Stories For Change

Tearfund’s discussion paper, The Restorative Economy, considers what our 21st century economy might look like if it were based around principles of justice and equity. It’s a challenging and hugely encouraging read.

Of particular interest is a section on how change happens:

Looking back at key moments in history, it’s clear that the tides often turn because of the emergence of a movement for change. Right now, we need such a movement, one that follows in the footsteps of the anti-slavery campaigners, the US civil rights movement… who together achieved the impossible.

What gave the most successful movements the motivation and courage they needed to take on the vested interests and sometimes hostile public that opposed change? Above all, we believe it was a resonant story.

What we need are stories that help people and societies to make sense of where they are, how they got there, where they are trying to get to and how to achieve change. Stories that define our worldview and have the potential to create our reality as much as they describe it. Stories like Jesus’ parables or the ones that Churchill told Britain in 1940. Stories that marry unflinching realism, a profoundly hopeful vision of the future and above all, a deeply encouraging view of what people are capable of.”

At Empathy Action we hope that the stories we include in our simulations, such as ‘The Poverty Trap’, do encapsulate that realism, vision and view of what people are capable of.