‘Stories We Bring to Life’: How Civil Society Uses Narrative in Transitional Justice Contexts

This research report examines how civil society actors involved in transitional justice processes narrate and communicate their role, impact, and value. It focuses on actors in Colombia, The Gambia, and Kenya, describing the content, form, and audiences of their communication work.

The three countries selected for the study have experienced different forms of violence and serious human rights violations and are at different stages of addressing the past. Each has a distinct narrative landscape that nevertheless contains discourses that overlap and connect with long-term peace and development in multiple ways.

The report demonstrates that actors are agile in making decisions about which discourses and stories will best achieve their goals, connect with different audiences, and promote their work, be it related to justice, human rights, sustainable peace, or livelihoods. These decisions about narrative framing and communication strategies take place in the context of an evolving transitional justice process, but also depend on available resources, training, and knowledge of local cultures.

The study also shows that individual actors construct narratives as part of a broader narrative landscape in which other civil society organizations as well as state institutions, communities, and victims all have their own agendas and messages. While organizations often join with others to strengthen their voice through a shared story as an impact strategy, in each country context there is also an ongoing negotiation over narrative ownership.

The narrative communication work spotlighted in this report is vitally important, and yet it is often under-funded, under-discussed, and under-researched. This could be partly due to limited resources and skills but is also due to a wider gap in transitional justice practice and thinking. If the narrative communication work of transitional justice stakeholders is taken seriously and is well resourced, it has the potential to support better justice, peace, and development outcomes.