Storytelling for Velocity, Not Visibility: Why African Development Organizations Need a New Communications Playbook

Across Africa, thing subtle yet profound is changing successful really world development-focused organizations pass astir their activity and impact. The accepted attack to improvement communications, often shaped by philanthropist frameworks, log frames and visibility requirements, tends to prioritize outputs complete outcomes. Communications teams are often tasked pinch producing reports, campaigns and visibility materials that fulfill compliance needs, but don’t ever bespeak nan lived realities of communities, frontline implementers aliases section partners. As a result, storytelling tin go disconnected from really alteration really unfolds connected nan ground.

What’s more, this messaging often comes via extracurricular comms professionals moving connected a statement basis, arsenic African organizations person agelong been operating successful what could beryllium called nan “consultant era” of improvement communications. In my acquisition moving pinch African improvement organizations and world partners, this has often meant relying connected outer communications consultants who nutrient recommendations, aliases creation strategies and messaging frameworks, past exit earlier those plans are afloat implemented.

These are each valuable priorities, but they are often detached from nan impacts and activities that embody an organization’s ngo — and nan deeper communicative it wants to stock astir its work.

That consultant-led model, while erstwhile sufficient, nary longer fits nan gait and complexity of Africa’s evolving improvement ecosystem, starring a increasing number of organizations to activity greater ownership of their communications processes. This mirrors a akin displacement that is happening successful nan backstage sector, wherever African companies are progressively moving distant from one-off advisory engagements toward models that prioritize hands-on execution and semipermanent operational involvement.

When storytelling is constricted to effect reports

I’ve spent complete 10 years moving successful improvement communications crossed agriculture, power access, gender inclusion and entrepreneurship programs successful East Africa, supporting organizations funded by awesome philanthropist institutions.

I person often encountered African improvement organizations pinch fantabulous communications strategies that ne'er make it beyond PowerPoint. Their teams are doing singular work, but their results seldom recreation beyond a project’s effect reports.

It is not for deficiency of commitment. Most of nan time, it’s a matter of building and priority. Communications is still excessively often seen arsenic “nice to have” but not integral to nan broader ngo — thing to grip erstwhile nan method activity is done, often to fulfill a request to meet philanthropist visibility standards.

But erstwhile storytelling remains an afterthought, nan costs is huge. Communities suffer ownership of narratives that interest them. Funders struggle to spot really alteration really happens connected nan ground. And organizations miss nan chance to style really Africa’s advancement is perceived globally.

When externally developed communications plans don’t widen into execution — erstwhile they extremity astatine “recommendations” aliases a one-off study — their imaginable to fortify trust, mobilize support and prolong engagement is lost.

Why shifts successful improvement backing are changing nan communications game

The discourse astir communications activity successful nan improvement assemblage is changing fast. Traditional assistance backing is contracting arsenic world crises multiply and philanthropist priorities shift.

As these accepted assistance models decline, there’s a increasing request for effect investors, firm foundations and philanthropic ventures to ramp up their support of initiatives that tin present some societal and financial returns. According to nan OECD, charismatic improvement assistance was declining moreover earlier past year’s melodramatic cuts. Meanwhile, effect investing continues to grow, pinch nan Global Impact Investing Network estimating that nan marketplace reached complete $1.5 trillion successful world assets nether management in 2024, aft experiencing 21% compound yearly maturation since 2019.

These caller actors are not looking for visibility plans aliases quarterly bulletins — they’re looking for grounds and engagement. They want to spot really an thought becomes a movement, really superior translates into organization resilience, and really stories of alteration link to measurable outcomes.

In this environment, communications cannot stay a support function. It has to go an motor of accountability and learning — a strategy that connects information pinch narrative, outcomes pinch ownership.

For example, alternatively of producing glossy end-of-project videos, communications teams could create storytelling frameworks that provender straight into programme monitoring and information cycles. Instead of treating societal media arsenic a broadcast tool, organizations could usage it for participatory storytelling, wherever beneficiaries and partners co-create nan message.

I’ve seen this attack activity successful smallholder agriculture projects successful occidental Kenya, wherever section officers utilized WhatsApp sound notes and short videos from farmers to pass adaptive programming and philanthropist learning sessions, alternatively than waiting for end-of-project reports.

This benignant of holistic, systems-based exemplary aligns pinch broader changes that are reshaping really nan improvement assemblage approaches its work. Funders are not conscionable supporting projects anymore; they are investing successful ecosystems. That intends each character (funder, implementer and storyteller) must align astir shared transparency and corporate impact.

Learning from nan “Operator-Led Model”

In a caller LinkedIn post, business strategist John Kourkoutas described really companies entering African markets are abandoning nan aged consultant-led model, wherever a patient produces a marketplace study and steps away.

The caller model, he argued, is operator-led:

“I don’t constitute 80-page reports. I find nan distributor, building nan deal, negociate shipments, and enactment until it works.”

That elemental connection carries profound implications for improvement communications.

For excessively long, communicators person been positioned arsenic outer advisors producing campaigns, visibility plans aliases messaging templates. What if instead, we became operators embedded successful projects, co-owning outcomes, and ensuring that connection itself becomes a driver of change?

That would mean:

• Designing connection systems that section teams tin prolong beyond philanthropist cycles.
• Embedding storytelling into programme delivery, not conscionable programme documentation.
• Measuring occurrence not by nan number of outputs created, but by really good those outputs construe into trust, behaviour alteration aliases argumentation uptake.

When communicators enactment engaged done nan afloat task cycle, they go portion of nan strategy that makes results visible, verifiable and scalable.

Connecting information and humanity

This caller attack to improvement communications tin thief organizations amended leverage nan information their teams are producing. Data remains basal for development, but without context, it risks becoming impersonal. That’s wherever communications tin play a captious role: turning information into quality understanding.

Many improvement communications teams already harvester information pinch quality stories. But excessively often, this storytelling happens only aft programs conclude, and it’s typically focused connected nan constricted extremity of highlighting occurrence stories and promoting programme impacts. Imagine if instead, communications teams were empowered to embed storytelling passim programme implementation, informing learning, adjustment and decision-making successful existent time, not conscionable packaging results for outer audiences.

Storytelling is often treated arsenic secondary to method work, but successful fact, it’s strategical infrastructure. It bridges monitoring and learning, strengthens transparency, and deepens engagement betwixt organizations and their stakeholders.

At its best, communications acts arsenic a reflector arsenic overmuch arsenic a megaphone. It allows organizations to bespeak connected what’s working, aboveground unsighted spots and accommodate their approaches, while besides helping outer audiences understand effect beyond metrics.

Building section capacity is nan existent agelong game

However, for this displacement to genuinely return clasp successful Africa’s improvement sector, localization will beryllium key. Many African organizations are still heavy limited connected outer communications consultants aliases agencies. While this brings master polish, it tin besides create dependency.

If storytelling capacity isn’t developed internally, narratives slice erstwhile nan task closes aliases backing ends. To break that cycle, communications must beryllium viewed arsenic a section asset, not an outsourced service.

That intends investing successful African communicators, creatives and integer storytellers who understand taste nuance, section languages and location dynamics. It besides intends processing soul training and systems truthful that each programme officer, section supplier aliases organization mobilizer tin lend to nan storytelling process.

Localization of storytelling isn’t conscionable bully ethics, it’s bully economics. It keeps nan communicative alive, authentic and rooted wherever effect really happens.

Communications arsenic a lever for systemic change

As donors and investors request stronger accountability and locally led approaches, communications professionals are uniquely positioned to link argumentation to practice. We tin aboveground what’s working, uncover what’s not, and humanize systemic alteration successful ways that information dashboards cannot.

The improvement organization often talks astir “ownership” and “sustainability,” yet we seldom widen that to storytelling itself. True sustainability intends communities and section organizations tin proceed telling their ain stories — not because an outer task costs it, but because it’s woven into really they specify progress.

That’s nan adjacent frontier for improvement communications successful Africa: to germinate from being a peripheral usability to being a strategical subject that helps programs learn, accommodate and endure.

For communicators, this infinitesimal is some challenging and afloat of possibilities. We tin stay successful nan accepted advisor model, designing reports, producing campaigns and hoping our proposal translates into action. Or we tin go operators, co-creating, embedding and staying progressive until nan communicative genuinely works. This benignant of approach, erstwhile successfully implemented, leads to accrued organization engagement, stronger partner alignment, clearer philanthropist knowing and programme adjustments informed by lived experience.

To execute this shift, organizations don’t request to wantonness their full communications strategy; they conscionable request to crushed it successful execution. In practice, this intends designing communications systems that proceed to make learning aft a consulting statement ends. It besides intends building soul capacity truthful organizations tin way what resonates, accommodate messaging based connected real-world feedback, and stay accountable to communities, partners and funders erstwhile communicating a project’s impact. Accountability, successful this sense, is astir ensuring that publically shared stories bespeak communities’ lived experience, that insights from communications pass programme decisions, and that efforts to publicize a program’s effect are based successful trust, information and measurable outcomes — not conscionable a request to complete a project’s deliverables.

Donors tin besides thrust this alteration by backing communications activity not arsenic an “overhead,” but arsenic a halfway enabler of transparency, learning and adaptive management. Because erstwhile communications efforts are embedded successful really organizations work, not conscionable really they report, they go a unit multiplier for impact.

In nan end, nan organizations that will thrive successful Africa’s adjacent improvement section are those that spot communications not arsenic storytelling for visibility, but arsenic storytelling for velocity. Because erstwhile we pass pinch intent, humility and persistence, we don’t conscionable show nan communicative of change, we build it.

Chrisphine Omondi is simply a strategical communications master pinch complete 12 years of acquisition supporting donor-funded and societal effect programs crossed sub-Saharan Africa.

Photo credit: Gnim Zabdiel Mignake