International media and aid agencies have too often taken people’s voices and used them to promote their own agendas. This has to change, writes Misozi Tembo.
This is our story of natural disaster – and, for once, it’s told entirely by us
None of the roles in a powerful recent film about South Pacific islanders reacting to a cyclone is played by a professional actor, says Oxfam’s Ernest Ta’asi. Instead, the actors and script writers all came from the island community – in what may be a game-changer for NGO storytelling
3 steps to linking farmer livelihoods with business benefits
Often, livelihoods projects in smallholder-based supply chains – such as tea or cocoa – aim to create solutions that benefit all links in the chain: by addressing a challenge in the supply chain (e.g. crop productivity or quality) the projects aim to improve conditions for smallholder farmers (e.g. increased income) as well as for the buyers and commercial partners (e.g. improved quality or security of supply). But demonstrating this ‘win-win’ can be challenging as monitoring and evaluation systems need to be designed in a way that captures the benefits …
A fresh approach to visual communications in development: allow me to illustrate
2020 brought many surprises. At the beginning of the pandemic, the last thing I expected was to be coaching voice actors down a crackly line to a recording studio in Afghanistan. My organisation, Integrity Action, was producing an animated video to showcase one of the impact stories from our work – this was part of our shift, over recent years, …
Information management matters in emergencies
‘A properly functioning information management system means data can travel from a community health volunteer in a remote village in Nigeria, to a mailing pack which may land on your welcome mat.’ Tom Smith reflects on the importance of managing information well in humanitarian responses. I’m new to the humanitarian sector, but from what I’ve seen, information management isn’t at …