‘Telling my story again, and again, and again’ - co-creating a Community Speaker Policy

European Network on Statelessness

‘Telling my story again, and again, and again’ - co-creating a Community Speaker Policy

tlds; (too long didn’t scroll)

ENS’s community speaker policy is co-designed with people affected by statelessness and provides good practice guidance on how to engage and work with community speakers. It provides a framework for effective communication and collaboration, allowing those with lived experience of statelessness and forced migration to lead the conversation on the public stage.

Who should read this?

If you’ve been invited to a speaking engagement, or regularly invite people with lived experience of statelessness or forced migration to talk publicly, this is for you. This policy is relevant to all parties to ensure a more equal relationship. 

Why should you read this?

Through consultation with members, ENS identified the need for better policies to create safe and empowering environments for community speakers. The resulting policy can help you develop respectful and inclusive platforms for community voices in your organisation and communications. It provides crucial guidelines and best practices; by adhering to these guidelines you can ensure that interactions with community members are conducted in a trauma-sensitive, respectful and more equitable manner. 

What’s the take-away?

Establishing policies that prioritise lived experience and ensure respectful engagement requires meeting certain standards, such as offering remuneration, not asking to ‘tell their story’, and providing clear briefings before, during and after an event. You can read the 6 key standards here(opens in new window).

What’s the story?

As a network spanning over 40 countries with 180 members, addressing feedback from community members is crucial. To ensure stateless individuals and their communities can claim power as leaders of change, it was important to create a highly participatory process in line with the organisation’s strategic plan for 2024-2028.

The process began with listening to members' stories and experiences, particularly their negative experiences with panel talks and interviews. This highlighted the need for a better system to protect community members, especially those with potential trauma.

Community members co-designed the process, providing feedback that was disseminated across the network. This collaborative approach centred changemakers with lived experience, ensuring their perspectives were at the forefront. The result was a co-created Community Speaker Policy with clear guidance addressing the main concerns.

What’s the impact?

The Community Speaker Policy successfully established guidelines that promote a respectful process and create a safe space for community members. This is done by addressing issues of trauma sensitivity and focusing on respecting the boundaries of speakers.

It helps monitor and address instances where guidelines are not followed, such as inadequate follow-up after interviews or panel talks. This ensures accountability and fosters a culture of mutual respect. It has been disseminated across the sector for individuals and organisations to use.

What should you do next?

You can read further stories of good practice here. You can also follow and get in touch with ENS to learn more here(opens in new window). Read The next time you invite someone with lived experience to communicate at a public event, consider following guidance in ENS’s Community Speaker Policy available here(opens in new window).  

Read this blog by our changemaker Lynn Al Khatib on the importance of the speaker policy: ”Please don't buy me a plane ticket to present at your event, I don't have a passport” – the birth of ENS’s community speaker policy | European Network on Statelessness(opens in new window)