Conditions to Flourish: Understanding the Ecosystem for Narrative Power

By Global Narrative Hive, James Logan

Contents

Introduction

This document paints a picture of the ecosystem of actors who are working to build narrative power in movements, as well as of the movements themselves. The picture shows different groupings – or kinds of actors – within this ecosystem and the relationships and interconnections between them.

It seeks to include actors within movements who we believe are at the heart of narratives work, and not only those practitioners who are helping to develop and disseminate narratives.

It takes a cross-movement perspective: reflecting the breadth of our process as well as the widespread appetite for collaboration across movements around narratives. It also seeks to take a global perspective, looking outside any particular country. Most importantly, it highlights what practitioners and members of movements are themselves saying about the contexts in which they are operating and what they need.

This is a perspective that we believe is too often missing from analysis of this ecosystem. This picture is, ultimately, based around a vision of what a healthy, just and successful ecosystem for narratives work could be.

This is one where the key actors have strong relationships; are able to align their efforts when they need to; are resourced for the long run; and where they are able to share and benefit from the learning that they are collectively generating.

This is an ecosystem where, in the words of the generous visionaries at ReFrame,

[movements are] not only end-product consumers of narrative; they are essential creators and drivers of narrative change.

We hope that this document will be an insightful resource to anyone thinking about the power of narratives to support social change, and to those who are developing strategies to build powerful narratives. In particular, we hope that it will help to ensure that this ecosystem – which has shown powerful potential and yet remains so unequal and fragmented – has the resources and relationships it needs to create a better world.

We ourselves have used the insights from this report to guide the strategy of the Global Narrative Hive. These insights will inform the Hive’s efforts to bridge between different actors where they exist; support them to share knowledge and to create synergies and alliances; and enable the integration of new actors into this ecosystem where they are not yet present. The Global Narrative Hive will continue to hold and be guided by this view of the ecosystem. We nevertheless recognise that this will take work by many different actors and we hope that this mapping helps provides some direction to how that may happen.