Cohere Refugee Youth Leadership Training: ‘Amplifying Voices: Storytelling and Content Creation’

09.04.2024: We are honoured to have been invited by Cohere to facilitate a session on ‘Amplifying Voices: Storytelling and Content Creation’ for their Refugee Youth Leadership Training. Led by our Storytelling and Communications Officer, Devyani Nighoskar; the session was attended by over 50 participants across diverse geographical and cultural contexts, from Burundi to Ukraine! 

The session provided insights into engaging storytelling practices -  detailing elements of stories, tools and tips on creative and content writing and exploring diverse formats such as features, personal narratives,  podcasts, photo series, and more. 

The training also emphasised the importance of ethical storytelling, measures refugees can take to safeguard themselves and others while sharing their stories and discussed ways to overcome barriers to access. 

The training shared inspiring examples of refugee-led storytelling initiatives and shared platforms  where they can pitch and share their stories

The workshop served as a great space to discuss good practices, share stories,  ideas and experiences. It reiterated that people need to feel empowered to tell their own stories, which will happen when humanitarian actors and media first start supporting community-led initiatives and narratives.

This training session is one of many undertaken by Samuel Hall, aimed at emphasising storytelling as a positive tool for inclusive development. Our approach is twofold: not only do we focus on training refugee and refugee-led organisations; we also dedicate our efforts towards working with media and communications groups on collaborative storytelling in the context of migration and displacement.