Note from Changing the Narrative Cell 2
Note of the changing the narrative cell, 21 July 2020
Summary of key points
A drive for more funding can reinforce problematising narratives but it is possible to tell the story of change in ways that show where the need lies but does not disempower or problematise those who are supported.
Creating platforms for authentic voices who frame their own story can help disrupt existing narratives and shift power.
The media can problematise and ‘other’ people but can also be part of the solution – we can help them tell ‘human interest’ stories that show systemic issues and solutions as well as individual stories.
Individualism is part of the problem. We need to tell a different story of responsibility to each other, mutual obligation and caring for each other, as well as highlight the need for systemic change. This needs to appeal to people of different political persuasions if it is to take hold.
Funders can be part of the solution, for example, bringing in people with lived experience to help them make good choices.
Next time we will look in more detail into how to make change happen.
In more detail…
Steve Wyler started the meeting by summarising the key points from the last:
We want the national conversation to shift from 'them and us' to caring for each other, in which everyone contributes and also has responsibilities.
We need to create platforms for people to tell stories where they are the heroes, not our services.
We need to use new language, for example ‘valuable’ not ‘vulnerable’.
He said that at this meeting we were going to focus on the barriers to this kind of narrative and what we can do about them.
Neil Crowther reminded us of some the issues he’d raised previously, including the quote from a school nurse who had heard a boy during lockdown say that he was in school because he was ‘valuable’: that switch from seeing people as ‘vulnerable’ to focusing on their assets was a key shift in the narrative we are seeking. Other shifts were to hope, not fear, what we stand for, not what we are against, to solutions and opportunities, not threats, and support for everyday heroes. There is often a significant gap between the dominant narrative now, and the story we want to tell eg ‘social care as a vehicle for a good life’ rather than ‘social care as a destination or a place’.
Neil identified some of the barriers to and challenges for this kind of narrative:
For charities, fund-raising from the public was perceived to work best when describing problems and the agencies as the saviours.
Likewise, commissioners, procurers and charitable funders often wanted organisations to demonstrate the problem and show how their investment had solved it.
Influencing politicians to spend more on social issues often leads campaigners to play up the negatives and to portray services as solution, and in an age of austerity many services were under-funded.
Duncan Shrubsole then gave his perspective based not just on his current role at the Lloyds Bank Foundation but also as the Chair of Switchback and his 9 years at Crisis. He agreed that fund-raising was a challenge but added that the best charities do already major on turning lives around, but to get public buy-in they also have to tell the story of the journey individuals have gone through, including the negatives, and they have to show where they add value. That story had to be told in a humanising, empowering way. Likewise, when talking about issues with the government, who are trying to target tight resources, it is important that they understand and correctly identify needs. They have to understand the challenges people face.
There was sometimes a danger, Duncan said, that asset-based narratives reinforce a view that solutions were always in the hands of individuals. Promoting agency is important but this has to be balanced by also describing and addressing systemic issues that may hold people back. JRF described this a moving away from individual deficits to talking about what is holding people back. We do need people to be able to express injustice and harm, and for the narrative to identify what is getting in the way and what we can do about it.
Points coming out of the subsequent discussion included:
Creating platforms for authentic voices changes the narrative. It is important that the stories that are told stay true to people, and that people telling their stories are ‘talking in voice’, not mediated by others. Genuine voices disrupt the process. Sometimes charities frame stories in ways that justify what they do, when in fact they are not doing the right thing. The bigger picture is that people lack power, which is too concentrated in the state and vested interests, and giving people the opportunity to express an authentic voice can disrupt and shift this. Fixers helped people tell their own story in short films, with the framing done by themselves – see below. Sound Delivery is also providing platforms for lived experience– see below. Sometimes people don’t see value in themselves and lack aspirations or a feeling of agency. Grapevine Coventry and Warwickshire is training the people they work with to become the ‘leaders of the future’.
Targeting the media. We need to disrupt national narratives in the media and elsewhere which can be ‘othering’, disempowering and problematising. We should look not to news outlets but also daytime TV and popular magazines.
Telling the story of the system, not just the individual. Story-telling is important but it needs not to be just a human interest crisis story, it also needs to show what is wrong with the system in ways that point to solutions. Cathy Come Home is a famous example of how a story could lead to systemic change, in this case the Homeless Act. JRF is not trying to tell the story of poverty in a deeply human way, for example.
Reinventing society. The agenda of individualism underlies the current narrative and in the new framing we need to appeal to people to think beyond themselves and also not look to the state where family or grass roots support in communities might be a better solution.
A cross-party narrative of responsibility, caring for each other and mutual obligation. We need a narrative that crosses political divides if it is to take hold. Responsibility towards each other is part of the narrative of people caring for each other: you step forward to surface and resolve an issue because you want to prevent others from experiencing the same problem. Responsibility, linked to mutual obligation, is a concept that appeals to people of different political beliefs, whereas appeals for systemic change alone are often perceived as left wing. Taking responsibility is part of taking control and developing agency. The narrative needs to recognise that people do have choices, sometimes they make the wrong ones and have to take responsibility for that, but the system can also block opportunities or be unfair.
Supportive funders. Funders can be part of the problem, but sometimes they are blamed by charities when it’s not their fault. Some funders are trying to work in a different way, for example, democratising ways of distributing funds and bringing in people with lived experience to help them make choices.
It was agreed that the next meeting, which is at 3.00 -4.30 pm on 7 September, would focus on the practical dimension of how to change the narrative, and we might explore some specific examples.
Some relevant links
Fixers – see this blog by Margo Horsley.
Sound Delivery – links kindly provided by Jude Habib below:
An evaluation of our spokespersons network pilot – funded through crowdfunding and match funded via support from PHF and Lankelly Chase. We are now in conversations with funders to scale up from the pilot: https://beingthestory.org.uk/spokesperson-network
Two people from our network Brenda and Amanda featured on a Radio 4 Documentary – Unchained – about women and the criminal justice system https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hghf
Being the Story Podcast – This podcast gives a platform to range of individuals with lived experience of a range of social issues – Think TedTalks for the Social Sector – available on all podcast platforms: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/being-the-story/id1483449674 reflects the work to build confidence, find platforms and encourage visibility for those often not listened to.