Storytelling for Impact

“A lot of us get into this work with NGOs because we want to make a difference but there are times when NGOs are actually doing more harm and they’re not living up to their standard of being humanitarian.”

This episode features Laura Elizabeth Pohl, a humanitarian photographer, filmmaker, writer and editor from the US living in Cape Town, South Africa. Laura prides herself on producing stories about issues like immigration, agriculture, healthcare access and economic and social justice in an ethical way with care and respect for the dignity of the people featured. Her work for international NGOs has taken her to more than 20 countries. Laura was previously an entertainment journalist and interviewed celebrities including Britney Spears, and Mary J. Blige, and also worked as a Dow Jones business reporter in Korea, before she transitioned into photojournalism. The founder and co-editor of NGO Storytelling, a website to inform and inspire humanitarian storytellers, Laura also hosts her own podcast, Creative + Moneywise, where she interviews other photographers about their real-life money stories and career paths. 

In this episode, we consider this question: should the people featured in NGO stories be paid? We discuss the pros and cons of offering individuals compensation for sharing stories which are used by organisations to raise funds or advance their advocacy goals. We also hear Laura’s reflections on some of the unethical behaviour she’s witnessed when gathering stories in countries across the world, such as when she was sent to interview a struggling family in the DRC – who were receiving no support from the international nonprofit that selected them. This episode contains useful tips as to how NGOs and their storytellers can help the people featured in their communications to feel more valued.

Useful links: 

Check out Laura’s website

Check out Laura’s podcast, Creative + Moneywise

Check out the NGO Storytelling blog

Check out Laura’s Medium post, A call for ethical standards in nonprofit humanitarian photography

Check out Oxfam's Ethical Content Guidelines

Check out WaterAid's Ethical Image Policy

 

Connect with Storytelling for Impact: 

Visit the website: www.storytellingforimpact.net

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storytellingforimpact/

Follow Susannah Birkwood on Twitter: @Susannahbirkwoo

Email: [email protected] 

This episode features Ed Davey, the head of rainforest investigations at the international NGO Global Witness, where he leads a team dedicated to exposing the destruction of the world’s most important rainforests. In 2018 he helped reveal how the world’s top three commodity traders were embroiled in one of the biggest corruption cases of all time. Previously he spent eight years specialising in undercover journalism at the BBC where his work was featured on programmes such as Panorama, Newsnight, and the national News at Six, as well as writing for publications including the New Statesman and the Mail on Sunday. At 38, he’s also the author of three novels – Foretold by Thunder, The Napoleon Complex and The Killing Gene – published under the name EM Davey. He has visited more than 60 countries and African countries feature in all his novels.

In this episode, we chat about what it’s like to work in investigative journalism for an NGO, getting the low-down on how Global Witness carries out its campaigns focused on complex international corruption and environmental crime, and how the job differs to working for a media outlet. We also hear eye-opening stories from Ed’s career as a journalist going undercover to expose everything from unscrupulous building firms to unethical fertility clinics, and learn about his astonishing trip to Benin, West Africa, to make a BBC documentary about voodoo sorcery after a friend told him he’d seen a voodoo priest cut off his wife’s head and then reattach it…

1:32 becoming a published author

6:41 sharing a name with a famous politician

8:37 transitioning from the BBC to campaigning journalism 

12:50 calling on companies to take action on deforestation

15:33 getting decision-makers to take action on findings

17:30 the inside track on Global Witness investigations

21:00 justifying long-haul flights as an environmental campaigner

24:18 going undercover

28:12 Ed’s most impactful investigation

30:07 evaluating the impact of investigations 

35:47 risks in undercover operations

39:24 voodoo in Benin

44:44 tips for getting into campaigning journalism

Check out Ed’s website

Check out Ed’s novels

Check out this Global Witness anti-corruption investigation Ed worked on 

Check out Ed’s BBC World Service documentary on voodoo sorcery in Benin

Check out this BBC undercover investigation into building test centres Ed worked on 

Check out Ed’s BBC undercover investigation into immigrant working conditions

Visit the website: www.storytellingforimpact.net

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storytellingforimpact/ 

Follow Susannah Birkwood on Twitter: @Susannahbirkwoo

Email: [email protected] 

This episode features Sarika Bansal, a journalist and author based in Nairobi, Kenya who was the was the founder and editor in chief of BRIGHT magazine. Together, we discuss Sarika’s biggest bugbears when it comes to language use in the international NGO sector, scrutinising words and phrases such as "giving voice to the voiceless," “capacity building," “third world,” and “beneficiaries”. We also get her top tips on how to language that empowers contributors and upholds their dignity, as well as delving into the moral quandary that is voluntourism and asking: Is there an ethical way for a young, privileged person to spend time in a poorer community?

This episode features Thin Lei Win, an award-winning Burmese climate change, food security and humanitarian correspondent living in Italy. We discuss whether the foreign correspondent model is due a reckoning following a recent reporting trip by CNN International to Myanmar to cover the country’s recent military coup. The media outlet was widely criticised for the trip, with many accusing it of downplaying the role played by local journalists and for causing harm as 11 local sources were arrested after speaking to CNN’s reporter.

In this bitesize bonus episode of Storytelling for Impact, multi-award-winning UK-based journalist Iain Overton offers his top tips on becoming an investigative journalist and foreign correspondent.

This episode features Iain Overton, a multi-award-winning investigative journalist based in the UK who has worked in over 80 countries around the world unearthing hard truths about human rights and gun violence. We talk with Iain about the merits of journalism for someone who wants to use their career to do as much good as they can in the world; the emotional sacrifices Iain made through his work reporting human rights abuses; and what it was like to be detained by terrorist group Hezbollah during a reporting trip to Lebanon.

Rachel Erskine, an ethical storytelling expert who works for Amref Health Africa in the UK, shares her thoughts on how aid agencies and NGOs can make amends for the harm past approaches to storytelling may have caused to communities.

Jason Houston, a social and environmental photographer who works with clients including the New York Times, shares his insights on participatory photography and respecting the needs of the communities he photographs.

Carlos Conde, an investigative journalist specialising in human rights in the Philippines, shares what it takes to do this work in one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists.

Captivating conversations delving into the personal stories of people who dedicate themselves to telling stories to drive impact and an exploration of the ethical challenges they face.