Funding Narrative Change Strategies for the Long Haul [Video]

We are all shaped by stories. But we are not all aware of how much we are influenced by dominant narratives—or who holds the privilege of producing and disseminating them.

Many believe that storytelling lies exclusively within the province of the entertainment sector. But the truth is that narratives are everywhere and they influence how we see the world, the issues that matter to us, and even how we view ourselves, as we work to reinforce or change existing narratives.

In our respective roles at Breakthrough Trust and IllumiNative, we focus on replacing the narratives that have rendered our causes and people invisible and on deploying storytelling and narrative change as tools for engagement, education, and ultimately, movement building and systems transformation.

For the past 25 years, Breakthrough has worked to shift social norms so that discrimination and violence against women and …