By Vitus Ejiogu, Co-Founder, Rosana Empowerment Foundation (REF)
I still remember the skepticism the first time we told someone we were producing community documentaries on mobile phones. “Who’s going to watch them?” “That’s not real reporting,” they said. But what we’ve seen since then – especially in the hard-to-reach places we work in like Damasak in Borno, Umuagu in Imo, and Ogulagha in Delta – is this: the most powerful stories are often the simplest, rawest, and most local.
At REF, we didn’t start with production studios or high-end gear, we started with urgency. From displaced women entrepreneurs rebuilding their lives in the Northeast, to riverine youths in Delta pushing back against oil-induced poverty, to the overlooked voices in Umuagu, Imo State, where youth face mounting unemployment and cultural dislocation, we realized there were stories no one was telling. And if no one would, we would.
Digital Storytelling for Impact
Like many grassroots changemakers, we found our audience not through traditional media, but through WhatsApp chains, Facebook reels, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Live. These platforms have become our broadcast towers. They connect us to communities, funders, journalists, and global advocates – many of whom had no idea where Umuagu, Damasak or Ogulagha even was.
We began coaching our volunteers and community champions to film short videos on:
- How lack of school materials keeps girls at home.
- How oil spills choke fisheries in Bayelsa and Delta.
- How survivors of gender-based violence in Bauchi find refuge and strength through peer-led safe spaces.
These aren’t just updates – they’re testimonies of resilience, calls for support, and in many cases, catalysts for change.
Why Community Voices Matter
The old model of “experts speaking for the community” doesn’t work anymore. People want authenticity, not filtered narratives. This is why our local voices are our greatest assets.
When 17-year-old Favour from Imo talked about her struggles with finishing secondary school because of early marriage pressure, her story was shared over 25,000 times on Instagram. Not because it was “viral content,” but because it was real. She spoke in her dialect, she didn’t edit out the background noise, and she looked straight into the lens. That’s the power of raw impact storytelling.
The Future: A REF Digital Fellowship
In 2026, we plan to launch the REF Digital Voices Fellowship – an incubator that will train 30 young people across Southeast, South-South, and Northeast Nigeria in mobile journalism, impact storytelling, and digital advocacy. The aim? Make community storytelling mainstream. These fellows will:
- Track key development issues (education, health, livelihood).
- Collaborate with media partners and funders.
- Host community screenings and drive action.
What We’ve Learned
- You don’t need a newsroom to create impact journalism. You need purpose, people, and a phone.
- The best platforms are where your people already are. For us, it’s WhatsApp, Instagram, and TikTok.
- We don’t need to wait for “coverage.” We create our own visibility.
So, to other NGOs, youth-led groups, and journalists: tell your story – before someone tells it for you. Because the next solution, the next grant, the next policy shift might come not from a press conference, but from a 60-second video filmed from a dirt road in Bauchi.
#GrassrootsVoices, #DigitalStorytelling, #CommunityMediaNigeria, #REFImpact, #UnderservedNotUnheard, #YouthForChange, #StoriesThatMatter
