Decalogue for social impact and innovation in storytelling
By Laura Sofía from Agencia Baudo
In a Latin American media ecosystem, where economic resources are often limited, innovation in narratives should not depend exclusively on the available budget. It is necessary to explore how strategic alliances, interdisciplinarity and creativity can transform journalistic and community projects, enhancing their social impact and opening new funding possibilities.
Why talk about strategic alliances?
Collaborating with organizations, collectives and people with similar visions allow us to combine knowledge, networks, infrastructure and talent to overcome financial limitations. Beyond optimizing resources, these alliances enrich projects with a diversity of ideas, promoting initiatives that connect with diverse audiences and build a collaborative ecosystem.
Innovation to increase impact and funding opportunities
Projects that integrate disciplines, explore new narrative formats and focus on social impact are more likely to reach wider audiences, raise awareness among decision-makers and attract alternative funding. Innovating not only strengthens the community connection, but also enhances credibility and expands the influence of storytelling in today’s landscape.
The Decalogue: Principles for creating interdisciplinary narratives with social impact.
Inspired by CHAGRA’s experience, I have put together the keys to motivating the creation of innovative projects:
- Community-based Communication: Actively involve communities in the construction of their own stories, to create inclusive and transformative narratives.
- Arts-journalism fusion: Incorporate artistic disciplines such as illustration, music or theater to connect with audiences emotionally.
- Design as narrative: Use design and data visualization to translate complex issues into accessible and attractive formats.
- Public spaces as a stage: Take journalism to the streets with urban interventions or exhibitions that reach those who do not have access to conventional media.
- Ancestral and local knowledge: Recover community knowledge and traditions to enrich stories and dignify cultures.
- Co-creation and horizontality: Collaborate with journalists, artists, designers and communities in the collective construction of equitable narratives.
- Interdisciplinarity: Create spaces where design, technology, art and journalism dialogue to address social issues in a complex and enriching way.
- Technology with social purpose: Implement digital tools in the service of positive change in communities.
- Powerful visual storytelling: Harness the power of images and audiovisuals to convey lasting messages.
- Sustainability and long-term impact: Build stories that transcend immediate formats and generate lasting changes in communities.
It’s a good time for the media ecosystem to be healthier by rethinking the way we tell stories, giving more openness to ways of storytelling from an approach that prioritizes interdisciplinarity, strategic alliances and social impact. Innovative narratives can contribute to different transformations, connect with audiences and open new funding possibilities.