Global Narratives of Climate Change : A New Approach to Public Engagement Research

Global Narratives is a pioneering initiative launched jointly by Climate Outreach and Climate Action Network International (CAN-I) to test and develop climate change messaging and narratives. It pilots a new model of cooperative design that avoids the high cost of qualitative research by training national partners to conduct research themselves with their own audiences based on Climate Outreach’s Narrative Workshop methodology. This academically-based qualitative method invests in the skills and capacity of national level organisations and makes high quality research affordable in low-income countries. Insights generated by this approach can be used in conjunction with quantitative approaches (surveys) and provide a level of understanding beyond the reach of such tools.

India was chosen to be the pilot country for the Global Narratives project due to its global importance in relation to climate change and its strong civil society sector. The project was conducted in collaboration with Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) and focused on finding language around climate change in general, renewables and adaptation. The research findings are provided in the accompanying report: Communicating climate change in India: a Global Narratives project and are being shared within South Asia and internationally by CAN-I, CANSA and Climate Outreach.

This report details the methodology used to build capacity in India to train local organisations in testing and developing effective climate change communications. It lays out the principles and learnings that have emerged from this process which are intended to be widely applicable to other countries and audiences. The key recommendations emerging from the India project that are included in this report are a snapshot of the full set of findings. They are included to illustrate the findings and insights that other potential Global Narrative partners can expect to achieve from this approach. However, this is not to ignore the challenges and learnings which remain as the Global Narratives project moves forward, and those are explored at the end of this report.

Read the full report 

Read also the full report from the India Narratives Project: Communicating Climate Change in India 

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Download file: http://new_climate_outreach_can_-_global_narratives_approach4.pdf

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