Sourcing stories from the field

A common problem experienced by international NGOs is sourcing stories from the field. Your organisation may do great work across the world, but getting the examples to illustrate this can be a constant challenge.

It is usually made difficult by a combination of logisitics - working in remote areas, no access to internet, difficult to visit projects regulalry; attitude - lack of understading about the need for stories, feelings that there are better things to be done with people's time; and time and resource constraints.

To make sure that you get the stories that you need, you have 3 main choices:

1) Rely on people in the field to source and deliver stories
2) Use a local journalist or send a freelancer
3) Travel to the field yourself

Travelling to the field yourself can seem the most reliable option but is often less realistic because of everyday responsibiltities and time and cost implications. If you can find a great local journalist or freelancer then this can help you get great stories but has to be balanced with the expense of hiring them. Most ideally, you want to be able to rely on your staff in the field to source and deliver stories.

To do this successfully requires training and skill - both for you to write and explain clear briefs and expectations, and for the staff in the field to understand how to deliver them. It is an area that many NGOs scrimp on but it is essential to create a regular and successful flow of stories from the field.