What if we transformed narratives based on shared values and humanity?
The Familias: Ahora project utilized hope-based communications to promote new and alternative narratives about families in Latin America. This approach helped the project communicate difficult stories in a way that added hope without erasing the realities faced by individuals, fostering a more inclusive and supportive vision of family well-being.
In Latin America, traditional narratives around family structures often exclude or misrepresent the experiences of marginalized groups. Transgender individuals in particular have been represented negatively and face harmful narratives that reinforce stereotypes and discrimination in the region.
Even with well-meaning campaigns, the stories of transgender individuals are often portrayed in a light that emphasizes their struggles and hardships, leading to disconnection and hopelessness among audiences and hindering efforts to foster understanding and acceptance.
The Familias: Ahora project, organized by the organization Puente, is a collective of 80+ organizations around Latin America that aimed to promote new and alternative narratives about family in the region. The goals of the project included:
promoting narrative change by placing human rights and social justice at the core of family well-being in Latin America,
offering educational content and practical tools with free public access to help families develop healthy relationships based on care and well-being,
and establishing a collective in Latin America of organizations and activists committed to social justice and family well-being.
The project organizers faced the challenge of telling the difficult and often painful stories of non-traditional families and individuals in a way that would not alienate or dishearten the audience. Traditional methods of storytelling focused heavily on the adversity people face, which, while important, often left audiences feeling overwhelmed and powerless to effect change.
“We were working with very difficult stories, for example about transgender people in Latin America who had very difficult histories and experiences,” says Laura, Editor-in-Chief at Camino. The stories were so difficult, they often felt hopeless, she recalls. “The challenge for us was to find a way to add hope to the campaign without erasing the stories.”
The project team decided to base the entire strategy on humanity and the people behind the stories. “In the end, we decided to base the entire strategy on humanity and the people behind the stories: this is a mom, a dad, a friend, a person who loves to cook… while also communicating the everyday challenges they faced,” says Laura. By focusing on the humanity and everyday experiences of individuals in non-traditional family situations, the campaign was able to engage its audience in a more meaningful way.
The Familias: Ahora project utilized hope-based communications to promote new and alternative narratives about families in Latin America. This approach helped the project communicate difficult stories in a way that added hope without erasing the realities faced by individuals, fostering a more inclusive and supportive vision of family well-being.
“In the end, we decided to base the entire strategy on humanity.”
“In the end, we decided to base the entire strategy on humanity and the people behind the stories: this is a mom, a dad, a friend, a person who loves to cook… while also communicating the everyday challenges they faced.”
To address this challenge, Camino, a creative agency, and Puentes, an organization working on narrative change, collaborated to use a hope-based approach in the campaign to balance the harsh realities people face with messages of hope and resilience. This approach aimed to provide the audience with a more empowering perspective that highlighted positive stories, solution-oriented narratives, and was based on hope and humanity.
“We didn’t want to just tell people: ‘there are other ways to be a man…’ and expect the narrative around masculinity to change. We have to give the audience tools to reimagine how they think of masculinity, how they relate to each other and to their families.”
This is one of the core principles of hope-based communication: giving audiences an opportunity to be the change we want to see, by showing them what that change looks like.
The hope-based approach had a transformative impact on the Familias: Ahora project. By shifting the narrative to include elements of hope and humanity, the project was able to engage its audience in a more meaningful and positive way.
Participants have expressed how the project has positively impacted their understanding and approach to family relationships. Claudia Gonzalez, a 50-year-old participant, shared: “By sharing with my teenage children the information that circulates thanks to Familias: Ahora, we have created spaces for discussion around parenting, sexuality, emotional management, and our life plans.”
Sandra Mayorga, 46, said of the project: “I am in constant contact with Familias: Ahora, and the tools they share have helped me to be more attentive. On a personal level, I have been able to reflect on this and improve my family relationships.”
Alexander Ayala, 41, noted: “Thanks to Familias: Ahora, I now have a better understanding of how I should act as a parent and responsible educator of the children and adolescents with whom I interact at the family and residential level.”
The project released podcast episodes, documentaries, and explainer videos, maintaining an active and engaging presence on social media, including 239K followers on Facebook. According to Camino, in two years of operation, the project achieved 18,250,000 interactions with its content, with 155,000 people becoming part of its digital community. Additionally, 11,000,000 people were reached through their Facebook Fanpage, and over 7,000 people joined their WhatsApp groups to receive daily tools and resources.
By focusing on the humanity and everyday experiences of individuals in non-traditional family situations, the campaign was able to engage its audience in a more meaningful and effective way. This approach fostered empathy and understanding, and promoted long-term behavior and narrative change around family structures in Latin America.
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