An assessment tool for narrative, social action, participatory design, and critical ethnography.

1. Narrative + Social Action
Co‐designing narrative with social action is a challenging
exercise in achieving simple, engaging stories that yet capture
nuance, complexity, and multiple perspectives. In any social
change campaign where you co‐design narrative with action to
create positive impact in a community, ask yourself if your
campaign meets these three conditions:
+ Respect
+ Relevance
+ Resonance
Lina Srivastava http://linasrivastava.com

2. Narrative + Social Action
+ Is your project based on respect for the
+ Respect communities with which you are working?
+ Have you co‐designed your project with your
+ Relevance communities, or have you built a community‐
centered strategy?
+ Resonance +Does your project engender respect for the
dignity and integrity of those communities?
+ If working with vulnerable populations, such as
youth, elderly, dissident, conflict/post‐conflict, or
post‐disaster populations, have you respected
privacy, identity, and security?
+ Does your project respect the perspectives and
needs of your audience, participants, and
stakeholders?
Lina Srivastava http://linasrivastava.com

3. Narrative + Social Action
+ Have you posed the issues in your project in a
+ Respect way that is relevant to the communities with
which you’re working?
+ Relevance + Are you raising awareness or creating
engagement only? If so, is there a way to frame
+ Resonance your narrative that leads to actionable
information on community‐centered solutions
and partnerships?
+ Are your engagement and participation
techniques linked to your communities through a
relevant and explicable narrative thread?
+ Are your solutions, or the representation of
solutions, relevant to the communities with which
you’re working?
Lina Srivastava http://linasrivastava.com

4. Narrative + Social Action
+ Does your project’s framing resonate with your
+ Respect communities’ culture and identity?
+ Does your project incorporate your
+ Relevance communities’ perspective on their perceived
challenges?
+ Resonance + Does your project incorporate your
communities’ perspectives on potential solutions?
+ Is your project’s narrative accessible yet framed
to capture multiple perspectives, nuance, and
complexity?
+ Have you told a human story, made the
humanity of the challenge visible, and
represented your subjects as individuals?
Lina Srivastava http://linasrivastava.com

5. Lina Srivastava
http://linasrivastava.com
info@linasrivastava.com