Hope-based communications is a pragmatic approach to winning support for policies and advocacy positions by showing how they will work. Hope-based communications acts on the principle that we should be focused on building the world we want, setting the agenda with our values, our goals, our mission. When it is so tempting to react to our opponent’s frames and actions, it offers a simple formula for telling stories of our own that contribute to the long-term changes in ideas, attitudes and behaviour we want to bring about.

To find out more:

Subscribe to the hope-based communications substack here

Hope-based communications videos – YouTube playlist

Further reading and resources

‘A guide to hope-based communications’, Thomas Coombes, Open Global Rights  

‘Why the future of human rights must be hopeful’, Thomas Coombes, Open Global Rights

A brilliant way of living our lives: How to talk about human rights, Anat Shenker-Osorio 

Seeing Hope: A Visual Guide for Communicating Human Rights, Thomas Coombes, Fine Acts

Brain research suggests emphasizing human rights abuses may perpetuate them, Laura Ligouri, Open Global Rights

Hope is a practice and a discipline: Building a path to a counterculture of care, Kelly Hayes, Mariame Kaba

‘Using story to change systems’, Ella Saltmarshe, Stanford Social Innovation Review