The COVID-19 pandemic forced international NGOs to get creative when capturing stories of their work from around the world.
Sending film crews was not an option, so these organizations sought innovative models. After training on tools and techniques, the communities they served used their cell phones to capture video. The approach often yielded better content, with greater reach, at lower cost.
Now, many NGOs say there is no going back.
Yusuf Omar, co-founder of the immersive storytelling company SEEN, has guided many of these organizations in their transition to mobile journalism, which he says is not only more affordable but also more authentic and engaging than traditional forms of storytelling.
“The developmental industry has been told a gigantic lie,” he says. “And that lie is that video production is expensive and labor intensive and difficult.”
“We all have a Ferrari in our pockets, and most people are driving it in first gear. And even in the most remote communities I’ve been to, you find people with smartphones.”
The development community needs to go beyond the idea that success is the number of likes, shares, or views, says Omar. “These are vanity metrics. The metric of success in 2022 and going forward is peer-to-peer content,” he added.
Devex spoke with Omar, and several NGOs that have worked with SEEN, about ways NGOs can turn local community members into content creators, make their videos go viral, and see greater impact as a result of adopting these new storytelling approaches.
SEEN is working with NGOs and other partners to rethink who is in front and behind the camera in the stories they tell.
These organizations are moving away from professional video production that shows their staff working in communities, and instead focusing on specific impacts in communities told by the people who benefit from this work.
SEEN trains people — from school children to farmers to women entrepreneurs to produce content for NGOs — like Job, a teenage boy in Uganda’s Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, who became a mobile journalist for World Vision.
“This is the model for the future of content,” Omar says.
The problem with user-generated content is the results are often unpredictable.
When communities work with SEEN, they learn how to tell a story more effectively and the implications of sharing their story with the world, Omar explains.
And even though much of this user-generated content for NGOs is unpaid, mobile journalists often turn these skills into income-generating opportunities, making vlogs, video blogs, and even pursuing journalism as a career.
While SEEN provides storytelling tools, from shot lists to scripts, its focus is not on marketing, but on mobile journalism.
“We’re not in the business of putting words in mouths. It’s not a commercial. It’s a real life experience,” Omar says.
SEEN is focused on solutions-oriented content, which the team defines as stories about people working to tackle societal problems.
Omar says there are three key steps organizations need to take to make their community-generated videos go viral at low cost. First, they must discover the potential of mobile phones. Then give the audience storytelling tools, such as interview questions, shot lists that guide what types of video to capture, and graphics and animations that make these videos highly interactive and shareable.
Finally, create immersive experiences to engage the audience and encourage them to create more content in response.
Mayday, a 9-year-old girl living in Benin, West Africa, says a lot of children in her community drop out of school at a young age.
“Not all families have enough money to send their children to school,” she says in a video from the INGO Plan International, which works to advance children’s rights and equality for girls. “And some families need the extra help on their farms.”
But Mayday’s father, a former school teacher, believes the best way to empower girls is through education.
In a short video, Mayday says Plan International has helped parents in her community see the value of school. The video concludes with a selfie by Hermine and Florence, who explain that they filmed the video on their mobile phones with training from Plan International.
This is just one example resulting from work Plan International has done in partnership with SEEN to train mobile journalists across 43 countries to capture the organization’s work.
Oxfam began its work with SEEN to move away from “boring NGO videos explaining a project with experts,” and instead “go with human stories,” often in the popular TikTok style of short videos, says Simon Trépanier, digital communications and campaigns advisor at the international NGO.
This shift also aligned with Pledge for Change, which aims to reimagine the role of international NGOs in the international aid system, signed by Oxfam and other NGOs.
“Amplifying the voices of people, letting them tell their own story rather than tell the story for them, is definitely part of the pledge,” Trépanier tells Devex.
While there are always challenges with teaching new approaches, NGOs are finding that their staff and the communities they serve are excited about the power of mobile phone storytelling.
That’s the case for World Vision, which has worked with SEEN since 2019, first in Colombia and Uganda to train children on mobile journalism, then pivoting to virtual training in the context of COVID-19.
These videos are so engaging that the NGO uses them to train staff how to capture stories and engage with audiences on social media.
“When you look at the energy and enthusiasm that our young journalists put into the videos, you are reminded how vital storytelling is for everyone,” says Elisha Smallcombe, senior advisor for product development and innovation at World Vision. “But especially for those who can feel forgotten or neglected.”