to Hear
Let’s explore and understand the institutional barriers and personal biases that prevent us from hearing diverse “voices” and telling complex stories about the root causes of global poverty. How they can be shifted? How do we decolonize our communication practices?
Dialogue #3: Tuesday, January 14th at 4pm Nairobi/1pm London/8am U.S. Eastern
Expanding Our Moral Imperative
What’s the difference between charity and empowerment and solidarity? How can we shift towards a broader, more inclusive and instructive narrative for global(!) audiences who cares about economic justice, racial and gender equality, a livable planet, and peace?
Dialogue #4: Thursday, January 23rd at 4pm London/11am U.S. Eastern/8am U.S. Pacific
The Invitation
Since “making a difference” isn’t such an easy, one-off task, how can we highlight problems without dictating or prescribing outside solutions? Can organizations shake off excessive fundraising pressure to highlight people telling their own stories, on their own terms, in new narrative styles?
As we #ShiftThePower by aligning our grantmaking, programs, and fundraising with our values, what happens when we push communications to do so too, in even deeper ways? Join us!
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