CSOs are experimenting with the potential of digital platforms and technology for their programming and navigating the risks that also come via the digital world. Yet what do digital spaces mean for their potential to tell powerful stories? How do you balance digital opportunities with a necessary push for authenticity, for localizing stories? Old technologies, such as radio and print, can still be the most appropriate and powerful depending on the context.

These are some of the questions motivating a conversation being hosted by the Open Gov Hub, Transparency and Accountability Initiative donor collaborative, and Accountability Lab. The intent is to provide a space for CSOs working in support of good governance and a variety of development goals to compare notes, find inspiration and explore the risks around story-telling and messaging in a world of narrative bubbles, active disinformation campaigns and short attention spans.

This discussion is one of a series being organized around the world in partnership with the World Economic Forum for their exploration of the future of advocacy in the 21st century under the Preparing Civil Society for the Fourth Industrial Revolution process.

Here are the framing questions that will guide the event:

Since CSOs use stories to persuade and also to capture their impact, what approaches are they using and what challenges do they face? How do digital technologies factor in?

What capacities do CSOs need to build in order to be able to harness story-telling approaches and be effective advocates in today’s context?

Register https://www.eventbrite.com/e/storytelling-and-the-future-of-advocacy-in-the-21st-century-tickets-79067889185