Training Narrative Change Associates to spread the word!

On August 19 and 22, 2019 we trained 11 participants of the Narrative Change Lab as Narrative Change Associates. This dynamic group is now ready to provide overview sessions on why a reframing approach matters and how to engage the movable middle, in both German and English.

From the start of the Reframe the debate! project, ICPA planned to identify and train German multipliers to widely share reframing insights and lessons from campaigns. This important role would involve offering short overview workshops for partners that want to learn more. Having thought that around five people from the Lab who would want to play this role, 11 Associates were actually trained on in August 2019.

The freshly-trained Associates bring with them a wide breadth of skills and experiences. All of them were involved in the Lab – some as campaigners directly, others supporting the development of campaigns with their creative, media and communication skills. Between them, the Associates have backgrounds in activism, research, policy, creative development, journalism, political education and entrepreneurship. All share a common goal to spread the practices of reframing and campaigning to the ‘movable middle’ to a wider audience in Germany and beyond.

Over the course of two days, the Associates were trained to deliver a core 1.5- to 2-hour overview session with four elements:

1. Challenges of campaigning to the public on migration – In the current populist climate, what are the obstacles to putting forward a diversity agenda in public discussions on migration and how can frames help us understand these challenges?
2. Understanding and targeting the middle – Why should we target the so-called ‘moveable middle’, and how can we understand this group better?
3. Engaging the middle: Key campaign insights – What are effective ways to engage these movable middle groups in campaigning approaches?
4. Campaign case – To illustrate the approach and principles, share a real example of a campaign developed to engage middle groups in the migration debate. This is often the JUMA case ,“Together human” (#gemeinsammenschlich)

The first training day involved participant-observation of ICPA trainer and Programme Director Eóin Young running the session, followed by breaking it down to understand how it works. We considered the logic of the session, engaging ways of introducing new concepts and how to use case studies. Discussions about creating an interactive learning environment, tailoring to different audiences and answering participants’ big questions about a reframing approach were lively and instructive.

On the second day, each Associate had rehearsed sections of the workshop in front of the group, and shared feedback and ideas for improvement. Together we iteratively created a shared slide deck which acts as the backbone of the session and can be adjusted to meet the needs and interests of different audiences. We agreed how we will work together to meet the growing demand for overview workshops, ensuring that everyone is supported to deliver sessions of the highest quality with ongoing access to support from ICPA and each other.

Since August, the training has been made real as ICPA Narrative Change Associates have delivered three sessions to diverse audiences totalling 72 people. There is real appetite for overview sessions and it makes a huge difference to have this dynamic group trained up to share the core of the approach and their personal experience of its application, in both English and German.

The syllabus for the Training of Associates can be found here.

If you would like Narrative Change Associates to deliver an overview session for your organisation or event contact us on info@icpolicyadvocacy.org.