Communicating Suffering: A View from NGO Practice

Abstract

This chapter reflects on the contributions of the Caring in Crisis study for humanitarian communications practice. A senior NGO professional, Daynes argues that the nature of NGO communications practice and its impact on public understanding of and support for aid and development have been understudied. Daynes highlights the book’s project as a reminder of what he calls ‘the greatest lost narratives of our time’, namely NGOs’ role as moral entrepreneurs seeking social justice and the highest regard for human rights and dignity. He calls NGOs to listen to the study’s findings in informing their endeavor of re-earning the public’s trust and strengthening how they seek to create sympathy for victims of conflict and other contexts, that do not easily fit the non-complex ‘emergency model’.