The Institute of Development Studies has developed guidelines for inclusive storytelling. Subjects should have an active part in how their story is told.

Natalie Orringe, head of communications and engagement, Institute of Development Studies

Statues, the Royals, gender identity, rainbow flags. In the last months, the debate on how we use language, terminology, and symbols in everyday life has gone mainstream.

Whether fuelled by social media or social protest, these conversations tend to start in a well-meaning way but quickly end up heated with opinions polarised. These are intensely complex topics that relate to representation and identity – the very way we tell our stories and want to be heard.

The fact that our perspectives on them are entirely defined by our own history and experience makes these topics hard to debate. We have to keep in mind that the very fact such topics are centre stage gives hope that we can tackle deep rooted and historic power imbalances.

This issue is fundamental for us in marketing and communications because it relates to how we represent communities in the way we spot, create, produce, and share stories. From creative treatment through scripting, the act of producing a story to inspire response has the potential to reinforce stereotypes and, however unwittingly, inequalities.

The challenge is particularly acute for those working in the charity sector where traditional ways of prompting donations have used stories that position those receiving help as victims. Like the Concern Worldwide Hunger Stops Here campaign that while effective, cemented the unequal power between the white, Global North charity and starving, black children in Africa.

We simply cannot tell stories like that anymore. And this is where our profession can make a difference. At the Institute of Development Studies, our approach was to kick off a consultation at the beginning of this year with researchers and Fellows on ethical content creation. We shared research, reviewed industry best practice and talked to our network of communications practitioners to better understand what was going on.

IDS is a think tank affiliated with the University of Sussex. It delivers research and teaching in development studies.

Throughout we heard how vital first-person stories were in bringing to life highly complex issues, such as causes of poverty or climate justice. People’s experiences help in raising awareness, building engagement, and understanding of global challenges. But we had to strengthen how we sourced, created, and shared images and stories to ensure we removed any implicit bias, including those related to legacy, historic behaviour between communities.

The consultation was distilled into our IDS ethical content guidelines 2021. It includes guidance on how to work with participants from the moment of identifying their story through production to content distribution. It mandates that those featured must have the opportunity to lend their experience in a way that allows them to be actively part of how their story is framed and used.

Our commitment continues to be produce brilliant, inspiring, impactful communications but only where we can protect participant’s rights; illustrate their agency in the story we tell; and present it in a way that is inclusive and representative of the individual and their community.

Our hope is that by sharing our process and guidelines we have created we can support other organisations to take action.