Explore selected resources covering diverse aspects of narrative work and find practical tools speaking to your specific narrative interests and needs.
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A Guide to Hope-based Communications
2019
Available in English, Spanish, Thai
The strategic communication manual is designed to help human rights advocates shift from fear-based messaging to a more empowering, solution-oriented narrative. Developed with Thomas Coombes, the guide outlines five key shifts: focusing on solutions rather than problems, emphasizing what we stand for instead of what we oppose, creating opportunities for action, highlighting everyday heroes, and reinforcing a sense of agency with the message “we’ve got this.” By rooting communication in shared values and a vision for a better future, the guide aims to inspire hope, counter cynicism, and reframe public discourse to favor human rights progress.
Connecting Climate Justice & Migrant Justice: A Guide to Countering Dangerous Narratives
2023
Available in English
This guide explores how climate-linked migration is often framed in harmful, dehumanizing ways that undermine both climate and migrant justice. It warns against narratives that portray migrants as threats to provoke urgency around climate action, arguing that such messaging reinforces xenophobia and militarized responses. Instead, the guide advocates for justice-based communication that centers human dignity, highlights systemic causes of displacement, and promotes solidarity. It offers practical strategies for advocates to counter fear-based narratives and build a more inclusive, intersectional climate movement.
Feminist Influencing Basket of Resources
by Oxfam
2024
Available in English
Together with our partners, we developed a Feminist Influencing Basket of Resources. The resource was woven collectively, honoring the work conducted by powerful movements, groups, and organizations within the feminist collective.
It all started with a question - why do existing influencing strategies not speak to most women, gender non-binary people, and other marginalized or silenced groups? How can we employ feminist principles in the influencing processes? How do we ensure that the influencing process is not a one-off event that is extractive, exhaustive, and harmful to the groups that it intends to serve? How can the development of the influencing strategy and process be done in a way that centers radical healing and care? How can we align our feminist principles into feminist collective action and influencing?
It's more than a feminist influencing resource; this basket is a movement. We invite you to explore with us.
How to Message on The Rights of People From Marginalized Groups: A Communications Guide for Organisations Promoting Human Rights
by Civil Liberties Union for Europe
2023
Available in English
This guide is a tool 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.
The advice in the present guide relates primarily to how to speak to a moveable middle audience among the majority population. That is, an audience who does not, at first glance, consider themselves to be directly affected by the harms inflicted on the marginalised group in question. Put otherwise, the guide is more about how communicators can persuade the ‘majority’ population to support equality for marginalised groups than about mobilising people from the marginalised group.
How to talk about Civic Space: A guide for progressive civil society facing smear campaigns
by Israel Butler
2021
Available in English
This guide supports campaigners in responding to smear campaigns that undermine public trust in civil society organisations working on progressive causes. Drawing on research into public attitudes, it explores how such attacks are used by authoritarian actors to justify restrictions on civic space. Grounded in the EU context, the resource provides practical guidance on framing, including examples of effective narratives, messages, and approaches, as well as common pitfalls to avoid.
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