Stories That Shift Systems: From Trust to Norm Change Through Narrative

This multimedia showcase presents FPNN: Stories That Shift Power, a documentary-style film that premiered at the ICFP 2025 conference. The video follows young journalists and community reporters from across Latin America as they use solutions journalism and evidence-informed storytelling to reshape conversations on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Through field reporting, interviews, and scenes from an embedded newsroom, the film illustrates how community members can become central narrators of their own experiences and priorities.


The showcased film highlights the work of the Family Planning News Network. This growing global network trains and supports early-career and community reporters in creating culturally grounded and technically strong multimedia content. Through regional partnerships, participants received hands-on mentorship in reporting, interviewing, filming, editing, and presenting complex SRHR evidence in a clear and accessible manner. The video itself is both a product of this capacity-strengthening approach and an example of how locally led storytelling can advance the goals of SBCC.


The presentation will introduce the video, describe its creation, and outline how partners have begun using it in advocacy and training. The film showcases the potential of community-anchored storytelling to amplify underrepresented voices and enhance communication ecosystems in a rapidly evolving SRHR landscape.

¿Qué significa pagar una factura de agua en un territorio atravesado por la violencia?
 En Tumaco, Colombia, este acto cotidiano estaba marcado por la desconfianza: muchos asumían que "nadie paga" y esa percepción alimentaba una norma social de no pago. Así se mantenía un círculo vicioso: impago generalizado, servicios deficientes, más desconfianza y, en consecuencia, aún menos pago.
El Arte Social para el Cambio de Comportamiento (ASCC) abrió un camino distinto. No se trató de informar, sino de involucrar. Usuarios visitaron la planta de tratamiento, preguntaron, vieron los problemas y presenciaron las mejoras. Esa visibilidad encendió conversaciones, y pronto la idea de que el agua "no sirve y nadie paga" empezó a transformarse en orgullo compartido: el sistema volvía a pertenecerles.
En espacios de escucha, creación colectiva y diálogo simbólico, usuarios, artistas locales y la empresa de agua comenzaron a reconocerse no como adversarios, sino como vecinos. El arte -y en particular la salsa choque, ritmo nacido en Tumaco como grito de identidad y resistencia- se convirtió en puente. Así nació "Al Día", obra cocreada que refleja el paso de la desconfianza al entendimiento mutuo.
El resultado fue contundente: el pago subió del 8% al 42% en apenas un año. Pero lo más transformador fue cultural: de la norma de "yo no pago" a la convicción de "yo cuido". Esta propuesta multimedia comparte cómo la reconciliación alrededor del agua convirtió a la gente en protagonista de su propio cambio.

Entertainment-education (EE) has proven effective in influencing social norms and health behaviors by fostering parasocial relationships and stimulating peer dialogue (Horton & Wohl; Papa et al., 2000; Love et al., 2009). DiCHiPi, a youth-led TV drama complemented by social media extensions and Big Sis chatbot link-outs, was designed using social and behavior change (SBC) principles and localized languages to enhance cultural relevance. Its transmedia monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) approach combined social listening, panel surveys, and storyline-moment analysis to track audience engagement and behavioral intent. Mirroring randomized controlled trial evidence from MTV Shuga (Banerjee et al., 2019), episodes portraying consent negotiation, gender power dynamics, and clinic navigation correlated with noticeable spikes in online searches for sexual and reproductive health information and digital referrals. Findings illustrate "connection pathways" linking narrative content to online discourse and help-seeking behavior. The analysis further highlights equity and inclusion considerations in character representation and production processes, emphasizing co-creation and governance with youth and community-based organization partners (Banerjee et al., 2019; Siegenthaler et al., 2021).