Learn more about leading a Photo Story in brief
- Overview
Facilitate a workshop where participants use photography to capture their experiences and perspectives on climate-related issues, discuss the situation, and present solutions. Share the output of the workshop with decision-makers and the public to drive change.
- Objectives
Increase awareness, knowledge, empathy and emotional responses to local climate change impacts and initiatives, solutions and opportunities. Facilitate citizens’ participation in public decision-making processes. Encourage constructive journalism and civic participation – key components of democracy.
- Target group
Segments of the general public: school groups, seniors, climate activists, and others. Depending on the skills of the host, it can be suitable for anyone from 5 years old.
- Requirements
The approach can address a wide variety of environmental and social issues, both indoors and outdoors. Select a topic that falls under your expertise so that you can provide initial context to participants and clarify any misunderstandings.
Each participant should have a digital camera, for example in a mobile phone.
To hold the workshop in person, you should have access to a room equipped with a laptop and a TV or another projection system, so that the photos, captions and digital stories can be presented and discussed by the participants as a group. The workshops can also be held as online meetings.
All images included in the workshop’s output should comply with all applicable privacy and data protection regulations, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- Before
- Select an area with several points of interest related to climate in close proximity and, ideally, near the room where the group will meet to discuss the digital photo story.
- Promote your activity yourself or find a partner institution/initiative to support it. Gather participants and, depending on their number and the chosen topic, create the group or groups.
- Register as a host of a citizen engagement activity with the European Climate Pact.
- During
- Introductory talk (15-30 minutes):
- Begin by welcoming the participants and introducing yourself and the Climate Pact.
- Explain the goal and structure of the workshop and your role as the host. You are responsible for creating a safe and comfortable environment in which everyone has a chance to participate. Present the group rules, ask if they agree and if there is something they want to add.
- Consider inviting participants to briefly introduce themselves, why they joined the activity and their expectations (e.g. what they would like to achieve).
- Provide basic guidance for capturing good photos and telling a visual story by capturing the existing challenges as well as transformative solutions in practice. Emphasise the importance of conveying emotions and sensations.
- It is very important to note at this stage that all images included in the workshop’s output must comply with all applicable privacy and data protection regulations, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation.
- Agree with the group about where and when to meet after the photography session.
- Photography session (2-2.5 hours):
- Each participant should take photos of places and situations that they consider relevant to express their views on the selected climate-related topic. Each participant should capture at least three photos: one depicting something to be made known and replicated (positive), one depicting something to be tackled (negative) and one showing new solutions (proactive). This simple approach leads the participant to a proactive attitude of seeking and finding solutions.
- Selection, discussion and storytelling session (1.5-2 hours):
- Each participant selects three images to present (one positive, one negative and one proactive) and adds a caption to each of the photos following the guidance provided in the template. Emphasise that photos and captions should be closely linked to convey a coherent unified meaning and must be consistent with the chosen theme.
- The participants present their three photos, and discuss them as a group, sharing different perspectives and contributing to raising the overall level of awareness and understanding of the topics.
- Prepare a presentation of the entire work using the Photo Story presentation template (see the resources section below).
- Ensure that any recognisable people in the selected photos sign the consent form for image use.
- Conclude by thanking everyone for their participation and encouraging them to create their own digital stories, individually or as part of a group. If the participants agree, take a group picture. If you would like to share the group photo with the European Climate Pact, please ask the participants to sign the consent form.
- Introductory talk (15-30 minutes):
- After
- Edit the group’s digital photo story presentation file – add a brief introduction and conclusion to the document, ensure a visually coherent layout, and conclude with a brief description of the next steps or intended use of the digital photo story.
- Share the photo story presentation with the participants and invite them to comment. Once this validation is complete, it is time to share with the relevant decision-makers and to disseminate.
- Share the workshop’s results with the European Climate Pact by filling in the activity results survey and sharing the link to the final photo story document.
- Optionally, you can share the group’s photo story in presentation or pdf format via email to engagement
euclimatepact [dot] eu (engagement[at]euclimatepact[dot]eu), together with the licence form signed by the group to give the European Commission a non-exclusive and royalty-free licence to use the group’s photo story for further dissemination activities.
- Optionally, you can share the group’s photo story in presentation or pdf format via email to engagement
- To the extent possible, stay in touch with the participants beyond the activity.
Tips
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To enhance the impact of the activity and give the participants a real opportunity to influence decision-making, try to establish a partnership with the relevant decision-maker ahead of the activity to ensure that the digital story created will be taken into consideration. Relevant decision-makers are entities that have a mandate or authority around the issues or topics the workshop focused on, such as the municipality, school, health centre, or other.
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This approach can be used to facilitate citizen participation in diverse public decision-making processes, such as processes led by local authorities to develop their sustainable energy and climate action plans under the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, an initiative supported by the European Commission.
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Selecting a topic that falls under your expertise is essential to ensure the success of the workshop and the credibility of the group’s output. If you wish to cover topics beyond your expertise, invite experts of those fields to co-facilitate the group discussions. Topic examples may include nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, mobility, waste/zero-waste, climate anxiety, etc.
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To amplify the visibility and impact of the activity, generate a final product, which could be an e-book, an exhibition, a social media campaign, or another format to present the results.
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Share the digital story online under different platforms.
Example(s) of implementation
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The City of Venice is one of eight cities that has already completed the implementation of a Photovoice process, the original and more elaborate approach that inspired the Photo Story tool, with EuCliPa.IT. The Venice Photovoice laboratory counted 10 participants, including three Pact Ambassadors based in Venice and seven representatives of Venetian environmental associations. Although not all participants were able to continue the project until the end due to other commitments, they all agreed that the project helped them to observe the climate problems and potential solutions for their city with a new perspective and with much more competence.
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Other cities involved in the EuCliPa.IT's Photovoice project are Fiesole, Pisa, Latina, Monza, Trieste, Milan (Italy), and Amstelveen (Netherlands).
“This approach can be used for citizen engagement in municipal climate planning processes. To get real citizen engagement in decision-making, invite the municipality to participate from the start of the process.”
Luciana Favaro, Italy
President of EuCliPa.IT - Association of Italian EU Climate Pact Ambassadors
Showcase the results and encourage others to scale-up!
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Encourage participants to share pictures of the activity on social media and tag #EUClimatePact and #MyWorldOurPlanet.
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Fill in the form to support further promotion, peer-learning and replication.
Suggestions to continue ongoing engagement
- Encourage the participants to create their own digital stories, individually or as part of a group.
- Invite participants to use the UN ActNow - AWorld app to reduce their carbon footprint through daily activities such as walking and cycling and reducing food waste.
- Invite participants to explore the Climate Pact tools to engage with their networks and communities.
Resources to support implementation
- Activity registration
- Activity results and take-aways submission
- Consent form for image use
- Photo Story presentation template
- EuCliPa.IT’s Photovoice webpage
- EuCliPa.IT’s Photovoice Google classroom for access to additional resources and a chance to interact with the Photovoice expert and photo-journalist Simone Padovani for a more in-depth approach, contact EuCliPa.IT at contattieuclipa [dot] it (contatti[at]euclipa[dot]it).
- Photovoice.org resources webpage
Acknowledgements
Photo Story is a simplified version of the Photovoice participatory research technique, developed in collaboration with EuCliPa.IT – an association of Italian EU Climate Pact Ambassadors and with the expertise and experience of Pact Ambassadors Luciana Favaro, President of EuCliPa.IT, Gianni Tartari, Secretary of EuCliPa.IT, Simone Padovani, leading Photovoice expert and photo reporter.
