5 communications strategy lessons from successful African NGOs

In 2008, Ushahidi, a technology platform, was developed to map the election violence in Kenya. Since then, it has continued to serve as a hub where user-generated content about events are reported from communities around the world. The open source platform has also been adapted to fit different situations where people struggle to gather information — from political protests to natural disasters. “One of the things that Ushahidi has always done is try to create products that solve problems that we experience locally,” said Charles Harding, product director at Ushahidi. Their ability to tell stories has helped spread the word and grow the business and has become a key part of the communications strategy. “We built a platform for people who may struggle to gather collectively during a tough situation to tell their stories. For us, it is important to tell our stories,” Harding said. Whether amplifying the voices of communities around the world or working to provide access to health care and education opportunities for underserved communities, it is important for organizations to create visibility for their brand and get traction for the messages that they share about their work. But this is not always an easy feat for those working in global development due to a number of limiting factors, including a tight budgets. Devex caught up with three successful nongovernmental organizations that work in Africa to hear how they've done it and get their tips. Here’s what they had to say: 1. Don’t forget the why. NGOs need to be more intentional and engage audiences with the content they distribute across communications channels instead of just using it as click bait to increase their fan base. “So many organizations are caught up with how many Twitter followers they have or how to get something to go viral," said Jenny Best, global communications director of One Acre Fund, a nonprofit that empowers farmers in East Africa by providing trainings and financing. A common mistake that organizations make in their quest to gain traction for their messages is losing sight of the “why” behind their communications effort, she said. Communications teams need to take a step back and “ask how they can put the client first — and then devise a communications strategy that honors that,” Best said. For One Acre Fund that means using different social media channels to amplify the voices of smallholder farmers by sharing stories about their activities with the goal of getting their target audience — that goes beyond those interested in agriculture — to understand that “farmers should come first in global poverty solutions,” she said. 2. Know your audience. To avoid creating campaigns in a vacuum, it is important to for an NGO to know their audience and build a relationship with them. This also makes it easy to start conversations with them on issues that matter. The team at Ushahidi created a chat function on their website that connects users directly to an employee who can answer their questions. The feedback Ushahidi receives through the conversations not only helps them know their audience better, it also helps them get feedback that they use to improving their products and services. While a chat bubble works for Ushahidi, it might not be applicable to other organizations. So the onus lies on each individual team to identify the appropriate tool that will meet the needs of the audience that they are trying to reach. 3. Generate local content to tell compelling stories. About six years ago, the Ubuntu Education Fund made a decision to move away from highly restricted grant funding, which meant they had to be more creative about how to raise money. Telling compelling stories about their work helped them gain access to funding opportunities, said Travis Randall, managing director of the U.S. office, adding that the goal of their storytelling goes beyond fundraising. They also use it to engage the global development community by creating thought-leadership pieces in both written and podcast form to shape discussions around philanthropy, he said. In an effort to tell compelling stories, NGOs need to avoid being overly contrived. Harding explains, “what [we often see] is a program manager telling a story of another person.” Although language barrier may necessitate that stories to be told by another it is still important to collect primary recordings of a local person telling the story, he said. This might require investing resources to employ a professional storyteller, but most of the time allowing local staff who understand the issues to coordinate the project will suffice. At Ubuntu more than 90 percent of the content the organization produces is created by local staff, Randall said. “[We need] the right voice on the ground so that I am not seen as just an American whiteman writing stories about what is happening,” he said. 4. Look beyond the communications team. Gaining traction for a message is not a task solely for the communications department. Ushahidi has its team spread across about nine countries so employees across a variety of teams are often charged with communications tasks. When an event is taking place in a time zone where a staff member is located, the person takes proactive steps to respond to or generate content to spread the word. “It has required us to create a unique management structure where people can take action on things that matter to the company without being territorial over domain or job title,” Harding said. 5. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. Some NGOs shy away from taking on projects that would increase their brand awareness for fear of it costing a lot of money. But because the internet has democratized how information is shared, having a dedicated communications budget is not necessary, Best said. “A little can go a long way,” she said. At Ubuntu, Randall said that they have learned to recycle and reuse materials from previous projects to reduce the cost of creating new resources from scratch. “A picture might look old to us because we have seen them before, but we forget that it is new to everyone who visits the website for the first time or encounters that image for the first time,” Randall said. Instead of hiring experts, communications teams can look to crowdsource ideas from others within the organization. “When you have a creative team, ideas can come from anyone, including the CEO,” Randall said. Devex delivers cutting-edge insights and analysis to the leaders shaping and innovating the business of development. Make sure you don't miss out. Become a Devex Executive Member today.