It may be considered lazy to start a piece of writing with a quote, but let's make an exception for the powerful words of Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichi: "Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity." The discoverability workshop, held at aikyam space on Sept. 24 & 25, was an exercise for changemakers to think through telling the stories that matter.
Naji Mahfood, one of the founders of Ignite India and Khoj, his teammate Shanija, and Aayushee Jevish of legal aid NGO, Ninety Degrees, participated in this workshop.
For Naji, a seasoned storyteller who has worked on multiple platforms to build discoverability for his organisations, Ghost was a new and interesting tool to learn. "The most significant takeaway from the workshop was the importance of consistent practice. Writing regularly, whether it’s content for social media, blog posts, or emails, is the best way to hone your skills. Another key point was that using technology to streamline processes can help non-profits work smarter, not harder. The workshop also provided a solid foundation in using platforms like Ghost to build a functional, well-designed website," he writes in his blog post about the experience. He created a dedicated impact storytelling platform for Ignite India at the workshop.
Aayushee, a final year law student in the process of building reach for her organisation, was looking to build the website for her organisation. The workshop guided her through thinking through the content for her primary stakeholders and in setting up her website.
"Megha trained us in the basics of Ghost, the platform on which I built the website. It was an exhilarating feeling to build my own website from scratch, using everything I learned at the workshop. Jinso explained to us the technical details of FOSS content management software, what a server is, self-hosting with NGO credits and the need for a domain/subdomain. He also helped me map my website to a custom domain," she says, in her post.
Megha
For all of the participants, the two days were packed with hands-on learning, and working on projects with real discoverability impact.
What are your challenges with discoverability and storytelling? What are some of the tools you use to tell your stories better? Share in the comments.
