Lessons from a digital campfire around stories for system change
In November 2021, the Centre for Public Impact Australia and New Zealand (CPI ANZ), together with Dusseldorp Forum and Hands Up Mallee, published Storytelling for System Change. This report contained insights on how stories can drive system change, what good storytelling looks like, and why it’s so hard to do well. It resonated with many people who told us how much they enjoyed reading it, how their work aligned, and how they wanted to connect with others doing this kind of work.
On the back of this demand, CPI and Dusseldorp Forum created Digital Campfires for storytelling, initially for those working in system change in Australia with a view to expand based on lessons from the small-scale start. We designed them to have the same vibe as a campfire — intimate, sharing and learning from each other, and connecting with like-minded people. We planned four campfires with a small group to explore what might work in terms of processes and what might be needed in terms of content.
What did we learn?
The first session explored content that might be useful in terms of learning, the second and third shared that content, and the final focused on what we learned from the process and where the group saw potential for this model to support their work.
The group wanted to learn about the ethics of storytelling evaluation, so we worked with Our Race to share their Transformational Ethical Storytelling (TEST) framework. They were also interested in exploring the role of stories in evaluation, so we invited inspirational evaluator Kate McKegg to host a discussion based on her experiences.
The content shared in both weeks was useful to participants, who found it easy to engage and ask relevant questions:
“Content weeks have been very engaging and right on point as we grapple with what this work is and how to move it forward.” Shandel on Palawa Country
The process helped us identify themes around what organisations need and don’t need to work well with stories to create change.
People need people
The discussions were rich, partly because people were working in similar contexts and facing similar challenges. They expressed their relief in the solidarity of hearing from others walking the same road and having similar encounters. People shared experiences that were interesting, encouraging, and reassuring to others in the group. For example, they described how hearing from others who are also taking a different approach helped make this work feel less lonely.
“When you’re a small organisation, doing this work on your own can be overwhelming. So this session has reassured me there are others in the same space.” Kallie — Wurundjeri Country
Respect for community through recognising story ownership/holdership
The concepts of ‘story ownership or story holdership’ are central to the work of Our Race and their TEST framework. This commitment to the voice of community and to equity in how we engage in their stories was deeply felt across the group, so having the language of story holders to differentiate this group from storytellers or story partners felt helpful for many.
It helped us articulate a dissatisfaction with traditional consent forms which are not always designed from the point of view of the storyholder, but rather the organisation collecting stories. This has triggered a process to create a consent form for storyholders that respects their right to tell their story in the ways that work for them, and places the onus on the organisation to communicate in more accessible ways to ensure that the storyholder is informed and has given consent for every way in which the story might be used. In addition to being more culturally and linguistically appropriate, we hope the new process will centre the wider needs of the communities we work with.
“I think there’s such a great opportunity to share resources (like TEST informed consent forms) with each other as we develop them to be adapted and contextualised to specific initiatives.” Tori on Peramangk Ngurle
We need a movement to change the system
We recognise that changing systems is slow work and progresses at the pace of the trust we can build with those in the system. By centering certain values and approaches in our work, we can begin to build the trust needed to facilitate sustainable changes across our systems. This trust might enable us to actively challenge norms that maintain how things are for those involved in this work.
That might include changing expectations around how organisations engage with funders, what communities expect from us, and what we expect to happen as a result of what we do and how we are. Although it may not feel like it, from the outside, this work looks like a movement for sustained change and a shift in the traditional power balance.
“When people are treated seriously, in time, people will expect to be treated seriously. This helps contribute to a movement of expectation from story holders over time.” Michelle on Arrernte country
Looking to the future
We are currently dreaming up the next steps of this work. We know we need an equal balance of listening to experts and each other. We know we need to practise telling stories so we can learn from the experience of sharing. We know we need more opportunities to connect. We know we need to speak more widely and share what we are learning. We are committed to doing all of this.
There is growing interest in exploring how stories can drive systems change. So, we are extending this work beyond this group who have been part of the campfires. At this stage, we anticipate this work to begin during March or April 2023. If you or someone you know might benefit from this, we have two opportunities for you:
- An international database to link people interested in storytelling for systems change: You can share your details with others, and initiate contact people you think would be interesting to have a coffee with, bounce ideas with, or perhaps even collaborate with. There will be people who have answers to your questions, or questions that match the answers you have gathered during your practice.
- Be part of an online community of practice: The Storytellers channel will be a space where you can share experiences, resources, events, and ideas. Message me (Keira Lowther) once you have joined and I’ll bring you into the Storytellers channel. The password is white rabbit (just kidding — there’s no password)! The link expires in 30 days so if you come to this after some time, let me know and I’ll invite you directly.
