Roskilde University

Department of Communication and Arts

Communication Studies
Project: Strategic communication in an International Context I
Supervisor: Francesco Lapenta

Communicating a Constructive Narrative

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Volunteers of Oxfam IBIS

Fall Term 2016/17

Submission deadline: 12th of December 2016

Milena Atanasova Marlen Bachmann Rina Gabriela Carballo Barrera

mistat@ruc.dk marleba@ruc.de rigaca@ruc.dk
58858 59487 58136

Renata Ripardo Byfoged Marie Sophie Kindler

ripardo@ruc.dk maire@ruc.dk
58971 58727
Abstract

This research identifies the discourses of Oxfam IBIS’ volunteers and tries to understand
how these reflect principles of the so-called constructive narrative. Constructive narrative
is a working concept synthesised of a current underlying movement in communication on
development work. This movement proposes a shift in communication practice due to a
crisis in humanitarianism. The new approach is based on four principles: future-
orientation, critical approach, empowerment and narrative. It further aims at combining a
thorough change in perspective with a linguistic turn. In order to present a holistic under-
standing of the matter, the study includes theoretical notions such as strategic NGO com-
munication, volunteerism, post-humanitarian communication, constructive journalism and
initiatives reflecting the underlying movement such as the approach provided by The Nar-
rative Project. The discourses of six volunteers is analysed with a method of critical dis-
course analysis.
The main results include the revelation of interdiscursivity reflected in contradict-
ing discourses amongst and within the volunteers. The two main discourses consist of
themes assigned to empowerment on the one hand and to Orientalist notions on the other.
While the volunteers to some degree acknowledge the principles of the constructive narra-
tive, they also struggle with their implementation. Although the volunteers show a mind-set
close to the constructive narrative, they still make use of the universally accepted “devel-
opment lingo” that sticks to a vacuous vocabulary which implies biased power structures.
Since the volunteers communicate directly to Oxfam IBIS’ stakeholders, there is a need to
not only broaden the vocabulary on development work, but also to revise the current social
practises. All in all, the volunteers appear to be in transition towards a discourse that in-
cludes notions resembling the constructive narrative.
Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 5
1.1 MOTIVATION AND PROBLEM AREA ............................................................................... 5
1.2 PROBLEM FORMULATION AND RESEARCH QUESTION .................................................... 6
1.3 CASE PRESENTATION: OXFAM IBIS .............................................................................. 7
1.4 LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 8

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................ 9

2.1 NGO COMMUNICATION .............................................................................................. 10
2.1.1 Definition of NGOs ............................................................................................ 10
2.1.2 Strategic communication of NGOs .................................................................... 11
2.1.3 Voluntary labour and strategic communication ................................................. 12
2.2 DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION .............................................................................. 13
2.2.1 (Post-) humanitarian communication ................................................................. 13
2.2.2 Orientalism ......................................................................................................... 16
2.3 CONSTRUCTIVE NARRATIVE ....................................................................................... 17
2.3.1 Constructive journalism ..................................................................................... 17
2.3.2 The Narrative Project ......................................................................................... 19
2.3.3 On the way to a constructive narrative ............................................................... 22

3. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 24
3.1 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE ............................................................................................ 25
3.1.1 Positioning the project in the paradigms of qualitative research ....................... 25
3.2 SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM ........................................................................................ 26
3.2.1 The key assumptions of a social constructionist position .................................. 26
3.2.2 Discourse and subjectivity ................................................................................. 28
3.3 RESEARCH DESIGN ...................................................................................................... 29
3.3.1 Process and type of research .............................................................................. 29
3.3.2 Method of Data Collection ................................................................................. 33
3.3 ANALYTICAL STRATEGY ............................................................................................ 35

4. ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................... 35
4.1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS.................................................................................................... 35
4.1.1 Overlexicalisation and word connotations ......................................................... 35
4.1.2 Suppression or lexical absence ........................................................................... 38
 4.1.3 Structural oppositions ......................................................................................... 38
4.2 DISCURSIVE PRACTICES .............................................................................................. 39
4.2.1 Eurocentrism, Orientalism and power discourses .............................................. 39
4.2.2 Empowerment, cooperation and awareness discourses...................................... 40
4.3 SOCIAL PRACTICES ..................................................................................................... 42
4.3.1 Volunteers’ discourses on development work in relation to the constructive
narrative ....................................................................................................................... 43
4.3.2 Volunteers’ discourses in light of their role as volunteers at Oxfam IBIS ........ 46
4.4 SUMMARY OF ANALYSIS ............................................................................................. 48

5. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................ 49

6. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 52

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 54

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................ 59
1. Introduction

The introductory chapter elaborates on the motivation behind the research at hand, placing
it in current discussions about communication on development work and the subsequent
issues that are related to a new strategic approach (see chapter 1.1). Following this outline
of the bigger area of interest, the ensuing focus of this project and the associated research
questions will be illustrated (see chapter 1.2). Concluding the introduction, Oxfam IBIS
will be presented as case of this research (see chapter 1.3).

1.1 Motivation and problem area

The research at hand was originally inspired by the researchers' personal interest in the
ways in which NGOs communicate their work. More specifically, by the way in which the
World's Best News initiative launched a new approach of catching the audience's eye by
publishing positive stories and encouraging pictures and videos that depict the accom-
plishments of NGOs and the progress of development work. World's Best News is thus
tackling an innovative approach. Resting upon this, in-depth research into development
communication revealed that, in fact, strategies are currently shifting.
In a research report from 2014, published by the Development Centre - which is
part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - much
attention was paid to the current state of development communication and the ways
through which it can be improved in order to convey global challenges of development.
The Development Centre does this by “combin[ing] multidisciplinary analysis with policy
dialogue activities to help governments formulate innovative policy solutions” (DevCom,
2014, p. 2). In collaboration with DevCom, a global network consisting of public affairs
directors, as well as of communication executives from development agencies and minis-
tries, they created a “compass for orienting development practitioners involved in commu-
nication” (ibid., p. 3). They did so in the form of an extensive research study, which gives
“insights into practical tools, innovative practices and emerging trends in the field of de-
velopment communication” (ibid.). The study offers insight into specifically designed
communication strategies that are tackling pressing issues within the development work
sector.
With this in mind, there is a diverse movement addressing the decline in support for
development work and a negative perspective in NGO communication through communi-
cation tools. This movement becomes known in approaches such as constructive journal-
5
ism (see chapter 2.3.1) and The Narrative Project (see chapter 2.3.2). While constructive
journalism is being applied to NGO communication in the World’s Best News, its princi-
ples are similar to other aspired changes in NGO communication. Former Director of the
think tank Overseas Development Institute, Maxwell, calls in current times of crises for “a
new narrative” that moves “from a risk framework to one of opportunities” (DevCom,
2014, p. 26). This narrative should furthermore enable people to informed decision-making
and clarify causes of problems before talking about solutions (ibid.). As the old, on aid
focused narrative, is limited, a narrative “that [resonates] both intellectually and emotional-
ly with individuals” should be strived for (ibid., p. 96). However, this narrative does not
neglect the complexity of development work and communicates it as a long-term project
(ibid., p. 95). Furthermore it focuses on collaborations with “global solutions” (ibid.), por-
traying facts on different media channels, understanding its audience and how to com-
municate with it in a comprehensive manner (ibid., pp. 95-97). As Kirk, former Head of
Campaigns, Oxfam UK, states, NGOs are telling an old narrative that should be revisited
(2011). This exemplifies how NGOs in humanitarian development work seem to agree on
a need for a new communication approach, which slowly solidifies itself in initiatives such
as World’s Best News and The Narrative Project.

1.2 Problem formulation and research question

Stemming from this apparent search for a new approach in communication on develop-
ment work, the researchers of this project have formulated principles of an interim concept
called constructive narrative in order to give the arising communication approach a defini-
tion. As volunteers are “central ambassadors” (World’s Best News, 2014, p. 21) for cam-
paigns and NGOs, they are a relevant group of stakeholders to include into research (see
chapter 2.1.3). Hence, the aim of the research at hand is to understand how the volunteers’
way of talking about development work correlates with the themes this new approach pro-
poses. This will be attempted by conducting a critical discourse analysis of the data col-
lected in interviews with volunteers of Oxfam IBIS. Critical assessment of said analysis
will be done in inclusion of theoretical knowledge about NGOs and trends in (post) hu-
manitarian communication about development work. Based on the main principles of the

6
constructive narrative, the discourse analysis shall help to answer the project's problem
formulation:

What are the discourses of Oxfam IBIS’ volunteers on development work and how do they
reflect the strategic principles of the new constructive narrative?

1.3 Case presentation: Oxfam IBIS

In this chapter, a presentation of Oxfam IBIS is given in order to introduce the organisa-
tional framework the volunteers work in. The history of the NGO and its values, mission
and vision will be described, to provide a complete understanding of the case and the de-
veloping work they exercise. Moreover, the collaboration between Oxfam IBIS and the
World’s Best News initiative will be explained, as well as the NGO's involvement in the in
The Narrative Project. Their engagement with these two initiatives guarantees a valid base
for investigating the constructive narrative amongst volunteers of Oxfam IBIS.

Trajectory of IBIS and their merger with Oxfam

IBIS emerged out of the World University Service (WUS) that was founded in the 1920s to
approach the needs of academics and students after the Second World War (Oxfam IBIS,
2016a). While WUS initially implemented social activities for students, it later extended its
work to defending development projects. Due to differing objectives, by 1970 the Danish
announced itself independent and changed its name to IBIS in 1991. IBIS’ work in Central
America began in the 1980s when they started to support the new government and popular
organisations that emerged as a response to the revolutionary processes against the operat-
ing dictatorial regimes in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Following
this, IBIS became active in Chile and began to focus on democratisation processes in the
1980s. Later in the 1990s, IBIS concentrated their work on the rights of indigenous people
in Ecuador and Peru.
It was also during the 1990s, when IBIS experienced a moment of significant
change, when they started to collaborate with Oxfam, an organisation known as one of the
most important players in the fight against poverty (Oxfam IBIS, ibid.). Today, IBIS is a
member of Oxfam, a collaboration that was made official by the formal change in name in
June 2016 to Oxfam IBIS (ibid.). Currently, Oxfam IBIS focuses on “education, participa-
tion in democracy, access to resources and support to provide the poorest political influ-

7
ence” (ibid.).1 The organisation has 8,000 members and support members, offering the
public to get involved by volunteering and participating in campaigns and debate events
(IBIS, 2016d).

Oxfam IBIS’ mission, vision and values

The vision of the organisation is a world where people have equal access to education,
influence and resources (IBIS, 2016c). Oxfam IBIS operates on three levels: locally, na-
tionally, and globally. Locally, Oxfam IBIS aims to increase individual rights and opportu-
nities by guaranteeing access to knowledge and education. Nationally, its mission is related
to the promotion of democratic developments, fighting for collective rights and participa-
tion in politics, benefiting disadvantaged and oppressed groups. On a global level, the or-
ganisation aims to defend people’s interests and to provide intelligent solutions to the prob-
lems that constitute global economic inequality and poverty. Overall, Oxfam IBIS defines
itself as an independent membership-based development organisation that aims to trans-
form the world into one where everyone will have equal access to education, influence and
resources. By contributing to education and their support for civil society in Africa and
Latin America, the organisation and its partners work against global inequality and poverty
(IBIS, 2016d).

Participation in The Narrative Project and World’s Best News

Oxfam, as well as fourteen other partners, participated in the research process and estab-
lishment of The Narrative Project (The Narrative Project, p. 2). Taking into account the
acquisition of IBIS by Oxfam in June 2016, a shift in the communication strategy of IBIS
to one closer to the one proposed by The Narrative Project can be assumed. This assump-
tion is sustained by the participation of Oxfam IBIS in the World’s Best News initiative
(see chapter 1.1) which aims to change the public's view on development work (World’s
Best News, 2016b). Therefore, the campaign focuses on the global progress in the develop-
ing countries, gathering all the good news and presenting them to the public (ibid.).

1.4 Limitations of research

The research is limited by various factors. One limitation is that the volunteers that have
been interviewed are relatively new members of Oxfam IBIS. Most of them got involved

1
Translated by the author. Original quote: “uddannelse, deltagelse i demokratiet, adgang til ressourcer og
støtte til at give de fattigste politisk indflydelse”.
8
with the organisation in late August of 2016. Some of the participants attended an infor-
mation meeting organised by Oxfam IBIS, others however did not attend the meeting. The
volunteers’ group organiser hence introduced them. Nevertheless, they all carry the re-
sponsibility of creating public events that communicate Oxfam IBIS’ message and promote
the organisation’s activities. Amongst other arguments (see chapter 2.1.3), this leads to the
conclusion that their discourses are relevant for Oxfam IBIS and this study.
A second limitation is that one of the researchers involved in this project has been a
volunteer of the organisation back in 2014 and attended a meeting weeks before the start of
this project. We acknowledge that when conducting a research project with discourses that
are very familiar with those of the researchers, it could be easy to miss significant data by
taking socially constructed meaning systems for granted (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p.
21).
Due to the underlying philosophy of science (see chapter 3.1) and the research in-
terest in discourses, it was decided that an effective way to obtain the best results would be
by carrying out a focus group. However, despite extensive efforts on behalf of the re-
searchers it was not possible to gather more than three volunteers at the same time and
place. That is why it was decided to conduct individual interviews as well as group inter-
views of two or three people.
Lastly, several unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with an Oxfam IBIS repre-
sentative were made that eventually left the researchers in lack of an official statement of
the organisation. The Campaign Coordinator, who is also responsible for the volunteers,
was also unavailable for answering questions. This significantly limited the research as it
was initially planned to relate the three discourses - the volunteers’, Oxfam IBIS’ and the
normative approach of the constructive narrative. The organisational perspective is thus
missing even though it can be assumed that Oxfam IBIS is adapting the constructive narra-
tive.

2. Theoretical Framework

In this chapter, various relevant theories are presented, which play an important role in the
understanding of the problem formulation (see chapter 1.2) and further serve as crucial
analytical instrument that are used in the analysis of the volunteers’ discourses (see chap-
ter 4.2 and 4.3). For a better comprehension of the case (see chapter 1.3), a definition of
NGOs, characteristics of their strategic communication approaches and the significance of
9
voluntary labour is elucidated (see chapter 2.1). Because the problem formulation intends
to investigate the volunteers' discourses on development work, a theoretical elaboration on
development communication is given. In the context of development communication,
power relations are crucial which furthermore make a digression to Orientalism necessary
(see chapter 2.2). Considering the problem formulation, the last section of this chapter is an
attempt at characterising a diverse movement and filtering the main principles in order to
present a working definition of a so-called constructive narrative (see chapter 2.3).

2.1 NGO communication

Oxfam IBIS is a non-governmental organisation (NGO). This form of organisation influ-

ences the strategic communication as well as stakeholders’ communication practices.
Hence, firstly NGOs are systematised and described in more detail (see chapter 2.1.1). Fur-
thermore, strategic communication in NGOs and how it is influenced by the characteristics
of NGOs are described in more detail (see chapter 2.1.2). As the volunteers and their dis-
courses are the main interests of the study at hand, their role in NGOs and in organisational
communication are elaborated (see chapter 2.1.3).

2.1.1 Definition of NGOs

There is no unified definition of NGOs across academic discourse on what this kind of
organisational entity really is. The term NGO has first been defined after the establishment
of the UN in the San Francisco conference in 1945 (Art. 71). The acronym has evolved
from a specific UN term referring to organisations with a consultative status, to a vastly
used public category, mainly related to international or “developing” country work (Wil-
letts, 2002; Lewis, 2009). In result, concepts like non-profit, voluntary and civil society
organisations are commonly used as synonyms for non-government organisation (Lewis,
2009, p. 1). Hence, as Willetts (2002) suggests, the term carries different meanings, de-
pending on the contexts it is used in. Since the 1950s, the amount of active NGOs has
grown vastly from around 1,000 to now 7,683 internationally active NGOs (Yearbook of
International Organizations, 2016). Despite the diversity in size, structure, values and so-
cial contexts, there are recurring principles and functions ascribed to NGOs.
An overall condition is for the organisation to be independent of any direct gov-
ernment control and not to be constituted as a political party. This does not mean that
NGOs are not politically involved, but instead often have a public interest that can be polit-
ically motivated (Willetts, 2002). Willetts states, “Collectively, NGOs generate the dynam-
10
ics of political change” and are “components of social movements” (ibid.). They are how-
ever also “self-governing, private, non-for-profit organisations that are geared to improv-
ing the quality of life for disadvantaged people” (Vakil, 1997, p. 2060). Furthermore,
NGOs are to some degree organised including specific aims and institutional structures
(Salamon & Anheier, 1992).
As mentioned before, there are different typologies of NGOs. It is possible to dis-
tinguish NGOs according to their activities, namely whether the organisation is operational
or campaigning (Willetts, 2012). Operational organisations focus on continuous, long-term
activities; campaigning NGOs on the other hand try to mobilise a large amount of people
for a brief period of time (Willetts, 2012; Mostashari, 2005). Their geographical range and
their level of operation can furthermore distinguish NGOs (Lawry, 2009, p. 29). On this
basis, Oxfam is categorised as operational, international humanitarian NGO (Dijkzeul &
Moke, 2005, p. 681). Humanitarian NGOs dedicate their work to humanitarian crises (ibid,
p. 673) and are mainly guided by the principles humanity, neutrality, impartiality and soli-
darity (ibid., p. 675). Another defining characteristic is the fact that NGOs work with a
significant amount of volunteers (Lacey & Ilcan, 2006, p. 42). This reliance on unpaid,
voluntary labour influences all practices within NGOs including strategic communication.
To elaborate in more detail on this, strategic communication for NGOs will be described in
the following and afterwards applied onto the organisation-volunteer-relationship.

2.1.2 Strategic communication of NGOs

Strategic communication is defined as communicating purposefully to advance specific
aims of an organisation (Hallahan, 2007, p. 4; Kiousis & Strömbäck, 2015, p. 384).
Gulbrandsen and Just (2016) suggest moving away from the positivist notion of strategy as
an objective vision or direction for action to an interpretative understanding of strategy as a
subjective process of meaning making. They develop the idea of strategizing as a dynamic
process, in which intended, deliberate and unrealised strategies, in combination with emer-
gent ones turn into realised strategies (Mintzberg, 1987). When discussing strategies,
Gulbrandsen and Just (2016) also suggest they are “narratives, created and recreated about
an organization and its behaviour” (p. 144). The concept of narratives and a narrative turn
refers to the increasing influence of narrative theory in the humanities and social sciences
as an alternative understanding of the process of meaning creation (ibid.). In relation to
this, the significance of organisational discourse for the success and effectiveness of a
strategy is emphasised (ibid., p. 145). Especially since organisations can be seen as net-

11
works in which goals and purposes are constantly reaffirmed by its members, creating
meaning within an organisation is a dynamic process and not a fixed thing (ibid., p. 321).
Dijkzeul and Moke (2005) identify Oxfam’s communication strategy in relation to
their humanitarian identity (p. 681-682). According to them, Oxfam’s communication fo-
cus lies on “media management, campaigning and lobbying” (ibid., p. 681) as well as me-
dia advocacy and demonstrations. In addition, Oxfam builds strategic partnerships with
other NGOs or commercial organisations (ibid., p. 682). As was the case with IBIS, these
partnerships sometimes evolve into long-term cooperation (see chapter 1.3). Since the
merger of Oxfam and IBIS has only happened this year, there is no academic examination
with the strategic communication of the organisation. Nonetheless, it can be assumed that
Oxfam IBIS’ communication strategy at least includes aspects of the identified characteris-
tics from Oxfam. The role of volunteers among a NGO concludes the theoretical summary
of NGOs and strategic communication.

2.1.3 Voluntary labour and strategic communication

A central role in every NGO is voluntary labour (Lacey & Ilcan, 2006, p. 42). Park (1983,
p. 118) suggests, “The heart of the volunteerism is the countless individual acts of com-
mitment encompassing an endless variety of […] tasks”. Another interpretation of the term
is provided by Merrill (2006) who goes on defining four fundamental characteristics of
volunteering, namely: (1) Volunteerism implies active involvement; (2) Volunteerism is
relatively uncoerced; (3) Volunteerism is not motivated primarily by gain; (4) Volunteer-
ism focuses on the common good.
Volunteers are seen as

“an attractive resource for agencies because they cost little, can give detailed attention
to people for whom paid employees do not always have the time, often provide special-
ized skills, provide an expansion of staff in emergencies and peak load periods, enable
agencies to expand levels of service despite budgetary limitations, and are good for pub-
lic relations” (Pynes, 2009, p. 117).

Moreover, they are often being associated with a more “genuine commitment to a project,
rather than acting according to pecuniary or self-rewarding interest” (Lacey & Ilcan, 2006,
p. 42). However, this notion neglects the lack of stability and the imposed power relations
that come with voluntary labour (ibid.). It is fully up to the volunteers where and when
they want to spend their time and how committed they are to the organisation and its prin-

12
ciples. Furthermore, the motivation to be a volunteer varies from internal/individual to
external/circumstantial (Liao-Troth, 2008; Connors, 2011).
Since communication with and for volunteers in NGOs is an academic void, main
challenges can only be assumed. Internal communication with a rather diverse group such
as volunteers can be demanding (Pynes, 2009, pp. 126-129). It is however essential to
make them familiar with the main themes as they will act as representatives of the organi-
sation. Volunteers are furthermore stakeholders of the organisation and thus create their
own discourse that influences the organisation (see chapter 2.1.2). The different roles vol-
unteers take influence their relationship with an organisation and make volunteer manage-
ment necessary (Merrill, 2006).

2.2 Development Communication

The following chapters are important in order to get an understanding of the various ways
through which communication on development can be theoretically analysed and to get an
understanding of where the state of theory is. Therefore, the first chapter elaborates on
(post-) humanitarian communication (see chapter 2.2.1) as it is a topical and new approach
to the matter, for it proposes a complete break from emotionally driven messages. The sub-
sequent chapter gives insight into the concept of Orientalism (see chapter 2.2.2) since it is
relevant to see how notions of otherness can negatively influence the way development
work is talked about.

2.2.1 (Post-) humanitarian communication

Recent studies show that the field of humanitarian communication is experiencing a mo-
ment of tension and that it has been a target of strong criticism (Boltanski 2000,
Chouliaraki 2010, and Vestergaard 2013). Such criticism points to issues related to finan-
cial costs, political aspects and market strategies culminating in the speculation that “hu-
manitarianism is in crisis” (Vestergaard, 2013, p. 1) or faces the “threat of de-
legitimization” (Chouliaraki, 2010, p. 2). This is intensified by the big increase among hu-
manitarian organisations, which makes the area more competitive, as well as driven by
financial results.
Humanitarian communication has been characterised by Chouliaraki “as the rhetor-
ical practices of transnational actors that engage with universal ethical claims, such as
common humanity or global civil society, to mobilize action on human suffering” (ibid.).
She describes a historical course from “shock effects” and “positive imagery” campaigns
13
to “humanitarian branding” appeals. This demonstrates that humanitarian communication
campaigns have changed from an “emotional-oriented” to a “post-humanitarian” design of
appealing that tend to focus on less emotional aspects and short-term actions (ibid., pp. 2-
4).
In order to better analyse and understand the styles of representations in humanitar-
ian communication, Chouliaraki (2010, pp. 5-11) draws attention on the concept of “poli-
tics of pity” by Boltanski (2000, pp. 5-6) who describes that over time, representations of
suffering have inscribed a political framework. The underlying assumption is that by repre-
senting suffering as a distant reality, those who are “fortunate” and are situated in a “hap-
py” position cannot reach those who are “unfortunate” and thus cannot provide them any
help. Hence, what this representation of suffering intends to create is a feeling of compas-
sion and pity, which ultimately becomes a political action placing individuals together
around common causes (ibid.).
Shock effect appeals are analysed as “victim oriented” where the sufferer is the
object of our attention. They create a difference and distance between the spectator and
suffering other (Chouliaraki, 2010, p. 5). This activates a mechanism of elucidation of
emotions like “guilt, shame and indignation”. Thus, shock effect appeals tend to transform
these emotions into actions (ibid., p. 7). The moral intention here is to acknowledge the
historical process of colonisation that privileged Europe and created a collective feeling of
guilt by watching the suffering of others (ibid.).
Positive image appeals, which were created as a response to shock effect appeals,
also intend to represent the reality of suffering. However, here the sufferer is not seen as a
victim but rather as a subject of action and dignity (Chouliaraki, 2010, p. 8). There are two
important aspects in positive image appeals. Firstly, the appeal focuses on individuals as
actors by giving those names or characterising them as participants in development pro-
jects. Secondly, it individualises possible donors, emphasising that each one can make a
difference to improve the life of those who suffer (ibid.). These aspects articulate feelings
of “empathy, tender-heartedness and gratitude” which function as “sympathetic equilibri-
um” that represent a balance of emotions between donors and participants in development
projects, something that influences them to act (ibid).
Both kinds of appeals have received criticism accentuating the risks that each of
them can generate. However, even though these approaches are different they also share
similarities (Chouliaraki, 2010, pp. 9-10). The two forms of appeals both use photorealism

14
as the best way to represent the reality of communities and they both also believe in the
power of emotions to change public behaviour (ibid., p. 10).
Another study, carried out in a Danish context, examined 124 newspaper ads be-
tween 1970 and 2005 in order to identify the most significant market change, which each
form of appeal generated (Vestergaard, 2013, pp. 1-5). Using discourse analysis, two ap-
peal dimensions were identified, namely incitement and enticement (ibid., pp. 8-12). In-
citement is associated with a rational perspective through which the aid is justified by addi-
tional facts and contextual information, thus forming a legitimacy of the cause (ibid., p. 9).
Enticement is associated with an emotional perspective trying to influence the action of the
public through morality (ibid.). These two kinds of dimensions collaborate with the shock
effect and positive image appeals as they use concepts like justification, morality and the
power of emotions to convince the public into taking action. The studies demonstrate that
the field of humanitarian communication has changed mostly due to a “crisis of pity”
and/or “pressure of market” in order to gain credibility and legitimacy of the public, but
still present a great deal of doubt and instabilities (Chouliaraki 2010, pp. 19-20;
Vestergaard 2013, pp. 39-40).
Nonetheless, in the middle of these uncertainties and instabilities, it is possible to
identify the emerging of a new style of “humanitarian branding” appeals which reformu-
lates the conception of changing the public behaviour based on suffering (Chouliaraki,
2010, pp. 11-17). This approach attempts to invoke new public sensibility that breaks the
relation between action and pity or empathy (ibid., p. 11). Instead, engagement is provoked
by reflexivity. The public is invited to reflect on the matter by itself and make a decision
based on their own concepts and judgments. This humanitarian sensibility is presented as a
different way of representation that does not depend on photorealism but rather on textual
games, low presence of emotional aspects and the use of technology, which try to stimulate
gratitude instead justification. This humanitarian sensibility has been conceptualized as
post-humanitarian communication (ibid., p. 17).
The most important point of post-humanitarian communication is related to the fact
that the public does not necessarily need to see the sufferer in order to empathise with
them. Nor does the public have to develop emotions such as pity, compassion or empathy
for the sufferer in order to act (ibid.). In post-humanitarian communication, there is a shift
in the representation of sufferers through discourses of morality, moving to reflexivity and
individual judgment, which now justify and invoke actions (Chouliaraki, 2010, pp. 17-18).

15
2.2.2 Orientalism
Edward Said (1977) explains the term orientalism as a formation of thought, as an ar-
rangement of generalisation when talking about the part of the world known as the “East”.
That means, Orientalism is a way of thought, established as an ontological and epistemo-
logical distinction that characterises “the Orient” and “the Occident” (Said, 1977, p. 2).
Orientalism is a mechanism in which the Western World dominates structures and imposes
authority and power over the Orient (ibid., p. 3). It is because of Orientalism and associat-
ed assumptions that the Orient was/is not a subject of thought or action (ibid.).
However, according to Said, the most important aspect of Orientalism is not the
specific correspondence between Occident and Orient, but rather the coherent ideas about
an imagined Orient and the “real” Orient (Said, 1977, p. 6). This takes into account that
those ideas were not only created through the imagination of the West, but by a history and
tradition of thoughts, images and vocabulary that shaped an imagined reality for the West
(ibid.). As he describes: “Orientalism, therefore, is not an airy European fantasy about the
Orient, but a created body of theory and practice in which, for many generations, there has
been a considerable material investment” (ibid.) It is through this traditional practice of
research that knowledge of the Orient is produced and disseminated as a general and truth-
ful understanding (ibid., p. 7).
By this process, a relationship of power, domination and superiority is established
where the practices of knowledge creation, together with cultural aspects, work in order to
position “us” Europeans against all “those” non-European people and cultures (ibid.). An-
other relevant point of Orientalism draws attention to the relationship between those who
study, investigate, teach or work on the discourse about the Orient and people’s position in
their particular realities (Said, 1977, p. 11). In other words, any production of knowledge
in the field of humanities can neglect the involvement between the author and his specific
cultural, historical, or intellectual background (ibid., pp. 10-11).
Orientalism cannot be reduced to a passive expression of a political discussion or to
an area related only with academic production and knowledge about the Orient itself. Ra-
ther, Orientalism should be thought of as a distribution or elaboration of issues related to
geopolitical awareness and interests (Said, 1977, p. 12). Thus, Said´s conceptualisation of
Orientalism focuses on representative aspects of the Orient and not on a “natural” descrip-
tion of the Orient (Said, 1977, p. 21). Orientalism is therefore a Western perspective that
associates the Orient with the notion of exteriority and positions all them “there” in a dis-
course of distance (ibid., p. 22).
16
 Another relevant concept within the Orientalist theory is Eurocentrism. The idea of
the superiority of the European culture has developed to ascribing a universal truth to Eu-
ropean views. It is synthesised by Shohat and Stam (1994) as “sanitizing Western history
while patronizing and even demonizing the non-West; it thinks of itself in terms of its no-
blest achievements - science, progress, humanism - but of the non-West in terms of its de-
ficiencies, real or imagined” (p. 3). To conclude, both concepts go beyond specific coun-
tries but relate to biased power relations between the constructed regions of the West and
the Other.

2.3 Constructive narrative

This chapter deals with a new approach to NGO communication. There are several initia-
tives, projects and NGOs that follow or develop principles of this new approach. Now,
there is no fixed set of rules or an overall definition of this new way of communicating.
However, the amount of actors dealing with a new approach and similar principles suggest
an underlying movement to shift the way NGOs are communicating (see chapter 2.2).
Since there is a broad spectrum of terms and principles used on this matter, the following
chapter aims at coming up with a working definition of this new approach. In order to do
so, one major influence in form of constructive journalism is being defined (see chapter
2.3.1). Furthermore the groundbreaking research project The Narrative Project from 2014
(narrativeproject.org) is being explained with focus on their proposed principles for the
new approach of NGO communication (see chapter 2.3.2). These two concepts will finally
be combined and undermined with voices of other central actors to form the working defi-
nition of what is being called constructive narrative in this project (see chapter 2.3.3).

2.3.1 Constructive journalism

Constructive journalism has already been mentioned in relation with World’s Best News
(see chapter 1.3). The news initiative reports on “global progress in the developing coun-
tries” (World’s Best News, 2016c) and cooperates with more than 100 NGOs including
Oxfam IBIS (World’s Best News, 2016b). The project claims to follow the approach of
constructive journalism and defines its own principles (World’s Best News, 2016a). By
headlining those with “Our constructive journalism” (ibid.) the elusiveness of the term is
already revealed. Constructive journalism is not a manifest academic concept yet, but ra-
ther a diverse movement amongst journalistic media that is slowly being picked up by aca-
demic discourse especially in northern Europe (Windesheim University, 2016b).
17
 Already before 2011, when constructive journalism as it is being understood by
most scholars now has been dealt with first, the term was mentioned in other research
fields. Wetzstein (2011) uses constructive journalism in her analysis of crises journalism
and refers to Burgess & Burgess’ understanding of constructive (1997). Based on conflict
transformation and mediation, they define constructive actions as those, which
acknowledge that not every conflict can be solved, but still aim at engaging with the con-
flict parties “in a way that generates more benefits than it does costs” (ibid.). This includes
a better understanding of interests and overlaying conflict layers (ibid.). Wetzstein thus
argues that constructive journalism in conflicts aims at a discursive understanding while
using qualitative journalistic tools (2011, p. 50). This would bring a long-term change of
more general conditions than mere conflict solution and its journalistic equivalent solutions
journalism (ibid., p. 52). Solutions journalism is a similar, prior movement to constructive
journalism (McIntyre, 2015, p. 7; Windesheim University, 2016b). Solutions journalism
focusses on an existing solution for a social issue and “how and why it appears to be work-
ing” (Curry & Hammonds, 2014, p. 1) or why not. It is therefore a specific practice rather
than a movement as is the case with constructive journalism (Rosenberg, 2016). Wetzstein
(2011) furthermore distinguishes constructive journalism from peace journalism as it does
not take one side and engages in the conflict as a peacemaker (ibid., p. 50).
A major difference of constructive journalism in contrast to other approaches is its
way of including research results of positive psychology (Gyldensted, 2011). The main
reason for a constructive approach to journalism lies within the negative explanatory style
of regular journalism (ibid., p. 8; Heinz & Swinnen, 2014) that ultimately affects people’s
worldview to the negative (Levine, 1977, p. 105). However, including positive psychology
creates “more productive, engaging stories while holding true to journalism’s core func-
tions” (McIntyre, 2015, p. 9). Positive psychology itself aims at building enabling condi-
tions for individuals and society to thrive (Seligman, 2011). This however does not mean
that constructive journalism is positive journalism. While constructive journalists might try
to include positive emotions as a technique based on positive psychology (McIntyre, 2015,
p. 14), they still follow journalism’s core functions like “serving as a watchdog” (Windes-
heim University, 2016a). Moreover, invoking positive emotions is not a key principle ac-
cording to Windesheim University (ibid.). Being one of the major actors in academic dis-
course of constructive journalism, Windesheim University and the department’s director,
Cathrine Gyldensted who first published a paper on constructive journalism containing
positive psychology principles in 2011, make out six principles (ibid.).These principles

18
include a solution- and future-oriented focus and thus invoke a more active journalistic role
(Bro, 2008, p. 316).
Constructive journalism is furthermore critical, but not cynical, and asking new
questions about “issues of high societal significance” (Windesheim University, 2016a).
The public plays an important role in constructive journalism as public debate is being
taken seriously; it is committed to democratic participation and engages the public to take
action for example in form of co-creating (ibid.). Since constructive journalism is still a
diverse movement, other projects put their focus on other aspects. The Constructive Jour-
nalism Project for example emphasises empowering aspects, both for the public and a
more active journalist (Constructive Journalism Project, n.d.). Here, constructive journal-
ism cares about individuals, highlights their power to change social conditions and tries to
build consensus and collaboration (ibid.). World’s Best News adds a broader perspective
on global trends told through individual stories to their understanding of constructive jour-
nalism and emphasise the paper’s relationship to their readers (World’s Best News,
2016a). The first German online newspaper that fully dedicates itself to constructive jour-
nalism, Perspective Daily, furthermore stresses the scientific basis of their approach to
constructive journalism (ibid., n.d.).
Partly developed out of the newspaper crisis (Gyldensted, 2011, p. 6), constructive
journalism was set out to change the language of mainstream journalism in general (ibid.,
p. 7) and is now seen not as opposition to mainstream news journalism, but as something
that should “be incorporated into all journalistic work” (McIntyre, 2015, p. 10). To sum it
up, constructive journalism is a diverse emerging movement with initial principles outlined
by research and practice. In the following The Narrative Project as representative of a stra-
tegic communication approach with similar principles, will be discussed.

2.3.2 The Narrative Project

Coming from a similar assumption – that attitudes in this case concerning development
work become increasingly negative – The Narrative Project was initiated in 2014 by Inter-
Action (The Narrative Project, n.d. a; ibid., n.d. e). InterAction is an alliance of more than
180 U.S.-based NGOs working in the field of humanitarian development (InterAction,
n.d.). The aim of The Narrative Project was to scientifically research how development
communication can be changed in order to “to foster a more positive outlook” and thus
create a broader public support (The Narrative Project, n.d. c). For this matter, an interdis-
ciplinary research consortium conducted quantitative and qualitative research including

19
A/B testing, focus group discussions and jury groups in four donor countries (ibid., 2014,
p. 5). The result of the study were four principles NGOs ought to follow in their communi-
cation practices as well as several guidelines that will be discussed in more detail later in
this chapter (ibid., n.d. e, pp. 10-22). Overall findings deal with a more targeted communi-
cation strategy and the effective use of new narratives (New Venture Fund, 2016, p. 1).
The researchers first defined and identified their audience (The Narrative Project,
n.d. e, pp. 6-9). As the engaged public – understood as people who follow and discuss
global issues actively – is the way to reach “a broader public audience” (ibid., p. 6), the
study focused on them as their research objects. According to the project, the engaged pub-
lic makes up around one fourth in the four researched countries’ populations and is divided
into three groups: supporters, swings and sceptics (ibid., pp. 6). Almost half of the engaged
public are supporters and they already take action in development work as volunteers, ac-
tive advocates etc. (ibid., p. 7). Swings are the main target group of The Narrative Project
as they “could potentially double [the] base of support” (ibid., p. 8). Their opinions can be
influenced in both ways, either supporting development work or seeing it as wasteful. They
make up 39 % of the engaged public. Sceptics are with 14 % of the engaged public the
smallest group and are unlikely to be convinced of the benefits of development work (The
Narrative Project, n.d. e, p. 9). The aim is therefore to “placate Sceptics so that they don’t
dominate public dialogue on global development” (ibid.).
The study found overall themes among the Engaged Public including little
knowledge about development work and its successes accompanied by scepticism and a
feeling of frustration as well as an agreement on the moral value of development work that
applies especially on prioritising education (The Narrative Project, 2014, pp. 10-11). The
researchers tested overall narratives, specific messages, rebuttals and words in respect of
effectiveness, perception and impact (ibid., pp. 26-52). Furthermore, they tested the reac-
tions to visual content (ibid., p. 54). The researchers deduce four principles from their
study: independence, shared values, partnership and progress. These themes can encourage
supporters, convince swings and appease sceptics (The Narrative Project, n.d. e, p. 6).
The most important theme is that of independence as the end goal of development
work (ibid., p. 11). Since it is the most influential, it can also be the only communicated
theme (ibid.). Instead of invoking pity, communicating according to the theme of inde-
pendence highlights the future-oriented, long-term approach of development programmes
(The Narrative Project, n.d. b). Supporting language includes words like independence,
development (rather than foreign aid) as well as specific examples that help people to be-

20
come independent, like education. While this is not the strongest principle to communicate
to supporters, it works well for swings and sceptics (The Narrative Project, n.d. e, pp. 14-
16). The principle of shared values focuses on communicating values and hopes people in
donor countries can relate to (The Narrative Project, n.d. b). Highlighting equity including
the fact that “people cannot help where they are born” (The Narrative Project, n.d. e, p. 16)
as well as relatable human traits such as dignity exemplifies this principle.
The study shows that an emphasis on shared values works especially well for sup-
porters, whereas swings only respond to communicating similar values positively and
sceptics do not respond well to equity aspects. The third principle partnership relates to the
active contribution of all involved actors of a development programme (The Narrative Pro-
ject, n.d. d). The underlying notions of sharing and accountability (The Narrative Project,
n.d. e, p. 16) can be communicated by using metaphors like “two-way street” or joining
forces (ibid., p. 15). While the idea of sharing appears to have no noticeable effect on sup-
porters, swings or sceptics, accountability works very well with swings and sceptics, but
not with supporters (The Narrative Project, n.d. e, pp. 16-18). Progress is described as sup-
porting principle and should not be used as guiding theme (ibid., n.d. d). Instead, problems
shall be presented “as preventable and solvable to show that progress is possible” (ibid.).
The study shows that concrete examples can work as effective rebuttal (The Narrative Pro-
ject, 2014, p. 43).
These results lead the researchers to overall guidelines on what benefits a new nar-
rative for more effective development communication and what does not (The Narrative
Project, n.d. e, pp. 20-21). Additional guidelines to these principles include an emphasis on
the empowering effects for women and girls, as this was the strongest tested message (The
Narrative Project., 2014, p. 35). Furthermore the project advises to use familiar, “clear and
bold” (The Narrative Project., n.d. e, p. 20) but relevant and verifiable language. Moreover,
this narrative discourages to only use facts, present people in developing countries as vic-
tims, lead with negative words or refer to dates in the distant future (ibid., p. 21). In addi-
tion, downplaying existing issues like corruption, implicitly questioning people’s morality
or putting self-interest into the message did not create support for development work with-
in the study (ibid.).
After conducting this study in 2014, the New Venture Fund tested its recommenda-
tions in 2015 with 10 organisation that implemented The Narrative Project´s approach for
the first time (2016, p. 9). Key findings revolve around the influence of the new approach
on five aspects: messaging and language, audience strategy, attitude and perceptions

21
change, fundraising effectiveness and organisational change (ibid., p. 11). Messaging and
language showed strong effects, while there was a negative impact on fundraising effec-
tiveness. The other areas had moderate to good outcomes (ibid.). Due to their relevance,
only two evaluated areas will be examined in more detail, namely messaging and language,
and organisational change. The Narrative Project´s approach was evaluated as feasible
guide to a new narrative that strengthens the organisation's communication of aims and
changes it in a positive way (ibid., p. 12). Especially the independence principle and the
concrete examples were appreciated (ibid.). Even though The Narrative Project does not
aim at changing organisational processes as a whole, but only the communication practic-
es, there was evidence that it “can encourage deeper or broader organisational change”
(ibid., p. 19). In some organisations, it was partly implemented or generated discussions in
other divisions like fundraising or policy advocacy (ibid., p. 20). Overall the first and only
scientific testing of the Narrative Project approach showed that it implementation is chal-
lenging, but manageable if done properly (ibid., p. 21). Another relevant outcome of the
study was to highlight again the storytelling aspect of The Narrative Project´s approach
without being too positive while applying it (ibid., p. 23-25).
However, The Narrative Project has been criticised since its release in 2014. The
main point of critique revolves around the claim it only tries to cloak the problems devel-
opment work has, instead of changing it (Hickel, 2014; The Rules, n.d.). By using “fresh
language” (Hickel, 2014) and “questionable research methods” (The Rules, n.d.) the pro-
ject would be more harmful to global development as it ensures structural problems like
the tax haven system (ibid.). In addition, The Narrative Project approach is by itself not
enough for long-term change (New Venture Fund, 2016, p. 30). The identified principles
and thus flagship of the approach have thus not the power for real change regarding “the
problem of declining support for and engagement with global development” (ibid.).

2.3.3 On the way to a constructive narrative

In order to make these various concepts feasible for the underlying study, there is need to
combine the main recurrent principles and create a working definition of the overall ap-
proach. In constructive journalism the main principles include the six characteristics identi-
fied by Windesheim University (2016a): (1) solution-orientation, (2) future-orientation, (3)
critical but not cynical approach, (4) new questions for issues with social significance, (5)
commitment to core journalistic functions such as democratic participation and lastly (6)
engagement and collaboration with the public. Recurrent principals from practical imple-

22
mentations stress furthermore a scientific foundation and an individual approach both re-
garding the object of reporting and the audience (Perspective Daily, n.d.; Constructive
Journalism Project, n.d.; World’s Best News, 2016a). The Narrative Project (n.d. e) and
other approaches to strategic development communication for NGOs call for a linguistic
turn with emphasis on independence, shared values, partnership, progress and credibility
regarding the complexity of development work (DevCom, 2014, p. 95). Further themes
deal with a focus on the audience and narratives as guiding ways to communicate (The
Narrative Project, n.d. d). This summary visualises the main involved themes but still lack
an encompassing umbrella that can be used for this study.
The term constructive narrative will function as synonym for the described elusive
movement. It is a normative approach to strategic NGO communication on development
work. Although the term already has a distinct meaning in psychology2, it describes the
core aspects of the approach adequately. This working definition is guided by four main
characteristics.
To begin with, the constructive part of the term takes into account how NGO com-
munication about development work should be future-oriented. While progress in The
Narrative Project is only used as a supplementary principle to amplify the whole message,
it is an essential part in all described new approaches. Meanwhile, the first characteristic
also dedicates itself to a solution-oriented perspective. However, this does not disguise the
complexity of the whole situation, because of the second characteristic: critical approach.
This characteristic guarantees credibility for the NGOs as they are guided to communi-
cating the complexity of development work and the problems it tries to solve. Already part
of post-humanitarian communication and definitions of constructive narratives, this in-
cludes communication based on scientific facts. Being critical is representative for journal-
istic core functions that are part of constructive journalism and differentiates the concept
for example from others like positive journalism. It should thus be understood in two ways:
Firstly, while it is not a typical value for strategic communications, it facilitates the crea-
tion of credibility – an important aim in strategic NGO communication (Curbach, 2003, p.
43). In addition, humanitarian NGOs often have a good insight into problematic situations
that – because of the interlinkages of the world and different systems – could become
global crises. In the end, NGOs could thus strengthen their role as watchdogs (Gerhards,

2
The constructive narrative perspective is being used “to understand perceived barriers” (Buman, Giacobbi,
Yasova, McCrae, 2009, p. 1175) of individuals. For example it is applied in clinical surroundings for post-
traumatic stress patients
23
Offerhaus & Rosse, 2005, p. 6) and engage further into a more journalistic way of com-
municating socially significant issues.
The third characteristic is empowerment. It contains the two principles independ-
ence and partnership. Empowerment is a process of collective effort for people and organi-
sations to “gain mastery over their lives” (Zimmermann, 2000, pp. 43-44; Rappaport,
1984, p. 3) and can thus be seen as a combination of the two mentioned principles created
by The Narrative Project. It also takes into account what kind of audiences and interests
among these exist and as is mentioned in constructive journalism, tries to engage them.
The last characteristic is called narrative and it is what differentiates this new approach
from previous ones like post-humanitarian communication. It draws on the assumption of
shared values and utilises them with positive psychology methods. This could include in-
voking positive emotions. Moreover, this characteristic is closest to strategic communica-
tion as it emphasises the communication tool of storytelling/narratives. To sum it all up,
these four identified characteristics (future-orientation, critical approach, empowerment,
narrative) of the constructive narrative that stem from different movements in strategic
NGO communication, define the foundation of the analysis.
Post-humanitarian communication and constructive narrative are both new ways of
communication about development work. They share certain aspects like a focus of future-
orientation and reflexivity. However, they differ significantly in the way that post-
humanitarian communication breaks with emotions, while constructive narrative explicitly
includes them into their narrative. Furthermore, constructive narrative has a stronger focus
on reaching out to people as it emerged as a reaction to decreasing engagement with devel-
opment issues from the public. Moreover, the constructive narrative aims at including con-
crete linguistic tools for storytelling. Yet, the constructive narrative is not merely linguistic
turn, but strives to achieve a more holistic change in perception of development work.

3. Methodology

The following chapter reflects on the underlying position this research takes within social
science in context of qualitative research (see chapter 3.1), the associated assumptions on
knowledge through a social constructionist approach (see chapter 3.2) and the consequent
research design (see chapter 3.3) before outlining the analytical strategy of the critical dis-
course analysis (see chapter 3.4).

24
3.1 Philosophy of science

Because the project in hand qualifies as a qualitative research, “mediat[ing] between con-
crete research techniques and more grand theoretical frameworks” that “allow [...] for the
flexible application of theoretical concepts and analytical procedures to a wide variety of
empirical domains” (Jensen, 2002, p.236) - and this kind of investigation requires the crea-
tion of own knowledge through the use of specific qualitative practices - it is necessary to
first and foremost reveal the researchers' positions on what knowledge is, and how new
knowledge is gained with the help of the proposed research design.

3.1.1 Positioning the project in the paradigms of qualitative research

This understanding of knowledge-creation is referred to as paradigm, which can be defined
as “ways of understanding reality, building knowledge, and gathering information about
the world” (Tracy, 2013, p. 38). This “basic belief system or worldview that guides the
investigator” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 105) constitutes how researchers look at the object
of their study and influences what kind of methods they choose to investigate it (Donmo-
yer, 2008, p. 2). While there are four main paradigms in qualitative research (Guba & Lin-
coln, 1994, Tracy, 2013), they are sometimes referred to with different terms by various
scientists. Tracy (2013) categorises them as (post)positivist, interpretive, critical, and
postmodern/post-structural, and states that they “can differ on the basis of ontology (the
nature of reality), epistemology (the nature of knowledge), axiology (the values associated
with areas of research and theorizing), or methodology (strategies for gathering, collecting,
and analysing data)” (p. 38).
Following this distinction and Tracy´s (2013) claim that one can draw from all par-
adigms without completely separating them or ignoring one or the other, the present re-
search shares the notion of social ecologists that “human behaviour [is situated] in the con-
text of interactive spheres of social and other forms of influence on the individual”, as well
as the belief of the critical approach, seeing “individual and group behaviour and meaning
as shaped by structures and processes of dominance” (Schensul, 2008, p.517). Yet, it is the
interpretivist paradigm in which this research is grounded and which shapes the methodo-
logical approach and assumptions. There are various approaches embedded in the interpre-
tivist paradigm, such as hermeneutic, interactionist, phenomenological and constructivist,
all of which share the belief that “social phenomena are constructed or co-constructed by
self and can be discovered by collecting and analysing conversations and texts” (ibid.).

25
 On the basis of that, and including the fact that people have diverse social and cul-
tural backgrounds, reality is constructed in different ways by several people rendering the
world consisting of multiple, rather than a single reality (Donmoyer, 2008, p. 3). In terms
of research, this implies - what also Guba & Lincoln (1994) formulated as a basic assump-
tion - that “knowledge is constructed, not discovered” (Donmoyer, 2008, p. 3). Tracy
(2013) explains this view in terms of looking at reality. She points out that it is not possible
for the researcher to simply explain or describe the reality that is “out there”, but that reali-
ty is the product of interaction, communication and practice and thus knowledge about
reality is always mediated through the researcher (p. 40). She therefore suggest to analyse
social action by seeing things from the actor's perspective, in a sense that the German word
verstehen implies (Tracy, 2013, p. 41). Even though she stresses how impossible it is to
grasp the world from a participant's view entirely, “verstehen refers to the practice of striv-
ing toward empathic understanding” (ibid.).
Hence, the research at hand was conducted in the framework of a interpretivist par-
adigm. This means that the knowledge resulting from the discourse analysis, as well as the
overall outline and exposition of theories and assumptions outlined in this research have
been “constructed by humans and situated within a historical moment and social context”,
allowing for the existence of “multiple meanings (...) of perhaps the same data” (Core
Concepts: Paradigms, 2015). Epistemologically viewed, this means that the researchers
have generated knowledge in a co-creation with the interviewees. Focusing on the meaning
creation in the discourses, this research creates knowledge through qualitative methods and
is thus “[reasoned] on dialogue” (Core Concepts: Paradigms, 2015).

3.2 Social Constructionism

The critical discourse analysis that will follow in chapter 4 was created on the basic as-
sumption that “our ways of talking do not neutrally reflect our world, identities and social
relations but, rather, play an active role in creating and changing them” (Jørgensen & Phil-
lips, 2002, p. 1). This is reflective of social constructionist theory, which shall briefly be
outlined in order to back up the interpretivist paradigm and to give reasons for why dis-
course analysis serves as the main methodological approach of this research.

3.2.1 The key assumptions of a social constructionist position

Social constructionism can generally be described as a scholarly tradition, which delves the
origin of knowledge and the characteristics of reality and their interdependency with hu-
26
man interaction. The term as such is often used synonymously with constructivism; how-
ever, constructivist scholars believe meaning making to be an individual process, not a
result of human interaction (Gergen & Gergen, 2008, p. 2). As Vivien Burr (2003) argues,
social constructionism is a multidisciplinary approach since it draws from various disci-
plines, such as linguistics, philosophy and sociology (p. 2). Taking a social constructionist
position opens up new possibilities in qualitative research, because it “brings into specific
focus three significant relationships: the researcher's relationships with the subjects of re-
search, with the audience, and with society more generally” (Gergen & Gergen, 2008, p.
2).
To conduct a research from a social constructionist viewpoint requires that the re-
searchers base their investigation on the basic belief system of said perception. Burr
(2003), who struggles to come up with a clear definition of what social constructionism
means, refers to the work of Kenneth J. Gergen (1985) who formulated key assumptions
that can help in identifying a constructionist position. Burr (2003) describes them as
“things you would absolutely have to believe in order to be a social constructionist” (p. 2).
In order to get an understanding of the “processes by which people come to describe, ex-
plain, or otherwise account for the world (including themselves) in which they live”
(Gergen, 1985, p. 266), these basic assumptions shall be seen as an underlying basis on
which the researchers of this project grounded their discourse analysis of chapter 4.
Burr (2003) names these assumptions as follows: (1) A critical approach toward
taken-for-granted knowledge; (2) Historical and cultural specificity; (3) Knowledge is sus-
tained by social processes; (4) Knowledge and social action go together (p. 2-5). What the
first requests can be related to the main belief of the interpretivist paradigm in that it ad-
dresses the implication of reality and knowledge. It forbids approaching one´s knowledge
about the world as an objective truth, because “what we take to be experience of the world
does not in itself dictate the terms by which the world is understood” (Gergen, 1985, p.
266). Further, the second assumption goes into depth with the first, indicating how the re-
searchers´ views on knowledge and the way they present it, are “historically and culturally
specific and contingent” (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 5). All these different subjective
worldviews, that are products of historical and cultural processes, are further “vicissitudes
of social processes (e.g. communication, negotiation, conflict, rhetoric) (Gergen, 1985, p.
268). Lastly, there are always social consequences following the construction of
knowledge, because “within a particular worldview, some forms of action become natural,
others unthinkable” (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p 6).

27
3.2.2 Discourse and subjectivity
From a psychological point of view, the term discourse can mean any instance of situated
language use, it being written or spoken texts of all sorts. Whilst “discursive psychology
seems to emphasise the freedom of the speaker to draw upon language as a cultural re-
source for his or her own ends, macro social constructionism emphasises the way that
forms of language available to us set limits upon, or at least strongly channel, not only
what we can think and say, but also what we can do or what can be done to us” (Burr,
2003, p. 63). From a social constructionist point of view, then, practice too plays an im-
portant part in discourse. This is outlined by Michel Foucault´s wish to go away from
simply seeing discourses as sheer imbrications of words and things. In his book, The Ar-
chaeology of Knowledge (1972), he calls for a new definition of discourse, requesting not
to treat “discourses as groups of signs (signifying elements referring to contents or repre-
sentations) but as practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak” (p.
49). He further acknowledges that signs indeed compose a discourse, but that they do
“more than use these signs to designate things” (Foucault, 1972, p. 49). According to him,
it is exactly ´more´ that needs to be investigated and described further, since “it is this
more that renders them irreducible to the language (langue) and to speech” (ibid.).
Following Foucault´s tradition, Burr (2003) stresses that “each discourse brings
different aspects into focus, raises different issues for consideration, and has different im-
plications for what we should do” (p. 65), hinting towards the subjective nature of each
and every discourse, constructing different things in different ways. She goes further on
explaining the production of identity and subjectivity through discourse, saying how “all
the objects of our consciousness, every ´thing´ we think of or talk about, including our
identities, ourselves, is constructed through language, manufactured out of discourse” (p.
105). This means that language gives everything existence and that discourse “provides a
frame for reference, a way of interpreting the world and giving it meaning that allows
some objects to take shape” (Burr, 2003, p. 105). Following that, the research at hand con-
structed and developed its design and structure with an interpretivist paradigm in mind,
grounding the work on the key assumptions of social constructionists, including Foucault's
practice-oriented definition of discourse and the implications of socially and culturally
constructed knowledge.

28
3.3 Research design
Based on the more general methodological assumptions outlined above, the following will
go into detail with the chosen design of the research and the methods that were applied in
the collection of data.

3.3.1 Process and type of research

The following will elaborate on the methodological use of case and theory, as well as on
the implications of doing a critical discourse analysis and its associated methods in light of
the paradigm mentioned above.

Case & theory

Because the social constructionist theory elaborates on the importance of collaboratively
created knowledge and the absence of a universal truth, the researchers chose a case in
order to exemplary investigate a certain reality in a specific context. The overall umbrella
of qualitative research, too, “argues for a case-centred approach, describing cases as com-
positional “context- and/or path-dependent entities” (Blatter, 2008, p. 68). Because the
research at hand aims to investigate volunteers´ discourses in light of the newly emerged
constructive narrative in development communication, a case study helps to explore this
dynamic, allowing the researchers to pin down “specific mechanisms and pathways be-
tween causes and effects” (ibid., p. 69). This research project chose Oxfam IBIS as a case,
because it is part of the World’s Best News initiative and The Narrative Project. What is
more, Oxfam IBIS has offices in Copenhagen, Denmark, which facilitates the research
process, since all the researchers of this project are studying and living in close distance of
this city. Third, one of the researches was part of the volunteers group back in 2014, mak-
ing it therefore easier to find interviewees.
In light of an interpretivist paradigm, cases are seen as “contribution and check to a
theoretical discourse”, meaning, “Empirical reality and theoretical concepts are mutually
constitutive” (Blatter, 2008, p. 69). Tracy (2013) justifies the use of theories, “because
these approaches are not narrow edicts that can be proven true or false, but open-ended
clusters of concepts that help making sense of meaning” (p. 50). This research, conse-
quently, sees theories as guidelines and frameworks to understand better the discourses of
the volunteers in the context of the chosen case. Hence, the discourses of Oxfam IBIS and
of its volunteers was analysed in accordance with the theoretical knowledge about strategic
communication of NGOs, and the implications of development communication in light of

29
new trends towards more constructive narratives. Based on the theories explored, the term
constructive narrative was compounded by the researchers in an attempt to term and de-
scribe the new kind of communication approach that has not yet been explored in literature
about development work. The identified principles serve as an analytical framework for the
discourse analysis, making it possible to investigate the manner of discourse in relation to
the strategy of the new, more constructive, approach.

Discourse analysis
This project applies discourse analysis as a method to investigate the discourses of the par-
ticipants. One of the reasons for choosing this method is because it does not require the
usage of a big number of samples, since it is not trying to prove the homogeneity of dis-
courses, but instead aims at understanding certain discourses, which can be different from
each other (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p. 207). A key concept that will help to analyse the
different discourses among the volunteers is interdiscursivity. Interdiscursivity “occurs
when different discourses and genres are articulated together in a communicative event”
(Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 73). Change can be related with the existence of different
kinds of discourses within a group, rather than the reproduction of one established dis-
course (ibid., p. 82-83).
Jørgensen and Phillips (2002) present three different approaches that can be applied
when doing discourse analysis, all of which are based in social constructionism: Ernesto
Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and
discursive psychology (p. 1). For the research at hand and its social constructionist para-
digm, the CDA as suggested by Machin & Mayr, serves as the main methodological tool in
the analysis of language. This study furthermore applies Fairclough´s three-dimensional
model of critical discourse analysis. He “distinguishes between discursive practice, text
and social practice as three levels that can be analytically separated” (Jørgensen & Phillips,
2002, p. 81).

Textual analysis
As mentioned before, the focus in CDA is to describe what the discourses are, more than
finding a reason why these discourses are produced (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p.5). In other
words, a CDA can be carried by being aware of how the participants produce these “texts”
in order to construct meaning. These discursive practices might be strategies that seem
natural, but CDA is, therefore, critical in order to emphasise that it aims to “denaturalise”

30
these assumptions (ibid.). Originating in the studies of critical linguists, such as Roger
Fowler, Robert Hodge, Gunter Kress and Tony Trew, who explored how grammar and
language can be used as ideological instruments back in the 1970s (ibid., p. 2), CDA went
on to investigate how language constructs our social world, arguing that “language both
shapes and is shaped by society” (ibid., p. 4).
For analysts of texts, this means that is has to be pointed out which elements are
foregrounded and what things are excluded or put in the rear. Machin and Mayr (2012)
argue that “through the individual semiotic choices that [are made], authors and designers
are able to encourage us to place events and ideas into broader frameworks of interpreta-
tions that are referred to as discourse. Once one of these frameworks is activated, they
bring with them different kinds of associations and [...] shape how we are encouraged to
think about events” (p. 20). It is therefore vital to look at the choices of grammar and
words in a text (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 83; Machin & Mayr, 2012, p. 20). This will
help in discovering the underlying ideologies and discourses, because linguistic structure
functions in “highlight[ing] certain ideologies, while downplaying or concealing others”
(ibid.).
By starting with a lexical analysis - filtering out what kinds of words are used in a
text - the researcher is able to identify specific lexical fields, which can also be seen as
different kinds of discourses within the text. These fields or discourses “will signify certain
kinds of identities, values and sequences of activity which are not necessarily made explic-
it” (ibid., p. 30). Machin & Mayr (2012) provide a guide on how to systematically analyse
some of the semiotic choices of a text. They instruct to look at word connotations, overlex-
icalisation, suppression or lexical absence, and structural oppositions
Because words carry specific connotations in particular cultures, these associations
help in placing utterances into respective frameworks of discourse (ibid., p. 32). Overlexi-
calisation and suppression can mean that, either a “surfeit of repetitious quasi-synonymous
terms is woven into the fabric of (...) discourse” (Teo, 2000, p. 20), giving (...) it a “sense
of over-persuasion” that “is normally evident that something is problematic or of ideologi-
cal contention” (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p. 37), or that terms are absent even though we
expect them (ibid., p. 38). Following Halliday's (1978, 1985) theory of Social Semiotics,
one has to understand that words have meaning also in relation to their part in a network of
meanings. Vocabulary can hence also involve structural oppositions. In the case that oppo-
sitions are overtly apparent in a text, Van Dijk (1998) talks of “ideological squaring”. This

31
means that certain labels are “implied through structuring concepts”, that have been “built
up around participants” (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p. 40).

Discursive practice
The focus of discursive practices is on the production and consumptions of texts (Jørgen-
sen & Phillips, 2002, p. 82). CDA views discourse as a practice that is not monolithic. In
fact, it argues that discursive practices coexist and often compete with each other: there is a
complex relationship between particular discourses and normative or conventional dis-
courses (Fairclough, 2008, p. 173). A focus point in CDA is to explore the relationship
between discourse and structures of power, and it assumes that discourse transmits and
practices power (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p. 4). It combines Gramsci’s notions of “hegemo-
ny” and a discourse theory based on intertextuality (Fairclough, 2008, p. 175). Fairclough
(2008) names any discourse practice (whether it is written or oral) a text. Texts, he argues,
intertwine ideal, interpersonal and textual meanings. In other words, CDA studies repre-
sentations and meanings of the world, identity construction of the participants and the rela-
tionship that is established between them, and lastly, the distribution of ‘old’ and ‘new’
information (p. 175 ).

Social practice
CDA sees language and society as connected entities. Therefore, “linguistic activity is so-
cial practice” (Machin & Mary, 2012, p. 35). In the dimension of social practice, “the rela-
tionship between the discursive practice and its order of discourse is to be explored”, as
well as the broader context constituted by the “non-discursive cultural and social relations
and structures” (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 86). In the works of the critical linguists, it
was elaborated on what language can be used for, building on the assumption that “lan-
guage shapes and maintains a society's ideas and values” and therefore can “serve to cre-
ate, maintain, and legitimise certain kinds of social practices” (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p.
18). Hodge and Kress (1988) thus argue that, because humans create and regulate their
society through language, some views of the world are made commonsensical; meaning
that “certain kinds of practices, ideas, values and identities are promoted and naturalised”
(in ibid., p. 2-3).

32
3.3.2 Method of Data Collection
As Schensul (2008) states, “the researcher is the most important instrument of data collec-
tion” (p. 520) in qualitative research. He goes on to explain the two ways through which
data collection can be done in face-to-face processes; either through observation, or with
the help of interviews. Depending on the focus and research objective, both ways can be
done more or less structured; for example an interview (with individuals or groups) may be
unstructured or semi-structured open-ended (ibid.).

Semi-structured interviews
For the research at hand, the semi-structured interview, “which ask[s] all individuals in a
selected sample the same open-ended interview questions” has been chosen because it
helps to “obtain patterns of similarity and variations that can characterise the study sample
of individuals” (Schensul, 2008, p. 520). This project is based on six face-to-face semi-
structured interviews with active volunteers of the Latin America Group of Oxfam IBIS in
Denmark. Contrary to quantitative methods, a semi-structured method provides the re-
searchers more flexibility and gives the participants the opportunity to bring to the conver-
sation other topics that might have not been part of the pre-established questions but can
make a significant input to the project (Bryman, 2012, p. 404).
Kvale and Brinkmann’s (2009) suggestion for a “systematic planning of an inter-
view study” guided the interview process (p. 99). They constitute seven stages in the pro-
cess of conducting interviews (ibid., p. 102). The first stage followed has been thematising
(ibid., p. 105). Here, the purpose of the investigation was clarified, as well as the subject of
study. In this stage, the researchers obtained knowledge about the organisation and its
work in Denmark. After investigating volunteers in NGOs in academic research and in the
specific case of Oxfam IBIS, the focus of the study was set. As mentioned before (see
chapter 2.1.3), volunteers obtain a diverse set of roles for the organisation. In this study, it
is especially interesting to look at the communication practices volunteers engage in when
talking to the public.
The next stages are Designing and interviewing (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009, p. 109)
where all seven stages of the investigation were considered and planned, including time
issues and accessibility to the organisation and its volunteers. In these stages, the interview
questions were planned in relation to the research question that had been developed previ-
ously. The interviews with the volunteers were carried out in a café in downtown Copen-
hagen. The participants agreed on being filmed and recorded and were given general in-
33
formation about the study. Because it might have influenced the answers significantly, the
interviewees were not given any information about The Narrative Project or World’s Best
News, until the very end of the interviews.
In order to filter the volunteers’ discourses, the interviewees were asked open ques-
tions in context of two bigger frames. In the beginning, the interviewees were asked to
elaborate on their work at Oxfam IBIS. This included for example the question on how
they would describe the guiding themes of the organisation. The volunteers were also en-
couraged to explain how the organisation interacts with the volunteers. To find out how the
discourse of the volunteers relates to the constructive narrative principles, additional ques-
tions were brought to the discussion about the events that the volunteers organise and the
processes behind them. In the second part of the interview, the questions investigated the
volunteers’ perception of development work in general. In addition, they were encouraged
to discuss World’s Best News and to express their opinions about the initiative. After in-
terviewing, the processes of Transcribing, Analysing and Verifying were carried out
(Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009). The research thus suffices the quality standards of reliability
and validity.

Interviewees
As mentioned before, this project used the statements and thoughts of active volunteers
that work with Oxfam IBIS in Copenhagen. The sample was formed by those who replied
to the invitation the researchers sent in the “Oxfam IBIS Latin America group – Active
Volunteers” on Facebook and in person during a volunteer meeting. Out of the fifteen
members, six answered to the call and were interviewed.
It is relevant to mention that the volunteers are not exclusively from Denmark. Two
participants are Danish citizens, one German, one Brazilian, one Costa Rican and one Ar-
gentinean. However, all the participants have been living in Denmark and have been in-
volved with Oxfam IBIS for at least two months prior this investigation. The ages range
from 25 years to 35 years, forming a group of participants with similar ages. There are
three participants that are studying their Master Degree at Roskilde University, one that
has recently graduated from Aalborg University, one journalist and one schoolteacher. This
creates a rather diverse group of interviewees, which ultimately benefits the discourse
analysis.

34
3.3 Analytical Strategy

The first level of analysis as proposed by Fairclough (1992, p. 73) is the analysis of text.
This includes linguistic aspects, especially the identification of the most emphasised
words. Based on these words the second level of analysis, the discursive analysis will be
conducted. Fairclough (1992) describes the discursive analysis as focus on what discourses
and genres appear in the production and consumption of a text (p. 73; Jørgensen & Phil-
lips, 2002, p. 69). This means a focus on what meanings are established by positioning
certain words in relation to one another (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 29). Lastly, the
third level of analysis, the analysis of social practices, relates back to the theoretical
framework (see chapter 2). The described theory of NGO, humanitarian and development
communication, Orientalism as well as constructive narrative, are social practices that
shape discourses.

4. Analysis

The fourth chapter contains the analysis as described in the analytical strategy. After a
general textual analysis of the volunteer´s interviews (see chapter 4.1), the second level
(see chapter 4.2) is going into depth with the findings, placing it in broader contextual dis-
courses, before the social practices (see chapter 4.3) links the previous findings to the theo-
retical framework. The last chapter summarises the analysis and presents main results (see
chapter 4.4).

4.1 Textual analysis

To begin with, the interviews will be understood as text and scanned for word connotations
and overlexicalisation (see chapter 4.1.1), suppression or lexical absence (see chapter
4.1.2) and structural oppositions (see chapter 4.1.3).

4.1.1 Overlexicalisation and word connotations

The discourses of the interviewees show a predominance and overlexicalisation of certain
words. In describing their understandings of Oxfam IBIS’ work, development work in
general and their role as volunteers, the interviewees used four word groups repeatedly.
These are help, good, problem and the pronouns they/them as well as the adverb there.
These words will be taken as umbrella terms for their respective synonyms.
35
Help
The interviewees adopt the word ‘help’ throughout their discourses. They link it directly to
the work of Oxfam IBIS, their work as volunteers and development work in the global
south. Interviewee 2 describes the work of Oxfam IBIS as “these projects to [...] help Lat-
in American countries” (Interview (4), l. 55-56). Another interviewee phrases helping as
her main task as a volunteer when saying that it “feels good to help people from where you
come from” (Interview 3, Interviewee 5, l. 82-85). Lastly, the volunteers use the word help
to define the role of development work: “...many organisation there, have actually pro-
gressed for women and for the whole society... err with help of development work, like
with help from other countries.” (Interview (1), Interviewee 1, l. 487-489)
The word help as exemplified above has different connotations. In the first quote, it
is used in the sense of rescue and saving. In the second quote, it refers to the connotation of
support. Finally, in the last quote, help’ refers to the ability to promote progress. Looking
at its specific connotations shows the ambiguous meanings of the word. While it carries the
notion of power relations - which will be analysed later in further detail (Section 4.2.1) - it
also relates to self-interest versus an honest ambition to improve the current state of being
in whatever way.

Good
Another lexical choice was that of the word good. In this analysis, it will be understood as
synonymous with the word nice. It is used as an adjective to qualify the work that Oxfam
IBIS does in general as well as to describe the results of development work. This translates
into either “good work [is] being done” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 236) or a conclu-
sive justification of results as in the statement by interviewee 4:

“[...] especially in the education sector, they have a very nice job there. I think they
have a good… good impact [...] in these countries. Cause I think when you live in a
country like this, when you see someone that can help you, you know a little bit, it's al-
ways good” (Interview (2), l. 326-329)

The word good carries the connotations of interest and satisfaction. However, it is also
often used without distinct meaning but as an empty word without intended semiotic sig-
nificance. This might be due to the fact that the interviewees did not communicate in their
native language.

36
Problem
Moreover, the word ‘problem’ is vastly used. It is often employed as synonym for issue
and inequality, which will be discussed in more detail later (see chapter 4.3). However,
when looking into the different applications of the words, it becomes apparent that even
though inequality is mostly used as synonym for the word problem, sometimes it is also
the consequence of a lot of different problems (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 672-674) or
creates new problems (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 375-376). It appears that the inter-
viewees want to make a point that “there is [sic!] still a lot of stressful problems that [...]
keep this inequality very much alive” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 672-674). Constantly
re-emphasising that there are issues that “in some parts of the world, [are] even worse than
ever” (ibid., l. 673-674) could point towards the wish to justify development work as such.
Regarding their connotation, the words describe something negative on a general scale.
The interviewees do not distinguish between specific problems, but talk about “problems
in Guatemala” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 60) or “the problems Latin Americans
have” (Interview (1), Interviewee 2, l. 128) mostly in plural and in order to describe a situ-
ation. Problems are thus not understood as something dynamic but rather an existing
(negative) circumstance. This will be relevant when discussing the principle of future-
orientation in the social practices analysis (see chapter 4.3).

They/them; there
Finally, the pronouns they/them and the adverb there were adopted to refer to people who
are participating in development projects or people who are the receivers of help. In the
following statement, Interviewee 4 refers to Oxfam IBIS’ work and the people the organi-
sation works with:

“[...] they are given a lot of err... opportunities like help teaching women to be err... to
specialise in some kind of job, to develop them... And I think it's very good, they can
help them to make some money in their own country and stay there and have their
kids... can pay for their education…” (Interview (2), l. 327-333)

On the other hand, there is used as a category to broadly refer to the countries that Oxfam
IBIS works with. It is used in contrast to here, which means Denmark: “I just wanted to
participate in something that interests me and also do my part to help as much as possible
to... Ja... visualise the problems that exist there that many people don't know about here”
(Interview (1), Interviewee 1, l. 143-145).

37
 The described words are used with a connotation of distance and sometimes, espe-
cially when used in contrast to the word here, to imply a separation. However, the words
do not carry a normative implication. Nevertheless it creates a distant other. This indicates
a theme that will become more obvious throughout the analysis (Section 4.2.1).

4.1.2 Suppression or lexical absence

Since this research investigates constructive narratives in NGO communication (see sec-
tion 2.3.3), there was a specific interest in words that reflect this new approach. The words
empowerment, cooperation and partnership were mentioned but not as often as the previ-
ous lexical choices. Even though empowerment is one of the main principles of the new
narrative, the word ‘empowerment’ only occurs once: “Empowerment… would just be my
suggestion. Like [...] especially vulnerable groups like minorities, err, maybe even indige-
nous people, so in this sense of rights” (Interview (1), Interviewee 1, l. 197-199) and the
phrase ‘empower people’: “Cause it´s also through awareness that you can empower peo-
ple to use their voices in society” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 597-598) were only used
once. Even though it has been mentioned by Interviewee 1 as one of the keywords to de-
scribe Oxfam IBIS´ work, its otherwise lexical absence in the text is outstanding. The same
applies for the frequency of the words partnership and cooperation, which was unexpected-
ly low.

4.1.3 Structural oppositions

The use of the word good can be seen as a structural opposition to the concept of bad, an
oppositional pair that was apparent in the discourse about development work and Oxfam
IBIS’ activities: “They have really good projects” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 116-
117). The application of the word good implies that there are no negative sides to the work
of Oxfam IBIS.

“(...) especially in the education sector, they have a very nice job there. I think they
have a good… good impact. Err… in this countries. Cause I think when you live in a
country like this, when you see err… someone that can help you, you know a little bit,
it's always good” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 326-329)

Opposing concepts were also found when the interviewees referred to countries that
Oxfam IBIS works with, classifying those countries as “undeveloped”, as an opposition to
“developed” Denmark, the country where Oxfam IBIS has its headquarters: “but I imagine

38
that once they arrive to the undeveloped countries, they face a lot of things... unexpected
things that they cannot solve” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 244-245).

4.2 Discursive practices

Based on the textual analysis, the discursive analysis goes beyond specific moments within
the text and looks at the broader context. This analysis revealed two coexisting discourses:
The first revolves around themes such as Eurocentrism, Orientalism, and biased power
structures (see chapter 4.2.1) while the second addresses themes of empowerment, partner-
ship and awareness (see chapter 4.2.2).

4.2.1 Eurocentrism, Orientalism and power discourses

Firstly, a salvation discourse can be detected when the volunteers refer to development
work as the only way to achieve change in countries that do not offer equal living condi-
tions. This is mainly found in statements of Interview (2) when the interviewee expresses
her motive to volunteer at Oxfam IBIS, as follows: ”It makes me feel better to... to help
someone who needs help” (Interviewee 4, l. 71-72). She later adds: “I can help a little bit
the other countries to be a little bit like Denmark” (ibid., l. 80). Here, the connotation of
the word help and the meaning behind it entails strong power relations between the person
that is said to need help and the one that can give help. One can argue that the former be-
comes dependent of the latter.
Similar to the salvation discourse, two more discourses can be identified based on
Interviewee 4’s latter quote. They reflect themes of Eurocentrism and Orientalism. By stat-
ing that she can help “the other countries” to “be more like Denmark”, she not only dis-
tances herself from the other - the one that needs help - but also involuntarily suggests that
Denmark is superior, thus implying that it is beneficial to become more like Denmark.
Traces of Eurocentrism can also be identified in Interviewee 1’s text, who, when referring
to development work, states “With partnerships ahem... just by organising, maybe
events...and even just the speaker of- who comes from Europe, so... I think this works very
well and I really believe in this impact” (Interview (1), l. 490-492).
In this quote, Interviewee 1 implies the importance of the speaker boosted by their
European origin. Later again, when talking about her experience with teaching English in
Colombia, the interviewee assumes that the students were motivated and inspired by for-
eigners. The Eurocentric discourse is here supported by another interviewee’s suggestion
that this was the first encounter the students had with people of different origin.
39
 “But I think the students found it really motivating that we were there, because we came
from all over the world to teach with their teacher, their English teachers. Ahem and I
think many of them were really inspired by that. Maybe they want to learn English now,
because some of them - I think we were the first foreigners they´ve ever met. I think
that was a big thing for them” (Interview (1), Interviewee 2, l.514-518)

Themes of Orientalism can further be detected among other interviewees who repeatedly
refer to problems and issues “there” in order to emphasise the importance of the matter in
comparison to good living situations “here”. This reveals the notion of a gap between the
interviewees and the countries Oxfam IBIS works with: “The problems that exist there that
many people don't know about here” (Interview (1), Interviewee 1, l. 144-145).
Because of orientalist notions, strong power relations become apparent. In the fol-
lowing extract, the volunteer explains how organisations that execute development projects
possess knowledge, which will eventually help the other countries to help themselves.
Hence, the latter is again portrayed as inferior and dependent on the former:

“Ja, I feel the same (...) but I imagine that once they arrive to the undeveloped countries,
they face a lot of things... unexpected things that they cannot solve. (...) the slow... err...
government of those countries makes it almost impossible to, to achieve those pro-
grammes, err, those projects. (...) but I think they also know those things and they work
in educating people so they can.... They can understand that. It ́s... I don't ́t know... they
also work in educating them so they can help themselves.” (Interview (3), Interviewee
5, l. 245-251)

In addition to what has been described so far - including the overlexicalisation of words
like help and undeveloped - interviewee 5 argues that the governments of the “undevel-
oped countries” are hindering the execution of a “really nice plan” created by humanitarian
organisations. Moreover, the word combination “educating them” suggests a power rela-
tion implying that humanitarian organisations possess the knowledge needed for countries
to be educated.

4.2.2 Empowerment, cooperation and awareness discourses

Although it is not a recurring word throughout the interviews, some of the participants di-
rectly and indirectly addressed the theme of empowerment. This ‘empowerment discourse’
can be noted, for instance, in Interview (1), when talked about how projects need to sustain
themselves independently: “I think, you can err ensure the sustainability of the project... so
once they close the project or err... the project is over, that it can continue err independent-
ly” (Interviewee 3, l. 534-544). Interviewee 6 calls for a critical assessment of westernised
40
models, believing that the countries should be seen as independent and able nations that
have their own regulations and systems that should not be overruled; hence, he is stressing
their empowerment.

“We need to see whether or not... I don't know, maybe some of these projects maybe are
trying to install some values or ideas that we believe in that might not be the most cor-
rect or the most... I don't know, like market-systems, types of governments we have,
that work for us and not for others, these kind of things that maybe we should think
twice” (Interview 3, l. 287-290)

The same is noted in an earlier statement when he ponders the question of whether some-
one can actually be in the position of developing others. He stresses the importance of em-
powering people so that they are perceived as independent and powerful, able enough to
decide when and how they want to change.

“(...) development in itself ponders to the question of “Do these people need to be de-
veloped?” Which, it’s important to realise that development shouldn’t mean err... they
should be more like us! That ́s my main problem sometimes with some kinds of devel-
opment projects. Is this idea that we need to go in there and figure them out because
they ́re... not good enough, or because they are under civilised, under developed or all
these ideas” (Interview (3), l. 229-235)

The use of empowerment in this case, though, can also be looked at in relation to the salva-
tion discourse. The volunteer implies that “you”, meaning someone working in Latin
America, will empower “them”, people who live Latin America. The subject of empower-
ment, mixed with the notion of salvation stands out also in Interview (3) when Interviewee
5 explains Oxfam IBIS’ work as follows: “I don't know what it is called, but they just help
people be more informed about the rights as workers... or in general citizens so they can...
so that IBIS doesn't have to be in there all the time helping helping, but... they can help
themselves” (l. 109-112).
Cooperation is also a theme that was discussed in the interviews. This can be seen,
for example, in Interview (1), when Interviewee 1 presents her opinion on development
work and its impact on local cultures:

”I very much believe in the cooperation with local organisations, like I think there you
can have a really big impact. So for example if whatever NGO or... or private sector or-
ganisation partners up with an organisation there to support their projects, because
they ́re the ones who are there... they know the culture, they know the people, they
know how society works... I believe that this is something that has a lot of potential” (l.
472-476)
41
Here, the interviewee acknowledges the social knowledge and self-government abilities of
the countries where development work takes place, thus allowing them a more powerful
position. In addition, again in Interview (1), Interviewee 3’s response to the same question:
“But the most important thing is also like you said that... has to be through local partner-
ships” (l, 534-538). The latter two quotes reflect themes of partnership. This is based on
the fact that empowerment, according to Interviewee 1 and 3 is accomplished by “coopera-
tion with local organisations” (l. 472) and “through local partnerships” (l. 534).
Another major theme throughout the text is the collective effort of “creating aware-
ness”. Interviewee 4 mentions the word awareness four times, in relation to what Oxfam
IBIS and its volunteers do (Interview (2), l. 58-61; 95-97; 104-106; 139-140). This is also
stated as a main purpose of the events the volunteers make (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l.
151-152). Creating awareness is further suggested by Interviewee 6 as a way to cope with
“sceptics of development [work]” (Interview (3), l. 354-356). It can be then concluded that
raising awareness represents a major discourse of the volunteers. This is also very apparent
in the extended answer of Interviewee 6 about the public’s perception of development
work.

”Because it´s very easy for anyone to go to... Ja, Rådhuspladsen and just talk to the
people there. And, everything is cool, everyone ́s progressive, everyone loves each oth-
er, we should all do development, we want to have equal rights, equal opportunities. But
let ́s go to Sydjylland or something, and figure out what those people are saying. And
then try to discuss it in... Reality with people who disagree with you. And then maybe
we can do something about it.” (Interview (3), l. 360-365)

Interviewee 6 talks about raising awareness as a mean to arrive at mutual understanding

between people with different worldviews. He describes a problem of identifying and
reaching less “progressive” audiences, which do not share the ideas of the necessity of de-
velopment work and the significance of equal rights and opportunities.

4.3 Social practices

The analysis of social practices links the results of the study to the theoretical framework.
It mainly draws from the data itself but also integrates results of the textual and the discur-
sive analysis. However, the guiding thread is built by the theories (see chapter 2) and here
especially the working definition of constructive narratives (see chapter 2.3.3). The third
analytical level is further divided into two major parts. While the first relates the volun-
teers´ discourses on development work to the constructive narrative and its four principles
42
(see chapter 4.3.1), the second part analyses how the volunteers reflect on their relationship
to Oxfam IBIS and their role as volunteers (see chapter 4.3.2).

4.3.1 Volunteers’ discourses on development work in relation to the con-

structive narrative
In the following the interviewees’ discourses will be related to the four principles of the
constructive narrative, namely future-orientation, critical approach, empowerment and nar-
rative.

Future-orientation
The interviewees talk about the progress of development work as “many organisations
there have actually progressed for women and for the whole society […] with help of de-
velopment work” (Interview (1), Interviewee 1, l. 488-489). Overall, however, the inter-
viewees do not communicate future-oriented. One interviewee states, “the problems are the
same” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 375) and other claims that NGOs sometimes face
“things that they cannot solve” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 246). The interviewees see
different things as progressive. One states that Oxfam IBIS is very progressive as it tackles
problems “on a more structural level” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 206) and is actively
engaged in addressing this in the media. One interviewee furthermore stresses local and
global partnerships as beneficial for progress (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 667-669).
Another theme linked to progress is that of education (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 211).
The Narrative Project also recommends including specific examples when communicating
about progress. This however is only done by one interviewee when talking about her in-
ternship and the specific project she was part of (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 532-544).
Nevertheless all interviewees acknowledge communicating in a future-oriented
way. This is supported by Interviewee 3 who emphasises the importance of “the sustaina-
bility of the project” (Interview (1), l. 534-544), focusing on reaching a long-term solution.
Furthermore, four interviewees discuss a recent event they were a part of at Oxfam IBIS.
During this event they showed a movie that “was really harsh” (Interview (1), Interviewee
2, l. 311) but was followed by a presentation of a concrete project that “gave a little bit of
hope” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 183-184). All four interviewees state that it was
good to combine the movie and the project because otherwise “everybody would have left
with a really sad feeling and a feeling of hopelessness” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l.
741). Instead, one interviewee states they tried to approach it like “here’s the problem, but

43
here, we can help a little” (Interview (2), l. 184-185). Furthermore because development
work is surrounded by a lot of negativity, interviewee 6 says it was especially important to
not “just critique all development as being bad” (Interview (3), l. 236-237). Still, progress
needs to be presented as a “general process” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 515). To sum
it up, the interviewees do not really follow the principle of future-orientation even though
they value it as something important.

Critical approach
What has been mentioned before, and what is a major aspect of a critical approach, is
complexity. In differing terms, the interviewees describe development work with all its
challenges and solutions as highly complex. One interviewee connects progress to dealing
with bigger themes like education, taxes and starting discussions “on a more social level”
(Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 210) and linking bigger systems like the political with the
judicial system to make sure changes go beyond the “civil society level” (Interview (1),
Interviewee 3, l. 564). In this context, she also poses the question of how to connect bot-
tom-up or top-down strategies (ibid., l. 566-567). One interviewee also hints towards the
possibility of broader topics as these can engage more people (Interview (2), Interviewee 4,
l. 202-204). Moreover, the importance of partnerships is stressed again as locals “know the
culture, […] know the people, […] know how society works” (Interview (1), Interviewee
1, l. 475-476) which builds a good basis to approach global issues.
This also increases the credibility of NGOs which one interviewee sees attacked by
some projects that “are trying to install some values or ideas that we believe in might not
be the most correct” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 287-288). This interviewee also im-
plicitly demands for NGOs to take on a broader approach and “go further than the group”
(Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 353). He associates this with the importance of finding out
where the problems come from in order to tackle them (ibid., l. 374). It is the only scien-
tific implication within the interviews. This aspect of the critical approach principle is not
really part of the volunteers’ discourse. Instead, two interviewees are rather sceptical to-
wards science as statistics can easily be manipulated to show only “a part of the truth” (In-
terview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 671). One interviewee also explicitly describes herself as
“very critical in general” (Interview (1), Interviewee 2, l. 726). She however concludes that
this opposes including positive examples into communication about development work.
This conclusion will be discussed later in this chapter. In summary, the interviewees put a

44
big emphasis on the complexity of development work but do not connect it to a general
critical approach to NGO communication about development work.

Empowerment
What the interviewees are stressing quite often is the notion of partnership within devel-
opment work. This is part of the principle empowerment, a word that is also being used
quite often. The interviewees describe local and global partnerships as “the most important
thing” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 534). In addition, the potential of NGO collabora-
tions is stressed (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 562-567). Furthermore, the interviewees
describe Oxfam IBIS’ work as fighting against inequality (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l.
154; Interview (1), Interviewee 2, l. 191) mainly through education and information (Inter-
view (2), Interviewee 4, l. 326; Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 154-156). With systematic
changes like improving education, the interviewees also associate empowerment and inde-
pendence. Education for example enables women to “make some money in their own
country and stay there and have their kids” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 332-333) or
more generally “help themselves” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 111-112).
Moreover, the interviewees talk about engagement as one of the main tasks of
NGOs, thus including it in their discourse. This is thematically divided into three ways of
engaging people with a strong focus on engagement in Denmark. Firstly, they understand
raising awareness as an act of engaging people. By providing information for example dur-
ing movie events, the volunteers increase awareness which again brings people to “engage
in the cause” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 106) or “talk to their network about these
things” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 358). This is connected to the second aspect of
engaging people, which is about knowing involved interests and audiences. One interview-
ee states that in order to engage people, you need to understand “their position” and “their
point of distress” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 371-378). The same applies to knowing
the needs and issues of people addressed by development work (Interview (3), Interviewee
5, l. 329-330). This also includes working with “hot topics” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4,
l. 205) that are also dominating the agenda here like migration (Interview (1), Interviewee
3, l. 259). The third aspect of engagement deals with emphasising the message of being
able to change conditions and “[dedicating] a little bit of our time and […] help some way”
(Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 385—386). All in all the interviewees put a strong empha-
sis on the principle of empowerment even though some aspects like engagement are under-
stood differently as suggested by the constructive narrative.

45
Narrative
As discussed before the narrative principle contains the aspects of shared values, (positive)
emotions and the focus on individual storytelling. The interviewees include the aspect of
shared values mainly when discussing equity and equal rights. This includes describing
one of Oxfam IBIS’ goals as fighting inequality (Interview (1), Interviewee 4, l. 154, 66;
Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 56, 94-95). In this context, most of the interviewees focus
on the fact that inequality stems from the conditions people were born into. They talk
about “living conditions” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 173), the “lack of opportunity to
young people” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 95) and that people do not “always have a
choice or the powers [sic!] to change their own situation” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l.
335). As mentioned in regards to engagement, shared values or rather shared issues are
tried to be made useful. This applies to migration but also to gender based discrimination
(Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 99). Nevertheless, while one interviewee explicitly wants
to “help a little bit the other countries to be a little bit like Denmark” (Interview (2), Inter-
viewee 4, l. 80) another stresses that development work “shouldn’t mean […] they should
be more like us” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 231).
The interviewees rarely include positive emotions into their discourse. Only one
states that Oxfam IBIS gives opportunities through its work (Interview (2), Interviewee 4,
l. 329-330). The others mainly discuss positive implications through development work
when being confronted with World’s Best News. The interviewees then react mainly hesi-
tant or openly opposed as this would not “show the real picture” (Interview (1), Interview-
ee 1, l. 689). Nevertheless all interviewees that are being confronted with this approach
find it useful as it can be inspirational (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 438), “create a new
interest” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 735-736) and “give people hope” (Interview (1),
Interviewee 3, l. 669). One interviewee see this kind of approach especially suitable for
people “who don't want to work with stuff like that, because it makes them depressed”
(Interview (1), Interviewee 2, l. 726-727). Overall, the interviewees state that since there is
a lot of “negativity going around” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 455) having a focus on
positive aspects can make news “more nuanced” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 794).

4.3.2 Volunteers’ discourses in light of their role as volunteers at Oxfam

IBIS
The interviewees are all volunteers at Oxfam IBIS since up to three months and are thus
not too long part of the organisation. However, they all know to whom to talk to and de-

46
scribe this person as “coordinator” who has the “responsibility to some” (Interview (1),
Interviewee 3, l. 278-279) of them. The coordinator herself is a student working for Oxfam
IBIS and “makes sure that the event […] was in line with IBIS’ policies and their work”
(Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 280). The interviewees furthermore describe the organisa-
tion’s influence on the volunteers as “supervision” (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 272)
and even though the decision-making process “can’t be so independent” (Interview (2),
Interviewee 2, l. 257) and the events need to be “related to an overall Oxfam campaign”
(Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 186-187) it is a “comfortable” (Interview (2), Interviewee
4, l. 271) relation. Communication mostly happens through Facebook and irregular volun-
teer events. Therefore, even though the direct relationship is quite clear, there seems to be
a divide between the volunteers and other departments within the organisation. The organi-
sation does not provide any other information about the organisation beyond what is given
during an introduction event that is in Danish (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 93). One
interviewee also describes how she feels that “maybe there is a link that needs to be estab-
lished” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 394) after a conversation with another department
of Oxfam IBIS.
The volunteers appear to be committed to the cause (Latin America) if not a specif-
ic project or the organisation. One interviewee states that even though she feels there is a
connection to Oxfam IBIS, “it’s not explicit” (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 383). This
can negatively influence the stability of the whole project (Lacey & Ilcan, 2006, p. 42).
The interviewees link their motivations to work as volunteers mostly to internal/individual
interest (Liao-Troth, 2008; Connors, 2011). They either want to “stay in touch” (Interview
1, Interviewee 3, l. 118) with the culture they come from or enjoy (Interview (3), Inter-
viewee 6, l. 56) and help put related topics on the public agenda (Interview (1), Interview-
ee 3, l. 120) or like volunteering because it is “gratifying” (Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l.
64). Although the volunteers state mainly internal reasons of motivation, they fit Merrill’s
(2006) characteristics of volunteerism. The interviewees are actively involved in the topic
(Latin America), acting according to their own will, not primarily focussed on gain and
interested in a common cause (Merrill, 2006).
The interviewees characterise Oxfam IBIS in their discourse and thus reflect the
organisation’s communication strategy. To begin with, one interviewee describes Oxfam
IBIS as “an international NGO” (Interview (3), Interviewee 6, l. 94) and describes it im-
plicitly as an operational and not a campaigning NGO in having continuous projects car-
ried out by professionals and volunteers (ibid., l. 95-97). In this collocation, he sees the

47
tasks clearly distributed: The professionals do the actual development work and the volun-
teers “spread the word and try to involve people locally” (ibid., l. 96-97). In addition, one
interviewee includes the financial struggles of NGOs regarding their communicative pos-
sibilities (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l. 409).
The interviewees furthermore describe tasks of Oxfam IBIS that can be related to
the identified strategic communication characteristics (see chapter 2.1.2). One interviewee
sees Oxfam IBIS as especially active in the media and “on a more structural level” (Inter-
view (1), Interviewee 3, l. 206) which could refer to lobbying activities. In two interviews,
there are also campaigns (Interview (1), Interviewee 3, l. 390) and collaborations (Inter-
view (2), Interviewee 4, l. 195) mentioned. As the analysis has shown, the volunteers also
emphasise the notion of partnerships. This might be related to Oxfam IBIS’ focus on stra-
tegic partnerships (Dijkzeul & Moke, 2005, p. 682). There is no reference to other theoret-
ically identified characteristics like demonstrations (ibid.). However, the interviewees talk
about the specific Oxfam IBIS focus on education and tax (Interview (2), Interviewee 4, l.
118; Interview (3), Interviewee 5, l. 107) which goes beyond the academic examination.
To sum it up, the academically identified strategic communication characteristics of
Oxfam are mostly reflected in the volunteers’ discourses.

4.4 Summary of analysis

The analysis shows that there are two main discourses coexisting in the volunteers´ way of
talking about communication on development work. While they do stress that development
work is supposed to empower people, there is the notion that countries like Denmark are
able to trigger and promote empowerment. This brings forth a second bigger discourse, a
salvation/Orientalist discourse, implying that there are countries in need of development
and that others are more powerful in a sense that they are more progressed. These two dis-
courses furthermore appear within the social practices analysis. This analysis shows that
the principles of the constructive narrative are acknowledged. However, the interviewees
struggle with some aspects, especially the inclusion of more positive emotions. Besides,
even though the volunteers identify the same characteristics of Oxfam IBIS’s communica-
tion strategy as academic research does and seem to be aware of responsibilities in Oxfam
IBIS’ volunteer management; the relationship with the organisation is not fully established
yet. Lastly, the volunteers’ motivations are mainly internally and related to the cause rather

48
to the organisation. The results and their major themes will now be discussed before a
more general background.

5. Discussion

Given that this research´s problem formulation aims to understand how the identified key
themes of the volunteers´ discourses reflect the strategic principles of the constructive nar-
rative, the following discusses the findings in light of this relation. To begin with, the two
identified discourses will be reviewed before the background of the concept of interdiscur-
sivity and the constructive narrative principles. Afterwards three major themes will be dis-
cussed in further detail, namely dependency, linguistic struggle and negativity. In addition,
the results of the analysis will be examined in context of post-humanitarian communication
as further recent approach to communication on development work. Finally, the role of
volunteers will be examined and related to strategic NGO communication.
One of the most important results, the discovery of two contradictory discourses, is
also an issue in each of the volunteer's own discourses. This coexistence of Empowerment
and Orientalist themes in the volunteers´ discourses challenges the constructive nature of
the new narrative. However, all principles of the constructive narrative are to some degree
reflected in the volunteers´ discourses. The volunteers acknowledge future-oriented com-
munication even though it is not followed consistently. Moreover, the volunteers compre-
hend and demand a complex and holistic understanding of development work which is
reflective of a critical approach. Nonetheless, they do not see this as a necessary part of
strategic NGO communication. In reliance to a constructive narrative, the volunteers em-
phasise the need to raise awareness as a way to facilitate empowerment. However, empow-
erment can have an orientalist nuance, as it is connected to the notion of dependency. In
addition, the volunteers struggle with but acknowledge the narrative principle of the new
approach to communicating about development work. However, contrary to the construc-
tive narrative, they also highlight dependency and incorporate a strong negative perspec-
tive in general and on processes in development work in particular. The coexistence of
discourses is furthermore a sign of what Vestergaard described as a crisis in development
work. This crisis origins from various discourses and disagreement on similar terms and
leads to a threat of de-legitimization. This high level of interdiscursivity indicates an ongo-
ing process of social change.

49
 Within the mentioned empowerment discourse, there are aspects that relate to bi-
ased power structures. As mentioned above empowerment can relate to dependency: Peo-
ple who “need” to be empowered are currently not independent but depend on the help
from outside. This is obvious in the frequent use of the word help and the common wish
“to develop them”. Since there is even a desire to make other countries “a little bit like
Denmark”, this is not reflective of the main goal of development and of the empowerment
principle that is committed to communicate that countries should be independent and
strong in their own way.
This notion of dependent empowerment is connected to a generalisation of develop-
ing countries. The practice of generalising is not in line with the narrative principle that
suggests telling individual stories. The interviewees all struggle with their current distance
to the people they want to work with. Even though most of the interviewees either come
from Latin America or have been working there as volunteers, most of them state their
discontent with being involved only in an indirect way with the countries Oxfam IBIS
works with. One could thus argue that a stronger emphasis on individual stories – that is
currently lacking completely from their discourses – could also benefit their relationship
towards volunteering.
The textual analysis unveils how the two contradicting discourses are caused by a
“development lingo” which features the frequent usage of words with strong moral conno-
tations that have been universally accepted. What is more, this development lingo lets the
volunteers talk in a way that they frequently attribute “problems” as occurring “there”. It
was also analysed that while the volunteers tend to equate “problems” with “inequality”,
they also see it as the source of all the issues. This again shows a lack of vocabulary be-
cause the volunteers rely on few specific accepted development words in order to describe
complex circumstances. All this relates to the issue of a linguistic struggle. In stressing and
repeating approaches to development work that rely on collaborations and reflexivity, they
implicitly show where their beliefs are mainly rooted. This reaffirms the need for concrete
linguistic guidelines and an abandonment of heavily connotated but vague expressions
such as development, inequality or help. In alignment with the underlying philosophy of
science, language constructs how we perceive the world and thus it is essential to revise
the development lingo. However, even though the adopted terminology plays a big part in
how the discourses solidify, there also seems to be another underlying issue influencing the
volunteers’ discourses.

50
 This is that the interviewees’ discourse on development work is characterised by a
rather negative undertone. When looking into their discourses it becomes apparent that for
them, working with reality means working with negatively biased pictures. This is reflect-
ed, as mentioned previously in the analysis, by the constant usage of words with negative
connotations such as problem and issue. This neglects the notion of a solution-oriented
communication approach. Even though the volunteers acknowledge the approach of focus-
sing on positive aspects, they are in practice incorporating negative emotions by choosing
“harsh” movies. They seem to expect stronger effects by showing suffering, for instance.
Their belief in the effectiveness of negative emotions and the application of moral
justification of their work, and development work in general, contradict post-humanitarian
communication approaches, which emphasise reflexivity and a rejection of emotional-
driven communication approaches like shock effect and positive image appeals. At the
same time, the volunteers focus on raising awareness as a main goal. This aligns with the
guiding principle within post-humanitarianism of providing facts and therefore highlight-
ing individual judgement. Just like the post-humanitarian approach, the constructive narra-
tive is more than a strategic communication approach. It is also a discourse as it aims to
change perspectives on development work as such. Opposed to approaches like the Narra-
tive Project, it is thus not merely a linguistic shift but addresses underlying perspectives
such as negativity. It is a representation of discourses and a discourse itself. This Foucauld-
ian perception is underpinned by the findings like interdiscursivity. The volunteers’ dis-
courses are similar in this and share notions that characterise the constructive narrative.
Therefore, the constructive narrative is both consequence and source of change.
Coming from this macro-perspective of looking at broader movements within
communication for development work such as post-humanitarian communication or the
constructive narrative, discussing the volunteers’ way of communicating is essential. The
development sector relies stronger than any other sector on voluntary labour and consists
to a big part of volunteers, not organisations. This makes volunteers as well as organisa-
tions direct recipients and communicators of proposed shifts of communication. As de-
scribed in the theoretical framework strategic communication aims at specific objectives
and can be understood as dynamic process (see chapter 2.1.2). However, the volunteers’
discourses are very diverse in their ways of communicating which an organisation needs to
be aware of as it might influence credibility. At Oxfam IBIS the volunteer management
seems to be clearly structured on the lowest level, it is however not connected well within
the rest of the organisation. Albeit, the relationship cannot be analysed holistically due to

51
the recent merger of Oxfam and IBIS and the fact that the volunteers have only been part
of the organisation briefly. Furthermore, the volunteers seem to have a rather strong focus
on internal/individual motivations, which could also be due to their brief relationship with
the organisation. Again, Oxfam IBIS needs to be aware of this and try to strengthen the
bond in order to enhance reliability and motivation.

6. Conclusion

The purpose of this research was to identify the discourses of Oxfam IBIS’ volunteers, as
well as to understand how these reflect principles of the constructive narrative. In order to
do so, a working definition of constructive narrative was created based on important con-
cepts that address the current shift in communication on development work. This included
theories on strategic NGO communication, post-humanitarian communication, constructive
journalism and initiatives reflecting the underlying movement such as the approach pro-
vided by The Narrative Project. The proposed concept of a constructive narrative aims at
combining a thorough change in perspective with a linguistic turn. A critical discourse
analysis of six semi-structured interviews with volunteers of Oxfam IBIS revealed the fol-
lowing findings.
There exist contradicting discourses amongst and within the volunteers. One of
these two major discourse fields consists of themes assigned to empowerment and the oth-
er is dominated by Orientalist features. Relating the identified discourses to the construc-
tive narrative showed that the volunteers mostly acknowledge the principles of the con-
structive narrative but at the same time contend with their implementation. Moreover, there
seems to be a struggle amongst the volunteers to find words and expressions that are dif-
ferent from the dominant vocabulary that has been used in past decades in communication
on development work. Since the volunteers communicate directly to Oxfam IBIS’ stake-
holders, there is a need to not only broaden the vocabulary on development work, but also
to revise the current social practises. The findings further emphasise the need of a clear and
feasible communication strategy on development work. In this way, clarifying the diverse
discourses could solve the current crisis of development work. To sum it all up, the volun-
teers appear to be in transition towards a discourse that includes notions resembling the
constructive narrative.
As this study takes on a pressing issue for communication on development work as
such, but focusses on a very specific case, there are various options for further research.
52
Firstly, on a theoretical level, expanding the perspective beyond volunteers onto the organ-
isation can hold interesting findings regarding the solidification and implementation of
such a discourse. Including the organisational perspective furthermore holds the potential
of an internal communication angle of the theoretical field of organisational change. In this
case, such an investigation would be especially interesting as the recent merger of Oxfam
and IBIS bears analytical challenges regarding stringent conclusions but also gives the
opportunity to analyse real time organisational change in light of communication practices.
Looking into the constructive narrative, it would be desirable to develop a specific linguis-
tic toolbox based on academic research, as the feasibility of the approach is one of its big-
gest advantages. This however demands more extensive research, including inquiry of var-
ious NGOs from different fields of development work. In this context, it would also be
interesting to conduct a reception analysis. In addition to further research on constructive
narrative and organisational change, studying the role of volunteers in more detail could
tackle the existing academic void. Lastly, approaching the shift in communication on de-
velopment work with different sets of methods such as ethnography and observations can
produce interesting findings. Instead of conducting interviews, observations can in this
context provide additional data.

53
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Appendix

59
 Interview (1)

1 Transcription of Interview (1)

2 o conducted in person on the 11th of November 2016
3 o from 5pm to 5.45pm
4 o at Café Retro, Jægersborggade 14 in Copenhagen
5

6 Researcher It is really more a conversation. I mean, there is nothing specific that we are
7 looking for, but actually just want to know your opinions, your beliefs, what you understand of
8 all these things. So… you know, just a discussion.
9 00:00:00.000 - 00:00:14.100
10

11 Interviewee 1 Okay.
12 00:00:13.710 - 00:00:14.400
13

14 Researcher And then if you don´t agree... or you can disagree... of course, you can say
15 it, because that is what we want to know. Or if something is new for you, you can also just say
16 it, you know...
17 00:00:14.940 - 00:00:27.020
18

19 Interviewee 1 Okay.
20 00:00:28.110 - 00:00:28.920
21

22 Interviewee 3 What is it again that you are writing about?

23 00:00:29.180 - 00:00:31.010
24

25 Researcher Err, it´s about volunteering and communications. And, err, it´s first your
26 perceptions about working as a volunteer in Oxfam IBIS, or in general... and about development
27 work, so it´s more... ja...
28 00:00:31.600 - 00:00:46.000
29

30 Researcher Should we start?

31 00:00:49.000 - 00:00:49.810
32

33 Interviewee 2 Yes!
34 00:00:49.950 - 00:00:50.330
 Interview (1)

35

36 Interviewee 1 Yes!
37 00:00:50.580 - 00:00:51.050
38

39 Researcher Ahem, firstly maybe your names... and how old are you? We can start with
40 you!
41 00:00:51.290 - 00:00:56.900
42

43 Interviewee 3 My name is Thea, and I´m twenty-six.

44 00:00:57.200 - 00:00:59.610
45

46 Researcher Twenty-Six. Ja?

47 00:00:59.600 - 00:01:00.700
48

49 Interviewee 2 My name is Josephine and I´m twenty-six years.

50 00:01:00.700 - 00:01:04.010
51

52 Interviewee 1 My name is Julia and I am twenty-six.

53 00:01:04.790 - 00:01:07.210
54

55 Undefined speaker (laughter)

56 00:01:07.410 - 00:01:08.810
57

58 Researcher Easy to remember.

59 00:01:08.800 - 00:01:09.810
60

61 Researcher That´s nice, I will be twenty-six in December so we will be on the same team.
62 00:01:09.890 - 00:01:14.200
63

64 Undefined speaker (laughter)

65 00:01:12.110 - 00:01:15.310
 Interview (1)

66

67 Interviewee 3 It´s not so bad.

68 00:01:15.310 - 00:01:16.410
69

70 Undefined speaker (incomprehensible)

71 00:01:16.680 - 00:01:18.010
72

73 Researcher And err, ahem maybe we can start with (gestures at Interviewee 3) ... cause
74 these ones are very specific for each, so maybe we can start with you. How long have you been
75 involved in Oxfam IBIS?
76 00:01:18.400 - 00:01:28.220
77

78 Interviewee 3 I´ve only been involved since err August... this year so it´s quite new.
79 00:01:28.710 - 00:01:35.500
80

81 Researcher Okay. And ahem what are your tasks as a volunteer in Oxfam?
82 00:01:35.700 - 00:01:40.710
83

84 Researcher What do you do, yeah...

85 00:01:42.210 - 00:01:43.990
86

87 Interviewee 3 Well, I... I volunteer for the Oxfam IBIS Latino Group, and we are organising
88 film and debate nights... err... and yeah my tasks are to make sure that we meet once in a while,
89 that we coordinate our tasks and discuss exciting events and what we would like to do.
90 00:01:42.600 - 00:02:06.000
91

92 Researcher And are you from Denmark?

93 00:02:07.200 - 00:02:10.000
94

95 Researcher You´re from Denmark?

96 00:02:10.300 - 00:02:11.390
97

98 Interviewee 3 (nodding)
 Interview (1)

99 00:02:11.330 - 00:02:11.600
100

101 Researcher Yes.

102 00:02:11.500 - 00:02:12.100
103

104 Interviewee 3 Yes.

105 00:02:13.000 - 00:02:13.500
106

107 Researcher And why did you join Oxfam?

108 00:02:13.710 - 00:02:15.800
109

110 Interviewee 3 Hmmmm...

111 00:02:16.210 - 00:02:17.190
112

113 Researcher Oxfam IBIS.

114 00:02:17.195 - 00:02:18.295
115

116 Interviewee 3 I joined Oxfam because I think that err, it´s a very nice endure and they
117 have really good projects that I would like to support. And then I thought that this would be a
118 good opportunity to err stay in touch in Latin America and make sure that it remains somehow
119 part of the public agenda or... that people are aware of some of the issues that the countries there
120 are dealing with...
121 00:02:18.800 - 00:02:51.410
122

123 Researcher Yeah. What about you?

124 00:02:51.410 - 00:02:53.900
125

126 Interviewee 2 Very much the same. Because we became members of this group at the same
127 time, so it´s the same tasks. And also I´ve been to Latin-America a couple of times and I´m very
128 much into the culture and music. But also I find the problems Latin-Americans have very
129 important to put on a agenda. Ahem, therefor I try ... from here.
130 00:02:53.900 - 00:03:26.510
131

132 Researcher Yeah.

 Interview (1)

133 00:03:26.570 - 00:03:27.170

134

135 Researcher Ja? (Gesturing towards Interviewee 1)

136 00:03:27.980 - 00:03:28.860
137

138 Interviewee 1 Ahem, what was it again? Like ahem... ah, first of all, like how long? Well,
139 you know. It´s just a few days. Just a few days and well, now I hope we´ll be err organising the
140 next event with documentary or movie or... so I´m also part of this. And err... why I joined...
141 Err because, I err, I think like the same... like the two of them. I have personal interest in the
142 region, I´ve lived in Mexico and Columbia. I studied Development... so I just err I´ve heard
143 about this group many times, also when I studied my masters, and I just wanted to participate
144 in something that interests me and also do my part to help as much as possible to... Ja... visualise
145 the problems that exist there that many people don´t know about here... so...so I think it´s like
146 the same like them, just that I´ve just joined a short time ago... Ja.
147 00:03:29.015 - 00:04:50.510
148

149 Researcher Ahem, one of the first questions is: how would you explain of Oxfam IBIS
150 to me, for example, if I didn´t know anything about Oxfam IBIS? How would you explain what
151 they do ... in Latin America, or Africa for example?
152 00:04:53.180 - 00:05:08.800
153

154 Interviewee 3 Err... that it err... that it´s an NGO that works to promote equal rights among
155 err ... people around the world. Through education programmes and err... how do you say it?
156 Information? Something like that.
157 00:05:10.610 - 00:05:39.990
158

159 Researcher Yes.

160 00:05:39.720 - 00:05:40.180
161

162 Interviewee 2 (Nodding) Pretty much.

163 00:05:43.990 - 00:05:45.390
164

165 Researcher Yeah? Yes. It´s kind of tough when you not that... Ja when you... Ja.
166 00:05:46.610 - 00:05:51.810
167
 Interview (1)

168 Researcher And err, for example, can you think of sentences or specific words that you
169 use when you explain what Oxfam is doing in Latin America or in Africa? Something that you
170 stress... the work that they do?
171 00:05:54.590 - 00:06:13.700
172

173 Researcher Should we make like a cloud, a word cloud? I have paper and pencils.
174 00:06:17.010 - 00:06:22.400
175

176 Interviewee 1 Ja.

177 00:06:21.820 - 00:06:22.290
178

179 Researcher Just like... just imagine that you talk with a friend and now you just explain
180 to them like... "I joined this organisation and they do this and that. They work with..." How
181 would you explain for a friend, for example?
182 00:06:25.200 - 00:06:40.710
183

184 Interviewee 1 Ahem, should we just... you write it down? Or we write it down?
185 00:06:44.110 - 00:06:48.590
186

187 Researcher If you want you can write it down. Or we can write it down... You can just
188 explain it and we will keep some words.
189 00:06:48.605 - 00:06:55.380
190

191 Interviewee 2 They fight inequality. That´s what I usually say.

192 00:06:55.790 - 00:07:00.620
193

194 Researcher Okay. Yes. And you? (Looking at the others)

195 00:07:00.700 - 00:07:03.490
196

197 Interviewee 1 Empowerment... would just be my suggestion. Like um for err especially
198 vulnerable groups like minorities err, maybe even indigenous people, so in this sense of rights
199 maybe.
200 00:07:04.510 - 00:07:25.500
201
 Interview (1)

202 Researcher Yes. Ja. And then what kind of what projects do you know that they are
203 working with?
204 00:07:25.550 - 00:07:35.000
205

206 Interviewee 3 I think maybe on a more structural level in regards to what you just said
207 about inequality there working with err... how to say this in a good way? Taxes. And the big
208 companies who are not paying taxes... you know what I mean, right? And trying... I think they
209 are very progressive in that way, because they are good to address it in the media and... start a
210 debate about that, maybe on a more social level or among people... it´s through... well that´s at
211 least what´s sticks to my mind, education programmes and yeah.
212 00:07:35.090 - 00:08:23.600
213

214 Researcher Yeah, yes.

215 00:07:54.510 - 00:07:55.710
216

217 Researcher And the taxes? Is- that´s in Denmark, or is it also worldwide, do you know
218 that?
219 00:08:25.010 - 00:08:29.820
220

221 Interviewee 3 Err, it´s like global inequality um how multinational companies are the
222 reason behind much of this inequality, I think.
223 00:08:30.010 - 00:08:41.015
224

225 Researcher Ja.

226 00:08:36.397 - 00:08:37.137
227

228 Researcher Yes.

229 00:08:41.010 - 00:08:41.590
230

231 Interviewee 2 (nodding)

232 00:08:41.010 - 00:08:41.590
233

234 Researcher I didn´t know that.

235 00:08:44.400 - 00:08:45.680
 Interview (1)

236

237 Researcher Maybe you can join. (To other researcher)

238 00:08:45.890 - 00:08:47.590
239

240 Researcher And when you are doing events for Oxfam IBIS, the Latin American group,
241 err what kind of themes or aspects you work when doing those events. Yeah, and what are your
242 intentions on choosing that specific theme?
243 00:08:51.490 - 00:09:13.400
244

245 Interviewee 2 The last event was about social problems in Guatemala err because we found
246 it relevant to the case.
247 00:09:14.300 - 00:09:29.200
248

249 Interviewee 3 And also ri-

250 00:09:30.480 - 00:09:32.050
251

252 Researcher So you chose the event.

253 00:09:32.220 - 00:09:33.870
254

255 Interviewee 3 Yes. We err... like last time when we met and we talked about our interests
256 and often there is a link to something that is already going on, a project that´s inspires us to
257 continue working in line with this theme. But last time when we heard about the Guatemala and
258 the Operation Dagsverke project, I think it was also... I don´t know if you can say it, inspired
259 by the whole immigration issue that is so... err... dominating the... now. And it´s a huge issue
260 in the whole world and we also wanted to shed light on these issues in Latin America because
261 it´s.. There´s a lot of err immigration there. So we... so the night was about, like shedding light
262 on some of the reasons that they immigrate.
263 00:09:33.890 - 00:10:34.105
264

265 Researcher Do you need to- do you need a confirmation from someone when you decide
266 what an event will be? Do you talk to some coordinator or just - it´s all up to you?
267 00:10:36.790 - 00:10:45.885
268

269 Interviewee 2 It´s pretty much up to us ... to decide. Ja.

270 00:10:46.590 - 00:10:51.525
 Interview (1)

271

272 Researcher And normally you have a meeting before and then you talk together and then
273 you come with a ... some possibilities and decide what to work.
274 00:10:52.210 - 00:11:02.280
275

276 Interviewee 3 Yes. Or last time the group ... last time we had Burdu, which was a girl who
277 works as a student for Oxfam IBIS and, because this was a new started group, at least with us,
278 participating... then she was the coordinator for the first event and now she has a, like the only
279 responsibility to some of us who were there from the beginning. And ahem, and I think she
280 makes sure that the event we wanted to organise was in line with IBIS´ policies and their work.
281 Ja. Like this time when we wanted to do it about the campaign, we were also contacting one of
282 the, I don´t know... programme officers or one of the responsible err people that are working
283 with the campaign and err... just so that she can confirm that´s okay.
284 00:11:03.290 - 00:12:03.435
285

286 Researcher And ahem when you do the events, for example the movie screening, what
287 do you expect that people take with them? People who are not part of Oxfam and are just
288 looking at the events. What do you think they take with them? Or how do you expect them to
289 react or to... yeah?
290 00:12:03.700 - 00:12:21.505
291

292 Interviewee 1 I think it depends on the person. Ahem, of course as a volunteer or someone
293 who wants to... wants people to listen to something, you always expect that they are interested
294 in it and that maybe they become aware of something they didn´t know. Maybe, that when they
295 go back home they open their laptop and research the topic and maybe do something
296 themselves. But I think it always depends on the background that people have. Ahem, maybe
297 like, as it would touch us more to see something like the movie that we- that they had last time...
298 err and someone who is not really into that, maybe doesn´t really care about. I think you always
299 hope to, kind of, make people aware of things that they don´t know about. At least for me I
300 think that would...
301 00:12:21.800 - 00:13:19.605
302

303 Interviewee 2 But I think that no matter what... if you have seen a movie about Guatemala
304 and these issues you will... in five years, if you hear something, it will refer to it in some way
305 and for that reason it has an impact no matter what.
306 00:13:19.690 - 00:13:36.810
307

308 Researcher And how was the movie? I didn´t see it - I couldn´t make it.
 Interview (1)

309 00:13:36.990 - 00:13:40.520

310

311 Interviewee 2 It was really harsh.

312 00:13:40.710 - 00:13:41.910
313

314 Interviewee 1 Ja!

315 00:13:41.945 - 00:13:42.375
316

317 Interviewee 2 And I think some people found it a little too harsh. I think it was very
318 important and I am glad I watched it
319 00:13:42.405 - 00:13:52.195
320

321 Interviewee 1 Mhmm I agree.

322 00:13:52.210 - 00:13:53.400
323

324 Interviewee 2 I had to know about these issues.

325 00:13:53.410 - 00:13:55.030
326

327 Interviewee 1 I agree.

328 00:13:56.415 - 00:13:57.305
329

330 Interviewee 3 It was really interesting I think. We had the directors who come to talk about
331 afterwards... that ahem, because the movie the movie was called "prisoners of circumstance",
332 and I think it was interesting when he explained it because it made so much sense that- it was
333 like four short movies, err it´s a documentary first of all but four short movies about people
334 who are in prison of their circumstances. And I think that was a really important point to make,
335 that people doesn´t always have a choice or the powers to change their own situation. And...
336 they just live under circumstances that forces them to do things that are not fair. Ja... and some
337 people are poor because they´re like... Ja.
338 00:13:57.325 - 00:14:51.010
339

340 Researcher Do you have any kind of meeting after the event?
341 00:14:52.690 - 00:14:55.705
342
 Interview (1)

343 Interviewee 3 No last time was the first... well, the first time we met.
344 00:14:56.312 - 00:15:01.797
345

346

347 Researcher And ahem...

348 00:15:05.680 - 00:15:06.770
349

350 Interviewee 3 Or can I say something...

351 00:15:06.780 - 00:15:08.190
352

353 Researcher Yes!

354 00:15:08.240 - 00:15:08.580
355

356 Interviewee 3 Just to the hope for what people would say to it... well after the event. Is also
357 just a reflection about... Ja... Latin America and how some people live. That they reflect on in
358 and that they talk to their network about these things.
359 00:15:08.595 - 00:15:27.310
360

361 Researcher And ahem... how does the organisation interact with you? Do you - I think
362 you have talked about it a bit - do you also get, do you have like e-mails that you receive every
363 once in a while... newsletter or just ... is it just a Facebook-group?
364 00:15:31.500 - 00:15:57.410
365

366 Interviewee 2 We have a Facebook group ... and they encourage us to be members but I´m
367 not a member yet... but... that´s something...
368 00:15:57.510 - 00:16:07.710
369

370 Undefined speaker (laughing) You will be excluded.

371 00:16:07.720 - 00:16:15.290
372

373 Interviewee 2 ... I will be excluded... so err later today (laughing) I will become a member
374 of Oxfam IBIS first ... but I think that´s the reason why I don´t get an newsletter right now...
375 00:16:15.700 - 00:16:29.780
 Interview (1)

376

377 Researcher Okay.

378 00:16:30.540 - 00:16:31.110
379

380 Interviewee 3 You can always subscribe to the newsletter or something but we´re not- I
381 mean everybody can do that. I don´t think there´s any difference between being active as a
382 volunteer or not. I don´t feel... yes, I feel a connection now, a stronger connection between IBIS,
383 but it´s not ... err ... explicit.
384 00:16:31.290 - 00:16:50.785
385

386 Researcher Ja.

387 00:16:50.820 - 00:16:51.560
388

389 Interviewee 3 But also because I wrote Misha, the... who is responsible for coordinating
390 the campaign that we wanted to incorporate in our... err movie night next time. She said, "Ahh,
391 I am very happy that you are writing and... we are planning these events now and we have these
392 dates into our... or plan- there is a programme and we need volunteers to join and it would be
393 great if you could contribute or lalalala...” But I think if I hadn´t wrote, she wouldn´t have
394 contacted us... so maybe there is a link that needs to be established. I don´t know if we are a
395 new group, or if it´s just divided.
396 00:16:51.895 - 00:17:35.920
397

398 Researcher Ja.

399 00:17:36.230 - 00:17:36.720
400

401 Interviewee 3 Because even if Burdu who is the coordinator before- who works there as a
402 student... and she hadn´t told us through Facebook that IBIS would have this sixty days of
403 activism event, we wouldn´t have realised it and we would just done our own... thing.
404 00:17:37.610 - 00:17:53.875
405

406 Interviewee 2 Ja, that´s true.

407 00:17:52.430 - 00:17:53.660
408

409 Interviewee 3 Which was great at the same time, but it would... Ja...
410 00:17:54.810 - 00:17:57.485
 Interview (1)

411

412 Researcher Ja. Something to work on...

413 00:17:57.710 - 00:18:00.980
414

415 Interviewee 3 Ja.

416 00:18:00.490 - 00:18:00.980
417

418 Researcher So you have err, right now what person doing these in-between-
419 communications? Between you guys... volunteers... and the organisation itself?
420 00:18:01.700 - 00:18:11.610
421

422 Researcher So if you want to ask something, you would ask to Burdu, which is the
423 volunteer coordinator let´s say... and then she can ask to the... the big guy
424 00:18:16.000 - 00:18:26.990
425

426 Interviewee 2 Yes.

427 00:18:26.110 - 00:18:26.800
428

429 Undefined speaker (laughter)

430 00:18:26.980 - 00:18:27.690
431

432 Researcher To Misha, or Ja ... Ja...

433 00:18:27.700 - 00:18:29.060
434

435 Researcher Err now... not talking about Oxfam IBIS but development work in general...
436 different organisations maybe... err how do you think this development work impacts in
437 countries that they work with? That´s a big question...
438 00:18:35.310 - 00:18:54.765
439

440 Interviewee 1 So how we make an impact for Latin America, for example?
441 00:18:55.720 - 00:19:00.930
442

443 Researcher Yes.

 Interview (1)

444 00:19:01.110 - 00:19:01.860

445

446 Interviewee 3 We or Oxfam IBIS?

447 00:19:02.520 - 00:19:04.295
448

449 Researcher In general development work.

450 00:19:04.372 - 00:19:06.982
451

452 Interviewee 2 I think, I think it depends very much on the organisation you are working
453 with... ahem were they working in that country or from home? In Oxfam IBIS it´s a mix and I
454 think that´s very efficient. But I´m not sure if it works very well if you just... having meetings.
455 If we didn´t, for example if the Latin American group was only the events we do. I don´t think
456 we would... do very much. Or help much in the Latin American countries. But this mix, I think,
457 is very good.
458 00:19:07.212 - 00:19:50.692
459

460 Researcher And err... the people in Latin America for example... what, what do they
461 benefit, or... with development work?
462 00:19:53.810 - 00:20:02.990
463

464 Interviewee 1 Development, or like volunteering?

465 00:20:04.980 - 00:20:07.200
466

467 Researcher Ahem, mostly development. Ja, the development work, like what do you
468 guys think that people there are gaining by the whole development work?
469 00:20:07.630 - 00:20:22.890
470

471 Interviewee 1 Ahem... well, I kind of- I agree with her on what she said. And I think... this
472 is a really difficult question actually. Err... I very much believe in the coorporation with local
473 organisations, like I think there you can have a really big impact. So for example if whatever
474 NGO or... or private sector organisation partners up with an organisation there to support their
475 projects, because they´re the ones who are there... they know the culture, they know the people,
476 they know how society works... I believe that this is something that has a lot of potential. And
477 I´ve seen it myself... err during an internship that I did. I mean sometimes you only get funds
478 maybe, but sometimes you also support other projects. But whatever it is, I think this can have
479 a great impact. Then I cannot really say about- like... bigger organisations ahem because I don´t
480 really have experience with that.
 Interview (1)

481 00:20:24.710 - 00:21:37.910

482

483 Researcher Did you use to err work in Latin America?

484 00:21:38.300 - 00:21:40.590
485

486 Interviewee 1 Err... I worked in ahem an NGO in Columbia. And they work for... err it´s
487 a feminist organisation and they work for women´s rights. And ahem, it´s really like impressive
488 what, like not only them but so many organisation there, have actually progressed for women
489 and for the whole society... err with help of development work, like with help from other
490 countries. With partnerships ahem... just by organising, maybe events...and even just the
491 speaker of- who comes from Europe, so... I think this works very well and I really believe in
492 this impact. That´s at least like what I can, like from personal experience is exaggerated because
493 I was just an intern, but that was my feeling... Ja.
494 00:21:40.795 - 00:22:33.790
495

496 Researcher That was more with the question, like maybe more err... now that read it,
497 maybe it´s too broad, like "development work". But if you can just say your experience... yeah...
498 00:22:33.900 - 00:22:45.000
499

500 Interviewee 1 That would- Ja, maybe something I ... Ja...

501 00:22:43.600 - 00:22:47.350
502

503 Researcher And how they benefit or not. Ja. What about you guys? Have you been in
504 Latin America working with- Ja? And the same question: what do you think are the impacts on
505 the people in err... that you were working with? With the work that the organisation did? Or
506 that you did?
507 00:22:46.500 - 00:23:07.000
508

509 Interviewee 2 I just ahem... I´ve just been to Columbia as well. I was teaching at a public..
510 err high-school. And the project was a collaboration between the government and two local
511 organisations. And I think the project was very nice err... and I think it could help, but I don´t
512 think it actually helped that much with... students to learn English, because we only had English
513 once a week with each class, and that´s not enough... so...there are these structural thing that
514 should be changed, if it should have a great impact. But I think the students found it really
515 motivating that we were there, because we came from all over the world to teach with their
516 teacher, their English teachers. Ahem and I think many of them were really inspired by that.
517 Maybe they want to learn English now, because some of them - I think we were the first
518 foreigners they´ve ever met. I think that was a big thing for them.
 Interview (1)

519 00:23:07.320 - 00:24:22.400

520

521 Researcher And what countries were that, that you came from? To Teach?
522 00:24:23.090 - 00:24:27.760
523

524 Interviewee 2 In my group, we were from Denmark, England, Ireland, Portugal... we were
525 s- everywhere. I think we were from forty-six different countries, or something like that. So I
526 worked with an American girl...
527 00:24:28.210 - 00:24:45.710
528

529 Researcher Ja. Okay. And you?

530 00:24:45.950 - 00:24:50.180
531

532 Interviewee 3 I think I´ve been involved in two kinds of development work. I did an
533 internship in Bolivia at the Danish Embassy, which was err... had a lot of development projects
534 that I could see really that the population benefitted from. But the most important thing is also
535 like you said that... has to be through local partnerships and that has to be formulated by the
536 needs... needs to be formulated by the beneficiaries. That we are working with... because that´s
537 also the only way, I think, you can err insure the sustainability of the project... so once they
538 close the project or err... the project is over, that it can continue err independently. And err... I
539 think that´s also the prime that... that the coherence in development projects, because in Bolivia
540 for example, there´s a huge amount of NGOs. International NGOs and local NGOs, and
541 sometimes they have like... okay everybody is working for women´s rights or violence against
542 women, but instead of like making a coherent cooperation, or organise between them, they are
543 like in competition with each other sometimes. And that´s where it´s... it actually... it´s a shame
544 for the locals by receiving the aids or the help.
545 00:24:50.420 - 00:26:28.650
546

547 Interviewee 1 Yes, that´s true.

548 00:26:19.000 - 00:26:20.110
549

550 Researcher It´s a bit... Ja... Ja...

551 00:26:28.620 - 00:26:29.880
552

553 Interviewee 3
554 00:26:29.935 - 00:26:40.600
 Interview (1)

555

556 Undefined speaker (someone walking in and briefly interrupting the conversation)
557 00:26:40.605 - 00:26:57.100
558

559 Interviewee 3 And err, the other thing is... so, I think, for example the embassy had a
560 programme, a right´s programme, where they - supporters and NGOs or women´s shelters... so
561 they supported women´s shelters for women who seek... err safety or... I don´t know how to
562 explain it, but they also worked on a err governmental level... err and rights lev- justice
563 programmes or, I mean you work with the court system, with the state, and make sure that it´s
564 not only on the civil society level, but also something that is coherent with the state´s own
565 policy, in regards to women´s rights. I think that´s a very important link, because if you- but at-
566 at the same time it depends on how you believe you can make a change. Is it from below? Or
567 is it through laws? And I think you should work that both ways.
568 00:26:57.140 - 00:27:41.010
569

570 Researcher Ja
571 00:27:40.620 - 00:27:41.050
572

573 Interviewee 1 Mhmm...

574 00:27:41.500 - 00:27:42.120
575

576 Researcher Ja.

577 00:27:42.190 - 00:27:42.620
578

579 Interviewee 3 And the other thing I did, that was from below. That was like grassroots
580 levelling in Guatemala with an NGO- it wasn´t even an NGO, it was like a small organisation
581 working for art... art to create- art and music and theatre, to create a social change and
582 awareness. Which was really inspiring, but not very recogni- recognised?
583 00:27:42.610 - 00:28:07.910
584

585 Interviewee 2 Mhmm...

586 00:28:07.970 - 00:28:08.390
587

588 Interviewee 3 anerkendt?

589 00:28:08.415 - 00:28:09.145
 Interview (1)

590

591 Researcher Mhmm.

592 00:28:09.100 - 00:28:09.950
593

594 Interviewee 1 Recognised, Ja.

595 00:28:09.950 - 00:28:10.960
596

597 Interviewee 3 Ahem, but I really believed in that as well. Cause it´s also through awareness
598 that you can empower people to use their voices in society.
599 00:28:11.190 - 00:28:21.300
600

601 Researcher Okay. And was it in Guatemala?

602 00:28:21.790 - 00:28:24.200
603

604 Interviewee 3 Yes.

605 00:28:24.290 - 00:28:24.780
606

607 Researcher And how about people there, did you-

608 00:28:24.900 - 00:28:28.610
609

610 Interviewee 3 But that wa- what?

611 00:28:28.700 - 00:28:29.810
612

613 Researcher You were living in Guatemala?

614 00:28:29.880 - 00:28:31.060
615

616 Interviewee 3 Yes.

617 00:28:31.130 - 00:28:31.520
618

619 Researcher Okay. With the locals? Or was it in the city? Ah okay.
620 00:28:31.610 - 00:28:35.470
 Interview (1)

621

622 Interviewee 3 Yes. Yes.

623 00:28:34.475 - 00:28:36.920
624

625 Researcher It´s just, I live next to Guatemala.

626 00:28:37.790 - 00:28:40.410
627

628 Interviewee 1 Aaaah.

629 00:28:40.215 - 00:28:40.645
630

631 Interviewee 3 El Salvador...

632 00:28:40.700 - 00:28:41.730
633

634 Researcher Ja.

635 00:28:41.770 - 00:28:42.080
636

637 Researcher So ahem, another thing, are you familiar with this "World´s Best News"
638 initiative... in Denmark?
639 00:28:50.520 - 00:28:58.490
640

641 Interviewee 1 No.

642 00:28:59.885 - 00:29:00.325
643

644 Interviewee 2 I think I´ve seen the group, but I haven´t... I don´t know.
645 00:29:00.910 - 00:29:05.740
646

647 Researcher Okay... Okay. And you?

648 00:29:05.845 - 00:29:08.760
649

650 Interviewee 3 Yes. Isn´t it something once a year they make a newspaper and in
651 collaboration with UN... something. And then it´s only positive news about err...things they
652 have developed. Like we have err...decreased poverty by... blablabla.
 Interview (1)

653 00:29:08.850 - 00:29:25.000

654

655 Researcher Ja.

656 00:29:25.000 - 00:29:25.260
657

658 Interviewee 3 Something like that.

659 00:29:26.400 - 00:29:27.620
660

661 Researcher So what do you think about that?

662 00:29:27.710 - 00:29:29.350
663

664 Interviewee 1 Err...

665 00:29:29.380 - 00:29:30.160
666

667 Interviewee 3 I th- ... I´m not sure actually. But first I thought it´s a good idea to, like, the
668 progress, like the... that the world together is achieving to the err... decrease in inequality, and
669 to give people hope that all the development aid is actually working for something. But at the
670 same time, I also think it´s... it´s not a lie, but you know you can always manipulate numbers
671 or statistics to... to err... Ja to a part of the truth. But also hide the other part of the truth, which
672 is that there is still a lot of poverty and there is still a lot of stressful problems that... err...that
673 err...keep this inequality very much alive. And in some parts of the world, it´s even worse than
674 ever.
675 00:29:34.790 - 00:30:43.010
676

677 Interviewee 1 Ja.

678 00:30:42.990 - 00:30:43.320
679

680 Researcher Exactly.

681 00:30:44.580 - 00:30:45.660
682

683 Interviewee 1 Ja, I agree with what she´s said. Err... I think that... err I don´t really believe
684 in this... ahem... in this statistics. I mean, of course- because I heard like just a- actually not that
685 long ago, I ahem...I was at a presentation of the president of err... CLASCO. Of the ahem... err
686 Ciencias Sociales Latinoamericanas y Caribeña. He was at the University of Copenhagen. And
687 he said something really interesting that the reduction of poverty doesn´t mean the reduction of
 Interview (1)

688 inequality. So err... this is why... well, actually err of course... positive kind of, but I think it´s
689 like she said that err... it doesn´t really show the real picture. But I have never seen this err...
690 what you´ve asked about, so I cannot judge. So it´s just a-
691 00:30:46.000 - 00:31:43.270
692

693 Researcher But it is ... it is err that. It´s just... err... change-
694 00:31:43.280 - 00:31:47.800
695

696 Interviewee 1 Ja.

697 00:31:45.965 - 00:31:46.465
698

699 Interviewee 3 Like me it´s [incomprehensible]

700 00:31:46.440 - 00:31:47.805
701

702 Interviewee 1 Ah okay.

703 00:31:48.027 - 00:31:48.677
704

705 Interviewee 3 Something like that. That they changed it to positive news and then they
706 give you a croissant when they... or a juice... I think I always get a juice-box and then... and
707 then you celebrate.
708 00:31:48.787 - 00:32:00.380
709

710 Interviewee 2 Aaaah…

711 00:31:52.000 - 00:31:53.680
712

713 Interviewee 1 Mhmm.

714 00:31:54.115 - 00:31:54.765
715

716 Interviewee 1 Aaaah, okay... I-

717 00:31:58.110 - 00:31:58.930
718

719 Researcher But it is this change of how to say things about- what do you think?
720 00:32:00.980 - 00:32:05.080
 Interview (1)

721

722 Interviewee 2 I think- I agree that ahem... I´m sure that you can make things look better
723 than they are. But in general, I think it´s a good thing to try to... look at the positive things that
724 also happen in the world, because it´s not all... err poverty and... war. And, especially, some
725 people work better if they can find positive... things. I- personally, I... I work better with reality
726 and I´m very critical... in general. And that´s fine for me. But I know a lot of people who don´t
727 wanna work with stuff like that, because it makes them depressed. And, you know that´s... then
728 maybe it´s better to focus on positive aspects, because they are there.
729 00:32:04.410 - 00:32:58.830
730

731 Interviewee 3 In... in relation to that, because that´s- I think that´s actually right, because
732 then you can... err... it creates another link, maybe for people. Because everyday when you open
733 for the news, you get overwhelmed by... depressing stories. So I think, so you just sort of, shut
734 down. And in the end you can´t absorb more... sadness and injustice. So when you get a
735 newspaper like that with good news, I think you´re right, it can make... maybe create a new
736 interest among a group or among some people... and sometimes, I think... I don´t remember
737 exactly, and I don´t have any example, but sometimes it´s also fun facts about "he this little
738 project made this kind of thing better" and curiosity and ahem...like a hope. Which is also
739 important when we do our events. Debate nights, last time for example, it was so good that we
740 had the two girls presenting their project, Operation Dagsverke project, in the end, because I...
741 if not, I think everybody would have left with a really sad feeling, and a feeling of hopelessness.
742 So "for what should we see all this injustice if it´s..." Ja.
743 00:32:59.080 - 00:34:24.442
744

745 Interviewee 2 [incomprehensible]

746 00:34:24.453 - 00:34:29.824
747

748 Researcher But do you think there should be a major change? Do you think that people
749 should start talking mainly with this positive... they should use positive reinforcement? Or do
750 you think that they should just... like there should still be reality check and... okay, things are
751 still bad.
752 00:34:32.391 - 00:34:51.164
753

754 Interviewee 1 For... just for ahem... normal people, like people who- like us in general who
755 maybe aren´t necessarily- not involved in this work? Or for for, like people who are interested
756 in it?
757 00:34:54.638 - 00:35:10.236
758
 Interview (1)

759 Researcher For... I think maybe for both. Do you think it´s important, like to maybe err...
760 to try a new way of talking about the work? Or do you think it´s...
761 00:35:11.319 - 00:35:27.421
762

763 Interviewee 2 I think if, if ahem... the media just start talking a little bit more about it, it
764 doesn’t matter err... how they... frame it. Just the fact that they frame it would be nice.
765 00:35:28.195 - 00:35:43.381
766

767 Interviewee 1 Ja.

768 00:35:43.381 - 00:35:43.700
769

770 Interviewee 2 It doesn´t get enough attention.

771 00:35:43.721 - 00:35:45.907
772

773 Interviewee 3 Latin America especially.

774 00:35:45.999 - 00:35:47.659
775

776 Interviewee 2 Ja... especially Latin America. ... From my point of view.
777 00:35:46.546 - 00:35:51.442
778

779 Interviewee Yes.

780 00:35:52.019 - 00:35:52.411
781

782 Interviewee 1 Actually... yes, I agree with that. I think, maybe instead of... how there
783 should be more... coverage of the things that happen, like in general... even like in my case that
784 I think that I´ve already trying to be interested... if you want, every day you can learn something
785 new. Like, I don´t know. Stupid example, I- every week I get the err... newsletter from Human
786 Rights Watch. And sometimes, like not every week but sometimes it really happens that it talks
787 about something that I had no idea about. So...err... and many times those things are not on the
788 news, on the general news or...ja, I agree with you. Ja.
789 00:35:52.618 - 00:36:39.617
790

791 Interviewee 3 I think it could be nice... there´s of course a general coverage from- media
792 coverage of err... especially Latin America, that´s important. But also, in regards to the positive
793 sides of it, maybe just by events or... something that foc- something that puts that- makes it
 Interview (1)

794 more nuanced? Err so, of course you get all... what you needs to know about the err...the issues
795 there is. Political, economic, social issues, but also maybe... it should shed light on the cultural
796 sides. Like the rich cultures, or actually is... and the... just to awaken, like, curiosity for people
797 who feels err… [incomprehensible]
798 00:36:40.608 - 00:37:32.834
799

800 Undefined speaker Hmmm... (Laughter)

801 00:37:34.752 - 00:37:36.659
802

803 Interviewee 3 Ja, who just doesn´t know it.

804 00:37:41.803 - 00:37:43.412
805

806 Researcher Okay. Ja, so it´s both things... Ja we were asking, because did you know that
807 Oxfam IBIS is part of this "World´s Best News" and the new narrative and... ja. Did you know?
808 00:37:43.617 - 00:37:55.597
809

810 Interviewee 1 No.

811 00:37:55.762 - 00:37:56.195
812

813 Interviewee 2 No.

814 00:37:55.762 - 00:37:56.195
815

816 Interviewee 1 I didn´t know that.

817 00:37:56.319 - 00:37:57.247
818

819 Researcher Okay.

820 00:37:57.288 - 00:37:57.896
821

822 Interviewee 3 I think I´ve hea- when you say it, I think I can see the logo somewhere in
823 the newspapers.
824 00:37:57.916 - 00:38:02.999
825

826 Researcher Okay, yes.

 Interview (1)

827 00:38:03.989 - 00:38:04.772

828

829 Researcher Have you been volunteers in other- you said that you have been in another
830 NGO, right? Do you see ... differences between the- how things are done in Oxfam and in...
831 where you used to be before? Or similarities?
832 00:38:10.237 - 00:38:28.010
833

834 Interviewee 2 The organisations that I´ve been part of, had very different projects. So I´m
835 not sure I can...
836 00:38:29.422 - 00:38:39.669
837

838 Interviewee 1 ...compare

839 00:38:38.721 - 00:38:39.700
840

841 Interviewee 3 ...compare.

842 00:38:38.721 - 00:38:39.700
843

844 Researcher And communication wise, for example the way they... they worked, telling
845 you stuff... just internally. Do you- or it´s still different... project?
846 00:38:43.226 - 00:38:56.484
847

848 Interviewee 2 Very different.

849 00:38:56.185 - 00:38:57.401
850

851 Researcher Okay, Ja.

852 00:38:57.319 - 00:38:58.123
853

854 Interviewee 2 I have been volunteering in a Comité Danés de Solidaridad con

855 Centroamérica I don´t know what it´s called in English. But that´s a very small err...
856 organisation. Err, so there wasn´t really a link between us and someone else, because we were
857 so few people. Well there was a pattern in Arhus and Copenhagen, but... and it worked by, like
858 a flat-structure. So it was against the whole hierarchy, someone leading it. And that made it
859 very complicated sometimes, but you don´t have a person who can say "this is what we do and
860 that´s how it is". We should always discuss things.
861 00:38:58.412 - 00:39:45.267
 Interview (1)

862

863 Undefined speaker (Laughter)

864 00:39:45.267 - 00:39:48.360
865

866 Interviewee 3 This could be very frustrating. And it´s nice in IBIS because you feel you
867 stand- you have a strong brand behind you... that´s in your back. I think last time when we had
868 the event, and we were like "oh and what if people are not coming" and I was worrying before
869 and Burdu was just like "it´s IBIS, guys! There´s a lot of respect and interest, because there is
870 a certain quality connected to it".
871 00:39:48.360 - 00:40:13.689
872

873 Interviewee 2 That´s true, yes.

874 00:40:13.659 - 00:40:15.010
875

876 Researcher Yeah, that´s good.

877 00:40:15.483 - 00:40:17.504
878

879 Interviewee 3 That gives something.

880 00:40:17.483 - 00:40:18.772
881

882 Researcher Especially now, that they have merged to Oxfam, which is also a big
883 organisation.
884 00:40:19.813 - 00:40:24.700
885

886 Interviewee 2 Ja.

887 00:40:23.205 - 00:40:23.721
888

889 Interviewee 1 Ja.

890 00:40:23.783 - 00:40:24.236
891

892 Interviewee 3 Ja.

893 00:40:24.267 - 00:40:24.638
894
 Interview (1)

895 Researcher I think we have gone through the whole questions.

896 00:40:31.463 - 00:40:35.381
 Interview (2)

1 Transcription of Interview (2)

2 o conducted in person on the 11th of November 2016
3 o from 3pm to 3.31pm
4 o at Café Retro, Jægersborggade 14 in Copenhagen

6 Researcher Ahem, it's fine if I record you, right? Is it fine?

7 00:00:00.560 - 00:00:04.540
8

9 Interviewee 4 Yes.
10 00:00:04.250 - 00:00:04.710
11

12 Researcher Okay, that's nice.

13 00:00:04.820 - 00:00:05.690
14

15 Researcher Err, Carla just to give you a brief introduction of what… of what's going on
16 actually… Ahem, we are- I don't know what Gabriela told you, but this is like a pro- university
17 project ahem on NGOs. And ahem, the interview will probably take about half an hour or
18 something, and ahem… we will write a paper afterwards that we can send you, but you will be
19 completely anonymous and nothing will be relatable, so feel free to say whatever you want to
20 say. And it's no, like quiz or- just, you know, there's no right and no wrong. Just say- it's about
21 what you think.
22 00:00:06.090 - 00:00:46.385
23

24 Interviewee 4 My impression of things.

25 00:00:46.380 - 00:00:47.330
26

27 Researcher Ja.
28 00:00:47.090 - 00:00:47.530
29

30 Researcher Ja. Ahem, okay, so… To start with, how old are you?
31 00:00:48.315 - 00:00:54.080
32

33 Interviewee 4 Thirty-five.
34 00:00:54.405 - 00:00:55.495
 Interview (2)

35

36 Researcher Okay, and what's your occupation?

37 00:00:55.605 - 00:00:57.815
38

39 Interviewee 4 I'm… Here in Denmark, I don't have a… full time job. I have these temporary
40 jobs and I'm volunteering at Oxfam IBIS. And- but err… I'm work in communications, so
41 journalism and public relations, and then I post graduated in marketing.
42 00:00:58.395 - 00:01:20.805
43

44 Researcher Ah, Okay. And how long have you been involved with Oxfam IBIS?
45 00:01:20.915 - 00:01:26.125
46

47 Interviewee 4 Since… August. Three months.

48 00:01:28.005 - 00:01:33.395
49

50 Researcher Okay. And what do you do there? Like, what does the volunteering include?
51 00:01:33.610 - 00:01:39.455
52

53 Interviewee 4 Err… I'm part of Latin American group. Cause they work there with three
54 groups. Err… one is Latin American group, the- err there is one with taxes and… So I'm part
55 of the Latin American group, and there err… we do a lot of, ahem, we have this projects to…
56 to help Latin American countries. And err… to diminish the inequality? I'm thinking in Danish
57 because- it's like finding the words…. I'm confused with the English and the Danish. So err…
58 no we working more with err… Guatemala. Projects that take place in Guatemala, and we help
59 this err… develop activities that we can do, but the most is events here. To… to increase the
60 awareness of Danish people about the problems in Guatemala. Could be any country… like
61 Brazil, where I'm from.
62 00:01:40.565 - 00:03:04.145
63

64 Researcher Ah okay! Yeah, that would have been my next question. Where you are from.
65 Brazil! Ahem, and why did you join in August? What made you… go there?
66 00:03:04.290 - 00:03:15.300
67

68 Interviewee 4 Cause ahem… now I have time. Back in Brazil I worked so much, I used to
69 do volunteering jobs more when I was studying… at the university. So I have my internship,
70 but also at this… volunteering job. And err… and here, when I moved to Denmark… I don't
 Interview (2)

71 have a job yet and I'm… always in my life wanted to do this kind of thing. It's important. It
72 makes me feel better to… to help someone who needs help. And then err… I researched in the
73 internet, see what the opportunities were, the different suggestions. And I found Oxfam. And I
74 was very interested, because they have this Latin American side, Latin American group… and
75 that's why I'm come from, from Rio in Brazil. And, I know all the problems there we have, so
76 Latin American countries. That's why. I was very happy to- very glad to… to be part of it and…
77 help some ways. Since I'm living here in a very good country and err… the give so much
78 importance to education and… ahem… inequality and trying to, I don't know, we don't see so
79 much here. This difference… this big difference between families, salary to people and… this
80 is very nice, Ja. I can help a little bit the other countries to be a little bit like Denmark.
81 00:03:15.565 - 00:05:04.505
82

83 Researcher Ja, okay.

84 00:05:04.580 - 00:05:05.980
85

86 Interviewee 4 It's- makes me happy.

87 00:05:06.105 - 00:05:07.535
88

89 Researcher Okay. Ahem, how would you… The water is also for you, if you want some.
90 How would you, ahem, explain the work of Oxfam IBIS to me?
91 00:05:07.605 - 00:05:19.765
92

93 Interviewee 4 Ja, I'm very new there. And the first err… meeting was in Danish, but I got a
94 lot of things, I'm studying Danish. But of course I read about… and they, they work mainly
95 with inequality err… in the countries. And in- at least in the Latin American group, we work
96 with this err… events that, as I said before, increase awareness err… of the problems in Latin
97 America. So, how we do this. Through campaigns, through events, we show film- they had this
98 err… it's kind of a group, too… Latin err… Latino film. So we show documentaries about err…
99 mainly many situations… this issues about women, you know being this violence- gender based
100 violence, and also this err… lack of opportunity to young people. In err… the Guatemala case
101 they try to immigrate to the United States to have a better life… and it's very bad cause the…
102 they cannot cross the border. So they've come back… with a lot of debts. So they come back
103 poorest than they… cause they pay this people that, this “coyotes” they call people who help
104 them to cross the border… So we chose a country we err… an issue in them. We try to work
105 err… with this issue here. Our group is responsible for that, we- through this events we increase
106 the awareness here in Denmark that people engage in the cause. And, in the countries also-
107 Oxfam IBIS… has this partners, so… they- it's like they raise money here and they have projects
108 there and partners there in this countries and they- this is how they help. And ahem… with
109 money and projects, everything is very planned it's just don't… give the money to them… you
110 know, without any control. They say that they have everything very scheduled… for a whole
 Interview (2)

111 year… the plan, what goes to education, what goes to other issues, that they want to help. To
112 health or… to other sector. So it's like this that we work.
113 00:05:20.680 - 00:08:15.140
114

115 Researcher Okay.

116 00:08:15.320 - 00:08:16.120
117

118 Interviewee 4 At least my group. I don't know… this taxing group and the education group…
119 I believe is very similar. But… our group is more general.
120 00:08:16.775 - 00:08:29.920
121

122 Researcher Ja. Okay. Ahem… can you think of, like specific words or sentences that you
123 always use when you explain what Oxfam IBIS does? Ahem, did you think of other specific
124 words that you tend to use?
125 00:08:29.990 - 00:08:49.375
126

127 Interviewee 4 Keywords?

128 00:08:49.440 - 00:08:50.480
129

130 Researcher Ja!

131 00:08:50.525 - 00:08:51.005
132

133 Interviewee 4 About Oxfam?

134 00:08:50.980 - 00:08:51.945
135

136 Researcher Ja.

137 00:08:51.990 - 00:08:52.430
138

139 Interviewee 4 It's like… engagement err… inequality err… what else? … Helping err… Ja,
140 awareness, and engagement of people in Denmark… this is difficult.
141 00:08:53.085 - 00:09:24.315
142

143 Researcher Yeah, if you don't f- can think of any-

 Interview (2)

144 00:09:27.045 - 00:09:29.820

145

146 Interviewee 4 Well, basically that, ahem… is err… to diminish discrimination and err…
147 engage in this err… well, this gender based violence issue…
148 00:09:28.515 - 00:09:48.770
149

150 Researcher And when you think about these keywords, that's what you focus on when you
151 talk to, ahem, people outside the organisation?
152 00:09:49.495 - 00:09:58.550
153

154 Interviewee 4 Yes.

155 00:09:58.785 - 00:10:00.610
156

157 Researcher Okay.

158 00:10:00.725 - 00:10:01.085
159

160 Interviewee 4 I could also say, like campaigns err… a lot of documentaries. That's very nice.
161 00:10:01.710 - 00:10:11.360
162

163 Researcher What themes or aspects do you work with in the events? Like, you talked about
164 the events. What themes do you work with and what are your intentions in choosing these
165 specific themes? Like, when you show a movie, for example, do you have specific themes that-
166 00:10:12.345 - 00:10:31.885
167

168 Interviewee 4 Yes, yes. We just had this event about Guatemala. And err… it was in
169 coorporation with this “Operation Dagsværk”, like do you know what this is? And so err… we
170 chose a documentary… related to the theme. This was a documentary of a Danish journalist
171 from the the the art. And err… called “Prisoner of circumstances”, so err… he shot this in
172 Guatemala and it was like four chapters… documentary, and it showed very different situations.
173 Situations of women there. In… exploited… it's like slaves of sex and this kind of thing. Err…
174 showed the situations of young people with a lack of opportunities… So it's like this. We, we
175 choose this err… something related to the thing and try to… have a debate after. To make sense.
176 To feel what the audience got from the film. And err… also in this specific event we had two
177 girls from “Operation Dagsværk”, it's “Work Day” or something…called “Workday Operation”
178 or something. Cause they work for free. And it's a campaign that has… one day of the year all
179 this students err… can work for free in some place and can offer themselves up for free. But
180 the salary goes to this cause… and this year they chose Guatemala. Err… the money, they
 Interview (2)

181 donate the money to… to this… Guatemala, Ja. To the specific problems there. And it was very
182 nice, because it was combined the film and this girls… We showed a documentary, very strong,
183 very hard, I cried… a lot, and then this girls came and talked about the project and gave a little
184 bit of hope. Cause it was totally hopeless… the err… documentary. It was good, cause “here's
185 the problem, but here- we can help a little”. So we tried to… to not make people completely,
186 you know…
187 00:10:31.900 - 00:13:33.585
188

189 Researcher Hopeless or … Ja.

190 00:13:33.735 - 00:13:35.535
191

192 Interviewee 4 It's about what they see and we tried to combine this two things… let' find a
193 solution. It's not finished here. Then you go home very depressed or “ah, come to Oxfam!”…
194 after this, you know, engage in the cause. So, we try to do that. We have already scheduled a
195 next one err… a next event. It's about gender-based violence. It's also a cooperation with this
196 campaign, err…
197 00:13:35.490 - 00:14:12.670
198

199 Researcher So it's always trying to-

200 00:14:12.720 - 00:14:14.990
201

202 Interviewee 4 Ja. Cause it's good when, you know, you have something err… bigger going
203 on. Then you can engage more people and reach more… more people. If we did, always
204 something isolated, maybe you cannot reach many many people. We try to see it like… this…
205 it's a hot topic, you know…
206 00:14:15.090 - 00:14:43.035
207

208 Researcher Ja, that's true.

209 00:14:43.105 - 00:14:44.520
210

211 Interviewee 4 Do you understand what I say? Was this that you asked me?
212 00:14:44.530 - 00:14:47.900
213

214 Researcher Ja.

215 00:14:48.020 - 00:14:48.360
 Interview (2)

216

217 Interviewee 4 Yes.

218 00:14:48.425 - 00:14:49.265
219

220 Researcher Ja. Ahem, how… now a bit away from the specific things. But does the
221 organisation, Oxfam IBIS, interact with you?
222 00:14:49.410 - 00:15:00.565
223

224 Interviewee 4 Day by day?

225 00:15:01.915 - 00:15:04.105
226

227 Researcher Ja, whenever you-

228 00:15:04.185 - 00:15:06.020
229

230 Interviewee 4 By… we have a group on Facebook. And we have this sub-group, err… it's a
231 it's a… the main group it's Oxfam IBIS Denmark and with… I think each group, Latin America
232 have a group, and the [incomprehensible] have a group, so… we interact like this. Do events
233 there and we try to help them err… or to… to boost our err… activities in other groups. Like
234 we go “come to our events”. So it's like this…
235 00:15:06.045 - 00:15:53.760
236

237 Researcher So it's main- basically Face-

238 00:15:54.115 - 00:15:56.260
239

240 Interviewee 4 It is in Facebook, Ja. Messenger… when we don't want to…. And err, actually
241 there is a lot of people that comes and goes to this volunteering, so we made another group with
242 “active” volunteers, because… but err, some people, a lot of, for instance the Latin American
243 group, we started, I think we started again because they said that err… the group, the main, the
244 group they used to do a lot of things. Most of this people are err… in Latin America some
245 country, or working, or studying. So they cannot enjoy… No, err… join. And they err… yeah,
246 we said “let's make this active volunteers group”, and that's how we try to communicate. It's
247 going well, it's a good part of work.
248 00:15:56.010 - 00:16:59.995
249

250 Researcher And, does the like, official organisation, do they interact with you? Or is it
251 mainly the volunteers amongst each other?
 Interview (2)

252 00:17:00.200 - 00:17:08.405

253

254 Interviewee 4 No, the official err… we have a… this coordinator. And ahem, she manages
255 err… she's like the administrator of the page. And she sends message… “Ah and let's do this”,
256 and we… I think we have… of course, everything we do and we propose we have to tell them.
257 It cannot be so… it can't be so independent err… they should approve, cause sometimes we
258 have to spend money and we have a budget, we have to… “Say, ah we agree. What do you
259 think?” And they suggest “why don't you go this way? Or do this…”
260 00:17:08.040 - 00:17:56.390
261

262 Researcher Okay.

263 00:17:56.400 - 00:17:57.020
264

265 Interviewee 4 They… we interact with them.

266 00:17:57.495 - 00:17:59.185
267

268 Researcher Okay.

269 00:17:59.605 - 00:18:00.285
270

271 Interviewee 4 They leave err… very comfortable to suggest, you know… but always there's
272 supervision.
273 00:18:00.480 - 00:18:11.880
274

275 Researcher Okay. What things would you say have you learned in the first three months, or
276 wha- how long you are there now- at Oxfam IBIS?
277 00:18:12.205 - 00:18:22.220
278

279 Interviewee 4 I´ve learned about err… a lot about err… Guatemala and this problems that is
280 not part of my… every day. So… watching the movies, talking to people and they gave us some
281 material… some… about the project…
282 00:18:26.500 - 00:18:50.120
283

284 Researcher The project in Guatemala, you mean?

285 00:18:50.205 - 00:18:52.695
 Interview (2)

286

287 Interviewee 4 Yes. Ja. And there was lot of information that I didn't know. About the system
288 there, about education, about this kids err… about the Maya women, all the prejudices they
289 suffer and… we always learnt something.
290 00:18:52.355 - 00:19:14.215
291

292 Researcher Ahem, now a bit more general. We've been talking about Oxfam, but now a bit
293 more in general. How do you think development work impacts the countries they work with?
294 In this case, Guatemala, for example.
295 00:19:16.465 - 00:19:31.750
296

297 Interviewee 4 I don't know err… I don't know how to answer if they impact a lot of people
298 err… but I think they have some impact, because Oxfam IBIS err… they're very big, it's a
299 international organisation and they have this err… representativeness in a lot of countries. So
300 err… I think it's relevant what they do. But ahem, I don't know about Oxfam… but I read, for
301 instance, that this “Operation Dagsværk” people are in err… so engaged as they were in err…
302 like years ago. So, they raised like have of the money this year. But, I don't know, I think it's a
303 it's a… it's a nice work they do and people, I can see from my group, people work there very
304 engaged and take things very seriously. But ahem, in numbers for instance, I don't know… the
305 impact. But I believe they have a good job.
306 00:19:33.520 - 00:21:10.945
307

308 Researcher Ja.

309 00:21:10.935 - 00:21:11.235
310

311 Interviewee 4 But maybe err… they have err… report in the end of the year showing all
312 the… the people they integrated or… the return of the… the actions.
313 00:21:12.500 - 00:21:34.195
314

315 Researcher Okay. And also a bit more in general, like development work as such. How
316 NGOs engage. How do you think that, I don't know… Ja, how they impact the people?
317 00:21:34.405 - 00:21:50.920
318

319 Interviewee 4 In this countries?

320 00:21:52.655 - 00:21:53.605
321
 Interview (2)

322 Researcher Ja.

323 00:21:53.695 - 00:21:54.205
324

325 Interviewee 4 Aaaah, okay. I think, I think, by what we see in this films, in this documentaries
326 err… watching and talking to them… I think it's very positive. Err… the especially in the
327 education sector, they have a very nice job there. I think they have a good… good impact. Err…
328 in this countries. Cause I think when you live in a country like this, when you see err… someone
329 that can help you, you know a little bit, it's always good… and what people say err… they give
330 opportunities through this partners, they are given a lot of err… opportunities like help teaching
331 women to be err… to specialise in some kind of job, to develop them… And I think it's very
332 good, they can help them to make some money in their own country and stay there and have
333 their kids… can pay for their education…
334 00:21:54.225 - 00:23:32.370
335

336 Researcher Are you familiar with The World's Best News initiative?
337 00:23:35.240 - 00:23:44.130
338

339 Interviewee 4 No... I don´t know.

340 00:23:44.320 - 00:23:45.050
341

342 Researcher No? It's… Ja, if are not familiar with it it's fine. It's like a Danish organisation
343 that Oxfam IBIS is part of.
344 00:23:45.300 - 00:23:55.400
345

346 Interviewee 4 It's world's best?

347 00:23:55.450 - 00:23:57.020
348

349 Researcher News.

350 00:23:57.090 - 00:23:57.720
351

352 Interviewee 4 News?

353 00:23:57.790 - 00:23:58.240
354

355 Researcher Ja. They kind of… ahem, they are really oriented in publishing in what NGOs
356 have reached, and kind of publishing good news. So the best news of the world, kind of.
 Interview (2)

357 00:23:58.270 - 00:24:16.420

358

359 Interviewee 4 It's like the err… best days in err…

360 00:24:16.505 - 00:24:19.350
361

362 Researcher Ja, but more for NGOs kind of.

363 00:24:19.170 - 00:24:22.000
364

365 Interviewee 4 For NGOs.

366 00:24:21.490 - 00:24:22.140
367

368 Researcher Ja, so what they have actually reached and that's a… this initiative that Oxfam
369 is also part of. Ahem, do you – I mean you have been volunteering for quite some time, not just
370 at Oxfam IBIS but in your life – so, do you feel that there is a shift in how communication, how
371 NGOs are communicating? Like from this more talking about more “we need to help these kids
372 in Africa” to what's a bit different way of communicating?
373 00:24:22.130 - 00:25:01.610
374

375 Interviewee 4 I think it's basically the same. I don't know, but the problems are the same… I
376 was working before in Brazil, so… and then it was a little bit different because it was kind of a
377 everyday work, you know, I had to go there and… Ja it was different because I was more
378 involved with the target, you know, because… here, here in Denmark… so the communication
379 was different, but err… I think the message is the same in the end.
380 00:25:02.765 - 00:25:47.495
381

382 Researcher And how would you say the message… What would the message be?
383 00:25:47.705 - 00:25:51.495
384

385 Interviewee 4 The message to err… you know, we can help err… let's dedicate a little bit of
386 our time and err... let's help some way. The way you can, you know. And if the resources you
387 have, maybe not your resource, but your time… whatever you are giving, whatever you can do.
388 00:25:52.025 - 00:26:18.045
389

390 Researcher Do you think that there would be a need for change in how NGOs are
391 communicating?
 Interview (2)

392 00:26:20.265 - 00:26:28.495

393

394 Interviewee 4 No really, no. Not by my experience. They know err… at least at the place that
395 I'm volunteering, they know we are volunteers. So err… they cannot demand from us more than
396 we can do. And I think, you talked about communication, I think there's a… the way they ask
397 us to do things… or?
398 00:26:34.520 - 00:27:06.895
399

400 Researcher More like external communication. Ja, external basically to the p-
401 00:27:08.280 - 00:27:14.005
402

403 Interviewee 4 To the… who are not with the…

404 00:27:13.990 - 00:27:16.015
405

406 Researcher Ja, to the public.

407 00:27:15.995 - 00:27:18.480
408

409 Interviewee 4 I think, maybe it's a limitation of budget err… you know. They cannot do more,
410 that they do and err… I don't know a way to be more effective. I think now the internet and
411 Facebook err… communication improved it a lot. So they, don't know… have many to put in
412 the news or this kind of things so… I think Facebook and this kind of posters that they put on
413 the street… I think it's err… it's easier. This is the way, and of course find a way to make better,
414 but I think it… and in the case of Oxfam, they do possible things to…
415 00:27:21.080 - 00:28:31.215
416

417 Interviewee 4 If they would be bombing people with posts, they will not come, so… I think
418 we have to be very careful to… when you launch this events… I think it's okay the way they
419 do.
420 00:28:46.950 - 00:29:09.830
421

422 Researcher So the last question. How is your experience that you are having now at Oxfam
423 IBIS compared to the experience that you had in other… when you were volunteering for other
424 NGOs?
425 00:29:10.145 - 00:29:27.665
426
 Interview (2)

427 Interviewee 4 I think it's this that I told you before. Err… here we are working a little bit far
428 away. We are not helping directly there and the people that… you don't experience their
429 problems in… alive, you know? I think it touched us more, when you really see, when you go
430 to this part there and visited… visited the women. But at least for me, I was in it before… my
431 country. So err… it's like I have been watching this happen but I don't know if Danish people
432 have the same… the impacts … as I am. Because I am impacted in a different way that they are
433 cause they used to see it on TV and read about it, you know… I think they never- maybe they,
434 of course the girls who lived in Mexico and other countries, maybe they know. But when you
435 see every day and really maybe have family there… and have kind of- not in that bad situation…
436 it's somehow difficult situation. I think that's the difference. Here, I'm very very far. And I think
437 it's good to go there and visit… Yes, this is the difference.
438 00:29:27.695 - 00:31:26.190
439

440 Researcher Okay, thank you. Thank you very much!

441 00:31:30.590 - 00:31:33.680
442

443 Interviewee 4 You´re welcome. You´re welcome.

444 00:31:32.970 - 00:31:35.065
445
 Interview (3)

1 Transcription of Interview (3)

2 o conducted in person on the24th of November 2016
3 o from 4pm to 4.29pm
4 o at Café Retro, Jægersborggade 14 in Copenhagen
5

6 Interviewee 5 So, my name is Keren Rojas. And I work as a substitute teacher in an

7 international school. And ahem, Ja… that´s basically what I do.
8 00:00:04.260 - 00:00:17.410
9

10 Researcher And err, how long have you been involved with Oxfam IBIS?
11 00:00:18.095 - 00:00:21.590
12

13 Interviewee 5 With Oxfam IBIS… err… Ja, good question. Maybe… maybe three months?
14 Not so long. Ja.
15 00:00:21.897 - 00:00:32.327
16

17 Interviewee 5 Ja, maybe three months. Ja.

18 00:00:36.010 - 00:00:38.455
19

20 Researcher Where you at the info meeting that they did?

21 00:00:40.310 - 00:00:43.410
22

23 Interviewee 5 Ahem I… so I applied by just writing directly an E-mail to Burdu err… and
24 then she just asked me to come to the first meeting. But I didn´t go to any info-meeting. I was
25 afterwards just being err… how is it helping with the info by explaining to the people who
26 wanted to be volunteers.
27 00:00:43.575 - 00:01:06.995
28

29 Researcher Ja. And you?

30 00:01:07.120 - 00:01:09.635
31

32 Interviewee 6 My name is Federico Jensen and err, I study International Studies at RUC.
33 And err… yes, I come from Argentina.
34 00:01:09.702 - 00:01:20.617
 Interview (3)

35

36 Researcher Ja. And how long have you been in IBIS?

37 00:01:21.097 - 00:01:23.622
38

39 Interviewee 6 In err… I´ve been in Oxfam IBIS for maybe a month. But err… yes, I only
40 have participated in meetings so far. Haven´t done any… active stuff.
41 00:01:24.302 - 00:01:35.792
42

43 Researcher But you are going to, right?

44 00:01:35.982 - 00:01:37.537
45

46 Interviewee 6 Yes!
47 00:01:37.587 - 00:01:38.007
48

49 Researcher Okay. And err… why did you join Oxfam IBIS?
50 00:01:39.492 - 00:01:49.162
51

52 Interviewee 6 Me first? Okay. Err… well, I don´t know, I´ve… as I as I have said- I haven´t
53 said that before- err, I… yes, I come from Argentina and I´ve been very active in a lot of
54 different things, here in Denmark and before also when I was living in Spain. But err… I haven´t
55 lived in Argentina for like fifteen years and I just kind of wanna have a little bit more of a
56 connection to South America again. And do something a little bit more related to South
57 America. That´s about it.
58 00:01:49.982 - 00:02:24.477
59

60 Researcher And you?

61 00:02:24.912 - 00:02:26.002
62

63 Interviewee 5 And me, err… ahem so I, in general I like volunteering. And I… Ja, I found it
64 very err… Ja, I don´t know how to say it, gratifying? Maybe? That´s the word. And I have also
65 been volunteering before in Trampoline House, which is a cultural house in north-west where
66 they err… help asylum seekers to just get a bit of air from the asylum centre. So they have
67 cultural activities and things like that.
68 00:02:26.282 - 00:02:58.427
69
 Interview (3)

70 Researcher How was the spirit there?

71 00:02:58.507 - 00:03:01.072
72

73 Interviewee 5 That was really nice actually. Yes err… mostly I think err… well, I enjoyed it
74 a lot because I was working with the people directly. Instead of like IBIS, which is also really
75 nice, but it´s more… just just behind the scenes. So I just doing more… so we are helping
76 people who are outside of Denmark and we cannot really see them. But here it was just
77 interacting directly with them, so that was nice.
78 00:03:01.112 - 00:03:31.067
79

80 Researcher Mhmm.
81 00:03:31.180 - 00:03:31.710
82

83 Interviewee 5 And err… Ja, and also because, I joined IBIS because it´s err… Lat- err… it it
84 works with Latin America and I come from there and it´s just easy to relate. Just ahem… feels
85 good to help people from where you come from. Ja.
86 00:03:31.770 - 00:03:50.070
87

88 Researcher Ja. And err… well, ahem, how would you explain the work that Oxfam IBIS
89 does to me for example. Or to someone who has no idea about what Oxfam IBIS is. So, how
90 would you say in a fast way?
91 00:03:50.715 - 00:04:09.755
92

93 Interviewee 6 Well, I don´t know, I haven´t been there for too long. So far, what I´ve gotten
94 is that- I mean, I know that Oxfam IBIS is an international NGO who does projects here and
95 abroad, but more or less the idea is that there is certain professionals to do the development
96 work and then you have a couple of volunteers that basically spread the word around and try
97 to, Ja… involve people locally on… here in Denmark. On different events of a minor scale, I
98 would say.
99 00:04:09.800 - 00:04:41.815
100

101 Researcher Ja.

102 00:04:41.890 - 00:04:42.430
103

104 Interviewee 6 That´s more or less what I understand.

105 00:04:43.745 - 00:04:46.525
 Interview (3)

106

107 Interviewee 5 Ja. Ja, it´s an educational NGO, right? So it basically provides educational
108 opportunities for... for people who have no access to it. In Latin America and Africa. But, I
109 think they also work with err… what is it called? I don´t know what it is called, but they just
110 help people be more informed about the rights as workers… or in general citizens so they can…
111 so that IBIS doesn´t have to be in there all the time helping helping, but… they can help
112 themselves, by just having information that IBIS has previously provided. Ja, I think that´s what
113 I know that they do.
114 00:04:46.925 - 00:05:40.200
115

116 Researcher That´s good. And err… can you think of any words that you use when you
117 ahem, when you explain what Oxfam IBIS does? Like keywords… If someone asked for you
118 guys… a friend, what you do there, which kind of sentence or specific words what you prefer
119 to use to explain about the work?
120 00:05:41.690 - 00:06:12.710
121

122 Interviewee 6 I think… Ja, development would be one. As far as I understand. And I would
123 say, in Denmark I would just say… Ja, information, communication.
124 00:06:14.980 - 00:06:28.935
125

126 Interviewee 5 Ja, education.

127 00:06:29.440 - 00:06:31.470
128

129 Researcher And in Demark, would be information about what?

130 00:06:38.505 - 00:06:41.690
131

132 Interviewee 6 Well, I mean, they have three different groups. Working groups for things they
133 do in Denmark. And err… I think, in the end information that they try to put out is always
134 about- related to education. Then they have the Latin America… thing. And then they have the
135 err… taxes… thing. Right?
136 00:06:42.265 - 00:07:07.525
137

138 Interviewee 5 And education. It´s three, Ja.

139 00:07:07.095 - 00:07:09.305
140
 Interview (3)

141 Interviewee 6 Ja. So… I guess that´s what the communication, they are trying to provide, is
142 mostly about. I think?
143 00:07:09.385 - 00:07:19.410
144

145 Researcher Ja, Ja. Yes. And the events? I know that you make events. What kind of things
146 do you colour in those events? And err… first, what kind of events is it? And what themes do
147 you colour?
148 00:07:21.470 - 00:07:39.375
149

150 Interviewee 5 It´s mostly just- it´s called the Latin… the Latin American film volunteers
151 group. So we show movies and we begin to find people to talk about the movies and have
152 discussions or… debates about it. And err… we seek to raise awareness. About err… poverty
153 and human rights and ahem… err… I don´t know what else.
154 00:07:40.705 - 00:08:18.290
155

156 Researcher For example the last time. Where you at the last event?
157 00:08:18.480 - 00:08:21.100
158

159 Interviewee 5 Ja.

160 00:08:21.385 - 00:08:21.755
161

162 Interviewee 6 No.

163 00:08:21.385 - 00:08:21.755
164

165 Interviewee 6 I wasn´t.

166 00:08:23.285 - 00:08:23.935
167

168 Researcher What about you? What was the last event about?
169 00:08:25.325 - 00:08:27.375
170

171 Interviewee 5 The last time was about err… the immigration of err… kids from central
172 America to the United States. And mostly from… Guatemala. Because the majority of the
173 population of Guatemala are children and… so they, they seek for better living conditions. So
174 they just make a… this dangerous journey to the US… and Ja. So we were trying to make an
 Interview (3)

175 event where we show a movie about it… and… and… to have someone- or actually the movie
176 producer was there and talked about it and then there was a bit of questions and answers and…
177 00:08:27.600 - 00:09:18.445
178

179 Researcher Did you guys have any criteria when choosing the movie? How is the process
180 of err… choosing what you want to present for the event?
181 00:09:18.530 - 00:09:31.730
182

183 Interviewee 6 Well, I think in general, this time… Sometimes, I guess- from what I have seen
184 so far- is that people just… the group gets together and tries to figure it out, the movie… and
185 then people come with suggestions and there is a vote and then people… more or less that´s the
186 way it´s decided. The theme, at least last time, the event that is coming up, is related to an
187 overall Oxfam campaign, so that way we also relate what´s happening locally to what´s
188 happening abroad… with Oxfam.
189 00:09:35.365 - 00:10:07.005
190

191 Researcher And err about developing work now. In general. Err… how do you think
192 developing work impacts the countries that they work with? Not necessarily just Oxfam IBIS,
193 but… in general. What are the benefits… or not?
194 00:10:11.015 - 00:10:29.810
195

196 Interviewee 6 Is that a… supposed to be from… our perspective? Or like… how- like what
197 is the idea of this question?
198 00:10:29.845 - 00:10:38.465
199

200 Researcher From your perspective!

201 00:10:38.450 - 00:10:39.480
202

203 Interviewee 6 Aaaah okay.

204 00:10:39.490 - 00:10:39.900
205

206 Researcher Ja from your experience. From your perspective. From your experience… your
207 understanding…
208 00:10:39.940 - 00:10:47.970
209
 Interview (3)

210 Interviewee 6 Ja.

211 00:10:48.005 - 00:10:48.735
212

213 Interviewee 5 I can just explain again development… what I mean by that?
214 00:10:49.245 - 00:10:53.295
215

216 Researcher Ja. I know it´s very open. But actually that is why we want to know about you.
217 How do you think this work impacts there. By your understanding of development work. For
218 example, organisations who work in Latin America, and have projects there. How does this
219 impact the people there?
220 00:10:53.300 - 00:11:16.620
221

222 Interviewee 5 That´s difficult to know.

223 00:11:21.100 - 00:11:22.990
224

225 Interviewee 6 Ja, I mean there´s people who work on this all the time and don´t really get
226 it. But err… I would say in general I find that there is a… err… double edged sword toward
227 development. There is the good parts of it, and the bad parts of it. Good parts of it is that, in
228 general, everyone has good intensions and that they are trying to do something that is good for
229 the people they´re developing. However, at the same time, development in itself ponders to the
230 question of “Do these people need to be developed?” Which, it´s important to realise that
231 development shouldn´t mean err... they should be more like us! That´s my main problem
232 sometimes with some kinds of development projects. Is this idea that we need to go in there and
233 figure them out because they´re… not good enough, or because they are under civilised, under
234 developed or all these ideas. I think what development sometimes is good at, is could be at
235 improving… certain… living standards…. That people are… Ja, living in. It´s my overall
236 opinion on development. But I do think there is good work being done. And I do think, we
237 shouldn´t just critique all development as being bad. But I think we need to have a… definitely
238 critical eye… for some… like development projects. And we should definitely… Ja, look
239 properly at what is being done.
240 00:11:23.220 - 00:12:59.670
241

242 Interviewee 5 Ja, I feel the same. I feel that those NGOS are doing this work because…
243 maybe sometimes it´s a bid hard to see it like… err… but, but if they were in there, it would be
244 for sure much worse… ahem, I do think that maybe they have really nice plans and good ideas
245 and all this, but I imagine that once they arrive to the undeveloped countries, they face a lot of
246 things… unexpected things that they cannot solve. It takes longer time, like err… corruption,
247 for example, or bureaucracy. So they have this really nice plan of building whatever, doing
248 something, but err… the slow… err… government of those countries makes it almost
 Interview (3)

249 impossible to, to achieve those programmes, err, those projects. Ahem, so… but err… but I
250 think they also know those things and they work in educating people so they can…. They can
251 understand that. It´s… I don´t know… they also work in educating them so they can help
252 themselves. Ja, I think they do a good job.
253 00:12:59.770 - 00:14:25.920
254

255 Researcher And ahem… you already answered that. Ja…. And ahem, you already answered
256 change…
257 00:14:28.250 - 00:14:44.900
258

259 Interviewee 6 What?

260 00:14:45.000 - 00:14:45.610
261

262 Researcher You already answered two questions.

263 00:14:45.820 - 00:14:47.630
264

265 Interviewee 6 Ja, sorry. I tend to go into monologue sometimes.

266 00:14:47.670 - 00:14:50.700
267

268 Researcher No, but we were going to ask that. What do you think should change or not…
269 in development work. Or what should be stressed when talking about development work?
270 00:14:50.700 - 00:15:06.435
271

272 Interviewee 5 What- can you say that again?

273 00:15:07.550 - 00:15:08.775
274

275 Researcher What should be a focus when you are talking about developing work? What do
276 you think, your perspective… that err… should be the focus of organisations who work with
277 development work?
278 00:15:08.805 - 00:15:24.035
279

280 Interviewee 6 It depends, again. I mean, I´ve- for example, I´ve been err… I´ve done volunteer
281 work at a… what´s it called? An orphanage? In Nepal. And… basically, the idea is just… we
282 need to help these kids who don´t have parents. And that way, it´s very simple, very one- that´s
283 what we do. We sit here, we do this, that´s what is happening. And we are creating some kind
 Interview (3)

284 of change by making sure that these kids have a place to sleep and eat. And that´s about it. But
285 then… we need to, again, be careful when we talk about, I don´t know, bigger organisations
286 that have… 200 different projects that tackle 200 different things. Or… and then we need to
287 see whether or not… I don´t know, maybe some of these projects maybe are trying to install
288 some values or ideas that we believe in that might not be the most correct or the most… I don´t
289 know, like market-systems, types of governments we have, that work for us and not for others,
290 these kind of things that maybe we should think twice. I don´t think it´s as much from NGO
291 perspective, but rather like other organisations who do development, like err… IMF… err…
292 World Bank… That, maybe we need to, you know, rethink the way, some things are done and
293 talked about.
294 00:15:30.585 - 00:16:56.930
295

296 Researcher Ja, talked about especially also. Now that you are doing these films in Oxfam
297 IBIS, err… in the future, what kind of topics would you like them to show? About… in Latin
298 America. What kind of topics are the most important for you… to talk about. And let people
299 know here.
300 00:16:57.755 - 00:17:21.020
301

302 Interviewee 5 Err… there is all sorts of violence. I think that´s a big topic. Violence to women
303 or to children, or… homicides, or… or drugs. There is tons of drugs. And err… and
304 corruption… maybe. Those are big ones.
305 00:17:23.950 - 00:17:50.840
306

307 Interviewee 6 I study development, and political economy and politics and all these things,
308 so I´m very curious about… err, the effects… err… structural adjustment programmes have had
309 in Latin America. Over time.
310 00:17:51.980 - 00:18:05.780
311

312 Researcher Effects?

313 00:18:05.870 - 00:18:06.700
314

315 Interviewee 6 Yes. So like in the 80s, there was these economic programmes brought down
316 by the IMF to… highly develop Latin American countries and, you know, it´s been twenty
317 years since… what has change, what has happened? And this kind of things.
318 00:18:06.750 - 00:18:21.010
319

320 Researcher And ahem-

 Interview (3)

321 00:18:21.625 - 00:18:23.175

322

323 Interviewee 6 I don´t know if there is any film about that but… that would be an interesting
324 topic.
325 00:18:23.015 - 00:18:26.835
326

327 Interviewee 5 You can learn from that. Whether you have done well or if you should
328 completely change it, or… Ja. I think raising awareness is very important… because err… well
329 it´s okay to be… to be, of course, helping people…. And the, what is it? The group that needs
330 it exactly. Those children, or women, or whatever. But there´s also important to inform the-
331 well, so many people that have absolutely no idea of certain topics. Just my raising a little bit
332 of awareness… I mean, having to ask them for their money, or anything. But just the fact that
333 they know, makes them think a little bit more… maybe do something different…
334 00:18:32.710 - 00:19:20.705
335

336 Interviewee 6 Yeah. Development is not a historical. And people can know what has been
337 done on different places.
338 00:19:21.115 - 00:19:28.875
339

340 Researcher And how- cause we know that there are people who are sceptical about
341 development work and the work of NGOs. How would you co- I don´t wanna say convince
342 them, but... tell them what you think... try to make them... Ja. If they don´t believe in that?
343 Unless, you don´t believe in development work.
344 00:19:28.995 - 00:19:54.240
345

346 Interviewee 5 Err… I really don´t know much about it, I just heard rumours of really big
347 NGOs that don´t really use their money the way they should. So people are afraid of donations.
348 I am not really informed about that.
349 00:19:55.140 - 00:20:14.020
350

351 Interviewee 6 Err, I don´t know. I think, you know, normally what happens in these kind of
352 activism groups or development groups or all these things, is that it is that. It´s a group. And
353 you don´t go further than the group you are in. And that´s the reality of almost everything you
354 do. People tend to group up and then don´t leave their groups. And err… when it comes to
355 people who are sceptics of development, I would say they… we just need to… again, Ja, raise
356 awareness, try to broaden our horizons. Also as activists, you know, like I´ve been talking a lot
357 about this in terms of elections and making people to vote, and… you know, people always are
358 like “yeah, but there are so many people active who go like, to the cities”. But it´s like, you
 Interview (3)

359 don´t have to go to the cities, you need to go to like… the farmlands. To make those people,
360 and to engage those people who are disagreeing with you. Because it´s very easy for anyone to
361 go to… Ja, Rådhuspladsen and just talk to the people there. And, everything is cool, everyone´s
362 progressive, everyone loves each other, we should all do development, we want to have equal
363 rights, equal opportunities. But let´s go to Sydjylland or something, and figure out what those
364 people are saying. And then try to discuss it in… reality with people who disagree with you.
365 And then maybe we can do something about it.
366 00:20:14.695 - 00:21:31.210
367

368 Researcher How would you do it? How would you discuss it with someone from-
369 00:21:32.175 - 00:21:35.335
370

371 Interviewee 6 I would say… It´s a lot just about engaging and about… understanding their
372 position, a lot? I think sometimes, you know we can see it even now with Trump and like
373 different… Ja, err… new movements towards extreme right movements and… Ja, non-
374 tolerance… It´s about understanding where these problems come from. These problems come
375 from… inequality, these problems come from these people not seeing a better future for
376 themselves, and then they just target it towards… an easy target. And that´s what, we need to
377 tackle… err… this idea of where the problems are stemming from, is what we need to discuss.
378 Their point of distress, their point of being angry, is valid. But we need to focus it toward a
379 good purpose, I think. If that makes sense.
380 00:21:35.485 - 00:22:35.230
381

382 Researcher Ja, it does.

383 00:22:36.140 - 00:22:37.560
384

385 Researcher And ahem, we are almost done. And, have you heard of this initiative that is
386 called The Narrative Project, or the World´s Best News?
387 00:22:39.865 - 00:22:49.405
388

389 Interviewee 5 No. What´s-

390 00:22:49.515 - 00:22:50.970
391

392 Researcher World´s Best News I think it´s ahem…

393 00:22:51.000 - 00:22:53.150
394
 Interview (3)

395 Interviewee 6 No.

396 00:22:53.330 - 00:22:53.840
397

398 Researcher No. Okay. I´ll explain. World´s Best News is a campaign that is going on right
399 now in Denmark. It started in Denmark. And it´s about developing work and how, instead of –
400 they saw that talking about development work in other countries err… people weren´t donating
401 anymore, because they were sceptical about it. So now, they try to change that and when they
402 talk about those countries they wanna talk only positive news. The positive things about err…
403 about what´s going on… in Latin America, or in Africa.
404 00:22:53.860 - 00:23:35.500
405

406 Interviewee 5 That sound´s nice.

407 00:23:35.995 - 00:23:37.005
408

409 Researcher It´s a new approach. They are trying to talk to NGOs and to organisations.
410 Trying to make this organisation to rethink the way they are communicating, and they have
411 these perspective and one of the aspects is… err… ahem, show the progress that they have done
412 so far with the projects. A lot of other things are included in this new approach.
413 00:23:37.085 - 00:24:09.805
414

415 Interviewee 5 Ja, that sound´s much more motivating.

416 00:24:09.885 - 00:24:13.960
417

418 Researcher The reason why we are asking is, that Oxfam IBIS is part of this project. Did
419 you know? No.
420 00:24:15.460 - 00:24:22.310
421

422 Interviewee 5 No.

423 00:24:22.365 - 00:24:22.705
424

425 Interviewee 6 No.

426 00:24:22.710 - 00:24:23.140
427

428 Researcher It´s no problem. And about his project. It´s a new way of- see the website of
429 Oxfam IBIS for example, or of other organisations that are part of this project. You don´t see
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430 anymore the pictures of children skinny and dying. But, you only see happy children learning
431 how to read… and so, that´s the new communication style. What do you think about it? It´s
432 okay to disagree with it, or to agree with it. Do you guys think that there is a need for changing
433 the way of NGOs communication, or not?
434 00:24:25.210 - 00:25:06.100
435

436 Interviewee 5 It´s worth trying. It´s nice that they are doing something different. I am just
437 imagining… That I, if I see those images of children studying and things going well… I would
438 think err… I would think that things are working out. So maybe it inspires you to help more
439 because you wanna see more that. So… I think if I see something bad that maybe you feel a bit
440 more... with your hands tied, like what to do. Or how… it´s too big for me to help. I don´t know.
441 I think it´s nice.
442 00:25:06.785 - 00:25:55.625
443

444 Interviewee 6 I agree. I just be worry- a little be worried, that it would happen the same thing
445 that is happening with the sad stuff. Like the sad stuff is basically a lot of sad, and then people
446 stop donating. So now we are going for happy, happy, happy, and it´s gonna be like “everyone´s
447 fine!” We shouldn´t help, or donate or anything anymore. But err… I guess, the balance is
448 somewhere in the middle.
449 00:25:56.785 - 00:26:17.985
450

451 Interviewee 5 All the extremes are not okay.

452 00:26:18.130 - 00:26:20.565
453

454 Interviewee 6 Ja. But, I don’t know, sure. I think it´s a- I do think it´s a okay initiative,
455 though. Because there is a lot of bad stuff or like… a lot of negative, negativity going around
456 media and stuff so, maybe positive stuff is good.
457 00:26:20.112 - 00:26:33.442
458

459 Researcher There are many people- it´s… right now it´s like though, it´s like should we do
460 it, or shouldn´t we… is it working or not? Some people agree, some people don´t agree. And it
461 can become a problem, especially when there´s people that have different opinions working in
462 the same organisations.
463 00:26:35.467 - 00:26:51.422
464

465 Interviewee 5 And is it an initiative behind all NGOs in Denmark? Or were did it start?
466 00:26:51.512 - 00:26:56.542
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467

468 Researcher It started in Denmark. Many NGOs, Oxfam IBIS for example, UNICEF… it
469 started with the UN… and err, it´s every year they do some, a couple of – I think it´s three times
470 a year- that they do this big event in the morning where all the volunteers, and if you are
471 volunteering this year, you will be invited to it, err… in Rådhuspladsen and in the centres, you
472 will be distributing this World´s Best News newspaper.
473 00:26:56.602 - 00:27:27.830
474

475 Interviewee 6 Aaaah! I got that!

476 00:27:27.850 - 00:27:29.325
477

478 Researcher Ja?

479 00:27:29.330 - 00:27:29.530
480

481 Interviewee 6 I remember now.

482 00:27:29.545 - 00:27:30.145
483

484 Researcher Ja, Ja.

485 00:27:30.130 - 00:27:30.330
486

487 Interviewee 5 You, okay…

488 00:27:30.895 - 00:27:31.455
489

490 Researcher Ja, Ja. And you can see it, right now it is also in the small TVs in the S-train.
491 You always see it… World´s Best News…
492 00:27:31.590 - 00:27:43.555
493

494 Interviewee 5 [incomprehensible]

495 00:27:43.595 - 00:27:44.445
496

497 Interviewee 6 Ja.

498 00:27:44.295 - 00:27:44.725
499
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500 Researcher We were interested in it because it actually started in Denmark. It´s getting
501 bigger and bigger.
502 00:27:46.045 - 00:27:51.750
503

504 Interviewee 6 Cool.

505 00:27:53.625 - 00:27:54.445
506

507 Researcher And do you think you are going- you might include that in your work as a
508 volunteer in Oxfam IBIS? Or…
509 00:27:55.570 - 00:28:02.060
510

511 Interviewee 5 Ja. I would think it´s important to also show that development, like how long
512 it took to make those kids happy, and reading and stuff, because it´s not “Aaaah that´s so
513 wonderful they are reading now”, but they don´t know how long it took or how much effort or
514 money or I don´t know… maybe it´s nice to show how it used to be, how long it took and what
515 was done during the whole process. And then the result. Just a bit of a… general process. I think
516 that´s important as well.
517 00:28:02.355 - 00:28:33.555
518

519 Interviewee 6 Jap, agreed.

520 00:28:33.680 - 00:28:36.760
521

522 Interviewee 5 That was interesting.

523 00:28:44.390 - 00:28:45.810
524

525 Interviewee 6 Fun.

526 00:28:47.060 - 00:28:47.610
527

528 Researcher Thank you for your help!

529 00:28:47.730 - 00:28:49.390
530

531 Interviewee 5 No problem.

532 00:28:51.685 - 00:28:52.645
533