When it comes to advocacy, emotion can be more powerful than logic. At the UNEP Plastic Bag Ban Forum, I heard the horrific statistic that 24 million plastic bags are used monthly in Kenya, and that they take 700 to 1000 years to biodegrade. This means that not a single plastic bag has degraded yet! The fact that plastic is destructive to the environment, our health and other living creatures, is not new information. So, why aren’t we all behaving differently?
Read more
Defying gravity: why the ‘submarine strategy’ drags you down
Research, Strategic CommunicationsA lot of think tanks and research organisations end up using a submarine strategy. They don’t do it deliberately. It’s just what happens, by default, in the absence of a communications strategy.
Read more
Insights PODCAST: social practice art
Governance, Kenya, Strategic CommunicationsLISTEN to the second episode of the new Well Told Story INSIGHTS podcast
To listen: CLICK HERE (19 mins)
Read more
Who cares about plastic bags?
Strategic CommunicationsWhen it comes to advocacy, emotion can be more powerful than logic. At the UNEP Plastic Bag Ban Forum, I heard the horrific statistic that 24 million plastic bags are used monthly in Kenya, and that they take 700 to 1000 years to biodegrade. This means that not a single plastic bag has degraded yet! The fact that plastic is destructive to the environment, our health and other living creatures, is not new information. So, why aren’t we all behaving differently?
Read more
Insights PODCAST: politics & governance
Governance, Kenya, Research, Segmentation, Shujaaz, Strategic CommunicationsLISTEN to the first episode of the new Well Told Story INSIGHTS Podcast
Read more
Elections: how young people could ‘change everything’
Governance, Kenya, Strategic CommunicationsNext month Kenya goes to the polls, with national elections across the country. Everyone is hoping for peaceful politics and mass participation. But expectations are, it’s fair to say, cautiously realistic on both counts.
Read more
How spectacular public art can heal division and unite communities
Governance, Kenya, Strategic CommunicationsTerrorists use spectacular moments of death and destruction to create division and fracture communities. But can public art create equally spectacular moments of beauty and love, that can heal division and unite communities? That’s the subject of a new book, called ‘Art in the City’. The opening chapter of the book is authored by my colleague at Well Made Strategy, Nabila Alibhai.
Read more
Fake-news and alt-facts: you don’t have to compromise to be persuasive
Strategic CommunicationsDonald Trump believes that climate change was “created for and by the Chinese” and just signed an executive order putting an end to the ‘war on coal‘. Despite the consensus within the global scientific community that climate change is triggered by human activity, many people simply do not buy it. A new book that explores “the myth gap” explains that evidence and arguments (on their own) are not enough. Closer to home, persuasion is not just for salespeople; you may have to persuade donors to fund your amazing intervention, to persuade your boss to take on your brilliant idea or even persuade an entire community to adopt new behaviours.
Read more
WTPOA: What’s the point of acronyms?
Strategic CommunicationsWhat’s the point of acronyms? Or if you prefer, WTPOA. Well surely there can only really be one point, and that is to save time. But does using acronyms really save time? I don’t think so.
Read more
A quiet revolution at Well Told Story
Strategic CommunicationsAfter seven years of exciting work as a division of Well Told Story, our consulting team is entering a period of transformative growth. Since 2009, Well Told Story Consulting has been growing alongside Shujaaz and our other media, sharing the skills and lessons we’ve learned in strategy, media and communications to help our clients harness the power of good communications to create positive change.
Read more
Discussing youth radicalisation and migration with African experts
Strategic CommunicationsLast month our Head of Media, Julian Macharia, & Senior Technical Advisor, Everlyn Kemunto, were invited by the Hanns Seidel Foundation to attend a round-table discussion in Brussels on Youth Radicalization. The objective of the visit was to give the EU a more grounded understanding of the local realities around radicalization and violent extremism in Africa.
Read more