We believe in the power of stories
Stories help us understand complex ideas, connect us, and allow us to imagine a better future. We support governments and public services to embrace storytelling in their work to:
- Connect with communities and build trust
- Understand complex problems
- Evaluate impact and learn
In 2023 we ran a series of storytelling webinars. You can watch them here.
Exploring participatory storytelling in complex systems
The Centre for Public Impact Asia has been exploring storytelling in the region, focusing on complex systems in the Global South. Public participation is necessary when discussing impact, and storytelling emerges as a powerful tool to achieve this goal.
On the 22nd of November 2023, our panel of community-centric, M&E (monitoring and evaluation), and civil society organisations engaged in a dynamic discussion about how participatory storytelling approaches could help change complex systems in Asia.
Featuring:
- Tripti Singh, Head of Office, India, 60 Decibels
- Sayonee Chatterjee, VP, Women and Youth Engagement, Gram Vaani
- Saurav Dhakal, Founder & Curator at StoryCycle
- Rahima (Ima) Abdulrahim, Co-Founder & Co-Director, Caravanserai Collective
- Stephen Shashoua, Co-Founder & Co-Director, Caravanserai Collective
Watch the recording and read the post-webinar reflection blog to learn about the need for stories, narratives, and qualitative evidence in designing, delivering, monitoring, and evaluating complex systems!
The second branch: From storytelling to storylistening
Dusseldorp Forum, Hands Up Mallee, and the Centre for Public Impact Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are pleased to share the second phase of the Storytelling for Systems Change work: Listening to Understand.
In the first phase of this work, we explored how stories could communicate the impact of community-led systems change work. In this phase, we want to understand what it takes for stories to be listened to meaningfully by those in government and philanthropy who fund and sponsor this type of work.
We listened to a range of people in government, philanthropy, and academia to learn:
- How are stories used?
- What gets in the way of stories being heard?
- What can be done to build the readiness to hear and understand stories?
Watch the panel discussion, where we explored these questions as well as the key themes that emerged through our research.