An Invitation to Use the "Who Is Dayani Cristal?" Resources

(This post was originally published at Huffington Post Impact.)

I have been honored to serve as the social impact director and transmedia producer for the Sundance award-winning documentary film, Who is Dayani Cristal?.  To support advocates' work in migrants’ rights and immigration policy, which this film explores, the social impact campaign team developed a number of social impact tools which are available for free for use in their own work.

Who is Dayani Cristal? is an intimate examination of the journey of one migrant who perished in the Arizona desert, far from his native Honduras, with no real identification but a name tattooed over his heart. The documentary was produced by and features Gael Garcia Bernal. The film weaves together real-life attempts to identify the migrant's body with Bernal's retracing of the journey he would have most likely taken through the "corridor del muerte" to reach the U.S. with hopes of improving the lives of his family.

Employing a series of digital tools with interactive features, including the ability of migrants to post their own border stories on the project's website, Who Is Dayani Cristal drives audiences moved by the story to delve deeper into and take action on the issues that drive migrants to brave perilous conditions in order to reach the U.S.  The team has already begun having impact with the campaign and tools. We believe you can extend the impact of our tools and that we can further support the movement for humanitarian treatment of migrants and humane policy by offering the tools to you for your own work.

Below are several resources for viewers and facilitators to use in classroom syllabi, community screenings or small group discussions:

EBOOK

Explore the complex issues surrounding migration in greater detail with the Who is Dayani Cristal interactive ebook (via iTunes or PDF).

This interactive book extends the story to the stories of many, and to analysis of the systemic issues that impact their journeys,  providing readers a deeper investigation into policy frameworks that affect the lives of migrants and border communities such as those found in Who Is Dayani Cristal?

LEARN 

(On the Who is Dayani Cristal? website)

which includes sections on: 

The Right Not to Migrate

Most migrants from Central America leave their homes because they simply have no other choice. There is little opportunity in their home countries for income or economic security, limited access to basic services or education, little hope of advancement – and as Dr. Bruce Anderson says, “we are dangling the carrot” of jobs in the US. A cross-border, cross-sector effort to work towards economic sustainability and access to services and education is essential to providing the viable choices to would-be migrants to stay home if they so choose.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes)
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Photos from the project
+ Essay: Why do people leave their homes and travel north to the US-Mexico border? by Mario Bronfman, Ford Foundation

A Humane Border

The US-Mexico border has become one of the most dangerous places on earth for people traveling on foot. At this point, it is at its most militarized in US history. The need for a secure border has become a condition of comprehensive immigration policy. The need for the US to adhere to a border policy that doesn’t result in avoidable human deaths is dire.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes)
+ Photos from the project
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Essay: A Humane Border by Dan Martínez, George Washington University

Repatriating the Dead

Migrants crossing over the US-Mexico border by foot often carry no identification or carry false papers to avoid endangering themselves of their families. If a migrant dies and is found on the US side of the border, it becomes the responsibility of border counties to investigate identity.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes)
+ Photos from the project
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Essay: Naming the Dead by Robin Reineke, the Colibri Center for Human Rights

Detention and Deportation

Under current US policy, the number of immigrant detentions and deportations has skyrocketed. Migrants who are apprehended are detained without representation or contact with their families, sometimes for weeks and months.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes)
+ Photos from the project
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Essay: 2:00 A.M. in Matamoros: Dangerous Deportations along the US-Mexico Border by Maureen Meyer, WOLA

Labor demand in the US

“They steal our jobs.” The story about migrants and immigrants we often tell ourselves is that immigration leads to job loss for Americans. But political and economic experts, regardless of ideological leanings, have acknowledged this is simply a myth.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes
+ Photos from the project
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Essay: Coming to America: Land of Opportunity and Obstacles by the National Council of La Raza

Safety through Mexico

The journey from Central America through Mexico to the US border is the most dangerous foot journey in the world. Migrants can fall prey to illness, dehydration, exposure, injury, accident, coyotes, drug cartels, smugglers, traffickers, and violence.

Resources:
+ Video shorts for discussion (i.e. "DVD extras or outtakes from the film, each under three minutes
+ Photos from the project
+ Links to further article, information and reports
+ Essay: Safety through Mexico by Padre Alejandro Solalinde, Ixtepec Shelter

BORDER STORIES

Dilcy Yohan’s story is not the only one. Share your own stories, thoughts, and prayers. We’ll attach them to the US–Mexico border wall.

TAKE ACTION

There are people working to support migrants at every stage of their journey. They need your help.

And we have worked with our NGO partners to set up a number of ways for you to support their work and take action on the issues that will create positive change.

THE MISSING MIGRANT PROJECT

This page will allow you to file a missing person report with the Colibrí Center for Human Rights. All information collected in this form is confidential and all precaution will be taken to maintain your privacy. Colibrí will not release names, phone numbers, or identifiable information to outside agencies without your permission. The Colibrí Center for Human Rights is not a law enforcement entity. They collect information only to assist families searching for a missing loved one.

ACTION TOOLKIT

This toolkit is designed to give you the tools to join our campaign. Each of the toolkit's modules stands on its own and can be used when implementing a specific type of event for various audiences. 

+ Plan a theatrical or community screening.

+ Bring the film to your local theater by planning a “theatrical-on-demand” Gathr® screening

+ Facilitate a discussion or post-screening Q+A with: General audiences, Faith-based audiences, Academic audiences, Advocacy groups, Mobilize your audiences to take action.

Download the PDF document at the bottom of the website's Screenings page.

The Narrative Design Canvas

A few years ago, I took a master class in Toronto with Alex Osterwalder, the visionary author of Business Model Generation and creator of the the Business Model Canvas, to learn how to apply his canvas to organizational and project design. After the class, I spoke with Alex and with his permission, reimagined the canvas into one with fields particular to the use of social impact media for a campaign, project, or organizational program.

The result was the project model canvas for narrative design for social impact below. The canvas is a strategic planning tool that allows you to lay out on one page the internal considerations for the design of your narrative-based project for social impact.

True to Alex's spirit, my version of his canvas has been freely available to anyone who requested it, but under the demands of my task list, I had never gotten around to releasing it for direct download. Rectifying that oversight now, here it is below and also available at SlideShare.

You're free to Share and Remix the Canvas. This canvas and Alex's original are licensed as creative commons, so enjoy them for free and for whatever you like. For this canvas, just reference www.linasrivastava.com and businessmodelgeneration.com after each use. For Alex's, reference businesmodelgeneration.com only. And share your work for free for others under a similar license.

Please let me know how it works for you.

Narrative Design Canvas from lksriv

On the ethics of telling others' stories, at TEDxTransmedia

Regarding Humanity Salon: "Storytelling... Who's Doing It Well?"

Regarding Humanity Salon, streamed live on September 12, 2013:

Lina Srivastava moderates a discussion with Ingrid Kopp, Mallika Dutt, and Michael Premo on storytelling in human rights and development work.

40 Years Later: Storytelling, Memory, and Justice

This piece was originally posted in the Huffington Post World.

September 11, 2013 marks the 40^th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup in Chile that transformed Latin America’s oldest democracy into its most brutal dictatorship.  Among the thousands of atrocities committed by the military forces led by the usurper Augusto Pinochet was the abduction and murder of Charles Horman, a young American journalist living in Chile who learned about the U.S. role in the coup.

In 1982, the story of Charles Horman’s disappearance and the exhaustive efforts by his wife Joyce and his father Ed to find him, was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film, Missing. There is a moment in the film in which the US Ambassador to Chile says to Ed Horman, “Let's level with each other, sir. If you hadn't been personally involved in this unfortunate incident, you'd be sitting at home complacent and more or less oblivious to all of this.”

Knowing their stories, seeing the deep love for Charlie that drives them and binds them together as allies in seeking justice makes us, the film’s audience, personally involved. It is their journey that gives the film its moral force, placing it among a collective body of art that jolts us out of complacency in the face of atrocity.

Storytelling is crucial to the fight for justice in every realm, in no way more so than in knocking those of us outside a conflict out of our oblivion and lack of empathy. Dehumanization of the “other”—as is well documented—is a factor in setting the stage for atrocities to occur. It is harder to kill or displace others it they are seen as human.

Stories are the connective tissue that binds us all together as humans and allows us to know the “other:” to be able to see each other as we see ourselves. Through storytelling, we discover who we are, and declare ourselves as beings with individual desires, thoughts, feelings, and circumstances. It allows us to be awake to new ways of creating our lives, and collectively our societies. Stories let us conquer our fears, reconcile our pasts, and reframe the conversation. And they allow us to name the thing that happened: the tragedy, the atrocity, or the hurt.

As a tool of social justice, storytelling is of course not without its risks. There are dangers of protecting identity, mapped out and dealt with by organizations such as WITNESS or Videre. There are the risks of propaganda and manipulation. And in today’s world of interconnectedness and rapid-fire spread of content, there is the danger of inaccuracy, lack of verification, or artistic license that misleads as much as it may inspire.

But to tell or listen to a story creates a bond of recognition between teller and listener: “I too have seen this. I too have suffered. I know you had a name, a way of dressing, a favorite food, a naughty secret, or a man or woman you loved and held. As do I. “ When we can empathize, we can act more justly to shape the policies that affect individual lives. Facts, statistics, and generalizations are not enough, and often obscure the real human cost of our policies and decisions.

And so storytelling becomes an essential element in mobilizing public opinion and collective action both during and after a crime against humanity, and in the discourse on accountability in the aftermath of atrocity. These instruments of culture are an invitation to fight repression and preserve a link to the past and a hope for the future. One can see these tools at use in the South African truth and reconciliation commissions. At the monuments at Gesozi, Plaza Mayor, or Dachau, and so many like them that ask us to say “never again.” In documentaries like The Act of Killing, The Devil Came on Horseback, or Nanking. And in the work of organizations like the Shoah Foundation, Three Generations, or the Aegis Trust.

These storytellers write a love letter to humanity with every stroke of the pen, keyboard, or paintbrush. With today’s technological interconnectedness, we are able to create an environment of support for truthful storytelling and cultural interventions in society and memory, crucial to an informed populace that can fight repression and activate for justice. In the face of history repeating over and over again, in Srebrenica, Rwanda, Egypt, and at this very moment in Syria, we must.

For inspiration, we return to the story of Joyce and Charles. Joyce has fought since the day of the coup 40 years ago, founding the Charles Horman Truth Foundation in honor of Charlie and all the victims.  Through the project, she tells the story of her family, her journey, and everything she has lost and gained in the time—a story that reflects the experience of families whose lives are altered irrevocably due to violent events beyond their control, and one that is all too common in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

On September 9th, the CHTF will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the coup by mounting a tribute to universal jurisdiction, to the work of human rights defenders such as Baltasar Garzón, Juan Guzman, and Peter Weiss, among others. It will also be a monument to the triumph of memory, and the role of the story, in moving toward justice, reconciliation, and healing for the past four decades, as well as a tribute to the international network of non-governmental actors, institutional actors, activists, artists, and survivors, who have all been bound together by a common cause, and a common narrative thread. It is a testament to their humanity, and to their love of it.

"Bodies on the Border"

A message from the Team from "Who Is Dayani Cristal?": A NYTimes Op-Doc from Marc Silver

We are very proud to share with you that Marc Silver, director of Who Is Dayani Cristal?, has a new film for New York Times Op-Docs called "Bodies on the Border," shown below. Marc made the film this summer amid discussions around comprehensive immigration reform and heightened border security along the US-Mexico border. 

The film tells the story of the forensics experts in Arizona who struggle to identify the bodies of migrants who perished while attempting to cross illicitly from Mexico into the United States, and the experts' view on the impact President Obama's promised border security measures might have on migrants deaths along the border. 

We ask you to please watch the film below. Use it for your own discussions on this topic with your networks, and if you write about it, please let us know. And finally, spread it through your networks by sending it to your emails lists, and posting on Facebook, Twitter, G+, and any other social media platforms you use. 

We appreciate your participation with this. 

Best wishes, The Team from Who Is Dayani Cristal?

"New Philanthropy": A Kurante Discussion

New Philanthropy - A Kurante Conversation featuring Carla Funk, Heather Peeler, Jessica Neuwirth, Ravi Karkara, Wayan Vota, and myself. Moderated by Lindsay Poirier and support from Linda Raftree.

The conversation was spurred by Peter Buffett's New York Times OpEd "The Charitable Industrial Complex" and the online conversation that came out of Wayan Vota's open letter response to Peter Buffett.

"Poverty Porn and a New Way to Regard Social Impact": A piece in GOOD Magazine

I recently wrote a piece in GOOD magazine about the concept of "poverty porn," and image, representation, and design in global development, and included a mention about the launch of Regarding Humanity.  The piece has since generated a healthy debate in the comments section. You can find the piece here.

Announcing the Launch of "Regarding Humanity"

Sensational images of poverty are often used to frame issues of humanitarian aid to advocate for a cause, design programs, or raise funds. This practice, often called “poverty porn,” represents people living in poverty as victims rather than as people capable and determined to define their own future.

From multiple photos of rape victims in the Congo used to raise funding in annual reports, to repeated images of squatting South Asian women looking up at Western aid workers, to pictures of naked and emaciated children lying in the rubble after Haiti’s earthquake, to initiatives that seek donations of used underwear to send to Africa, a group of us saw that questionable instances of framing and narrative were rampant. 

We decided we needed to create more dialogue and debate around this topic. So over the past few years, we have been working on building a platform that actively aims to foster discussion on the way communities are portrayed and media is produced, and how communities can be brought into the conversation about how they are represented.

Today we launch Regarding Humanity.

The project's creators are a group of practitioners whose experience spans humanitarian aid, transmedia storytelling, process and service design, ethnography, visual thinking, social innovation, and technology. We came together because each of us has faced the challenge of representing communities in our work. And we had individually seen numerous examples of “poverty porn.” We recognized that the questions are many and complex, and that there is a need for a larger public discussion about ethical representation to shift the focus from aid to agency.

The project is a multimedia platform that explores the way we see, listen and frame stories of “the poor” -- and how respectful and relevant storytelling can create more context and nuance, and depict more complex realities. We aim to engage practitioners, educators, journalists, and students in the question: How do we as a community dedicated to social impact maintain local agency, partnership, and relevant, respectful narrative as core values of our work?

The website and blog will source content from a diverse global set of authors and will serve as an educational resource and discussion forum around visual literacy, ethnography, and narrative integrity.

We will be expanding over time to develop a discussion and salon series, research, commissioned and submitted commentary, and an educational curriculum.

We invite you to explore the site. Let us know your thoughts on how to generate constructive conversation and learning on eradicating poverty porn and creating meaningful, effective content for social impact.

How Storytelling Can Address the Complex and Intertwining Issues of Modern Society

I recently wrote a piece in GOOD for the "Wish for the Future Series" about narrative and social change. Please find it here.