Preparing stories from the field
‘Stories from the field’ are short, feature articles about IFAD-supported programmes and projects around the world. They illustrate what can happen when smallholder farmers and other poor rural people gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to overcome poverty by themselves. Such stories are crucial – by highlighting the projects and people that we support, they prove the value of our work. This raises our credibility and helps in fundraising. The stories are:
- posted on the website to show visitors the on-the-ground impact of our work
- included in printed form in fundraising kits and materials distributed at important meetings, demonstrating to donors and the public the difference IFAD-funded projects make in people’s lives.
Criteria for stories
A programme or project is suitable for a story if it fulfils these criteria:
To prepare a story, you (or a freelance writer you contract) will need to interview relevant people, including the project coordinator or country programme manager and participants in the project. If possible, visit the project to see how it works and what has changed in the community.
Find answers to these basic questions:
- It is a clear success, demonstrated by being scaled up or replicated, or it has had measurable results, demonstrated by higher income among participants, construction of new schools, improved nutrition and health.
- OR, if the story is about a failed project, it is one that has been reliably documented and that project staff agree to share because it holds lessons for future programmes and projects. (It is even better if the story can demonstrate that such lessons have already been implemented.)
- There are documented results, such as a mid-term evaluation.
- It is clear what IFAD achieved and that results can be attributed to the project or intervention.
- There is a human-interest aspect, such as testimonials from participants.
- Quotes can be obtained from the IFAD country programme manager or someone else, such as a community liaison person, involved in the project.
- Photographs are available to illustrate the story – ideally of participants and specific activities.
To prepare a story, you (or a freelance writer you contract) will need to interview relevant people, including the project coordinator or country programme manager and participants in the project. If possible, visit the project to see how it works and what has changed in the community.
Find answers to these basic questions:
- Why was the project initiated – what was the problem?
- Who participated; who provided the technical assistance (always including the names of IFAD personnel); who benefited?
- What did the project aim to accomplish; what has it accomplished; what are the next steps; how did it work; how were the problems overcome, or how are they being addressed?
- When did the problem begin, when did the project start, and when will it conclude?
- Where is the project located? – Provide the name of the community and the larger province/region/country; if needed for context, provide an identifier, such as ‘in the northeast of the country’; also indicate the number of beneficiaries and/or the size of the area benefiting.
Questions to ask project participants
Ask about the following:
- The person’s name and age (if it is culturally appropriate to ask), number of people in the family and where they live. Make sure to you have the correct spelling of the person’s name – if possible have them write it down.
- What life was like before the project.
- How the project has changed daily life.
Tips on writing
- Begin with an introductory paragraph that summarizes what the IFAD programme or project did and the result(s). Try to include basic answers to the questions of ‘why, who, what, when, where’. The reader should have a good idea of what took place after reading this paragraph, which should be about 50 words.
- Provide more details in following paragraphs, elaborating on the brief information in the first paragraph.
- Insert a quote or two at the beginning of a paragraph. Give the first and last name of people quoted in the story and their job title and institutional affiliation, or occupation and name of village.
- Write short paragraphs – try to keep them under 100 words.
- Break up the text with short subheadings every three or four paragraphs.
- Write about 700 words.
- Choose a title for the story that indicates the theme and the country. Examples of good titles from published stories include ‘Graduating to a new life farming Egypt’s desert’ and ‘Organics: the key to helping Pacific agriculture conquer new markets’.
Key facts
For every story be sure to gather the following key facts, which may appear in a box or in text:
- name of programme or project
- total cost (US$)
- IFAD loan or grant amount
- cofinancing/partners and loan or grant amount
- duration
- geographical area
- number of direct beneficiaries
- status of the programme or project
- relevant links (four or five), and check URLs to make sure they are correct.
Details
- Provide contact name(s) for further information (the country programme manager and/or project coordinator) along with their job title, address, phone number (optional) and e-mail.
- Write a short caption for each photograph (about ten words) that describes what is taking place. For photographs of people, provide full name, occupation, location.
- Provide the name of the person who took the photographs.
- Send the draft text to the country programme manager or technical contact for comments and clearance of text, captions and photographs.
- Select photographs and prepare captions (see the Photography section of the Toolkit).
- Before starting on a story, have a look at sample published stories on the website.