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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
It’s Our Story, Now Tell it Well
How to Write right for FrontLines, Impact Blog
and other USAID publications
Workshop Outline
• How to Write for USAID
•USAID’s Different Communications Vehicles
• Story, Not a Story?
• The Submission Process
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Why tell the USAID/Development story?
• It’s a fantastic, humanitarian activity.
• Unless it’s understood, the public and Congress may
not continue to support it.
• To communicate clearly and simply to a mass
audience how USAID uses taxpayer money to help
people develop and improve their lives.
• The better we communicate, the more support we’ll
generate, and the more lives we’ll save.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
What Makes an Effective Story
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
General Story-Telling Must Haves
• Have a narrowly focused pitch (a good way to
measure this is if you can explain your story in one
sentence),
• Use powerful statistics; communicate progress;
• Tie your story to USAID’s larger Mission, and
• Bring it to life with a personal narrative.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
AID-Speak and Communication
Gayle Smith, Senior NSC advisor, speaking June 9 at a meeting of the
Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid, said:
• “We need translation at the NSC – I asked USAID people not to speak
‘USAID-ease’ at meetings.”
• “There is a lot of jargon in use. The more development is seen as boring”
the less support it gets.
•“We need to translate.”
• “We need to figure out how to talk about [foreign aid] with colleagues in
the foreign policy community so we do not come across as money
movers.”
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Magazine/Narrative Writing vs. Contracts,
Dissertations
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•
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Not academic
Not technical
Considers how people read, maintains attention
Uses anecdotes
Uses a specific example to illustrate a larger issue
Clear writing, but can use floral language
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
USAID’s Main Communications Vehicles
• Frontlines
• The Impact Blog
• Transforming Lives
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
The Redesigned FrontLines
Main Differences
• Thematically focused
• Longer Feature-style Articles
• Exclusive Interviews
• Produced every two months instead of monthly
• No in-house news
• More robust web presence
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Online Edition
Internet Edition
hs 30,000
unique pages
views per month
since redesign
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
FrontLines: What Are We Looking For?
• Interesting, creative angles that highlight our
important work in long, “feature” form
• Powerful statistics/Results
• Human Interest Angles, Good, non-technical Quotes,
• Descriptive Language. Make the reader feel like
he/she is there
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
What are we NOT Looking For?
• No technical papers
• No “Process Stories” or “Inside Baseball”
• No mere program descriptions or a laundry list of
achievements.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Transforming Lives
The Old “Telling our Story”
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Transforming Lives: What Are We Looking For?
●
●
●
Stories that show broad-scale sustainable development
projects, [no one-offs, and nothing that is not being or cannot be
scaled
Stories that relate to Presidential Initiatives, FTF, GHI or GCC;
Stories that highlight new, cutting-edge development innovations;
and/or
• Stories that highlight the USAID Forward Reform
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Photos and Social Media
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
What makes a good sharable blog?
• Timeliness, why is this relevant right now?
• Write for the general public- using plain language (i.e. avoid
acronyms, technical jargon, and AID-speak)
• How many lives were changed? Focus on impact, not budgets
• Tell the larger story of why aid matters- you know better than
anyone! Have a hook, show results
• Is it relatable? Use quotes and first-hand accounts of aid
recipients
• Don’t make your reader search for more information: always
include links
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Promoting your blog
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Story? Not a story?
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Ethiopian Burial Societies
Join Fight Against HIV/AIDS
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Eggplant Grafting Transforms Life
In Guatemala
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
“Magic Traps” Increase Farmers’
Profits in Bangladesh
Method uses chemical that mimics pheromone of the
female melon fly
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Strategic Development Communication
Impact Expands Development
USAID’s K Program and World Bank Affected
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Sandy Smith Sworn In
as Kundu Mission
Director
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Afghanistan Infant Mortality
Rate Falls 25 Percent after
USAID Intervention, Hopkins
Study Shows
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Poor’s Participation in
Mainstreaming Gender Empowerment
for Civil Society Stakeholders
Promotes Country Ownership of
Good Governance for CommunityDriven Sustainable Development
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Economic Development Expert Paul
Collier Meets with Senior USAID
Officials
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
When Aid is Blocked, Can
Nations Intervene?
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Partnership Alliance with
Major Oil Co. Launches
$300M Initiative in Ghana
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
FrontLines: Submission Guidelines
• Generally, stories should be submitted through
USAID Communications POC according to themes
• Send your 2-sentence “pitch” for your article to
FrontLines at (LPASCPMailListUSAID@usaid.gov).
• For the subject heading, use a brief slug for your
article followed by the the word “pitch” (i.e., India
Mealyworm Pitch)
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Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Blog: Submission Guidelines
All blog submissions must be directed to socialmedia@usaid.gov and
should be submitted at least two days before desired post date.
Please include the following:
•Title of the article
•Author’s name & title or bureau
•Links leading to relevant content (Read USAID’s linking guidelines)
•An image with caption & photo credit
•Clearance sheet (Must include LPA Strat Lead)
If you would like to include additional multimedia (like a photo slideshow or video) please contact
us in advance for guidance on accessibility compliance (section 508).
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
Transforming Lives: Submission Guidelines
• Stories must be submitted through your USAID
communications contact at either the mission (the
DOC), or Washington.
• No template needed; word doc ok
• 300-600 words.
• Must contain a title, subtitle, pull-quote, and photo
with caption and credit
KNOWLEDGE SHARING WORKSHOPS
Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs