Rachel has been working in the international solidarity sector for more than twelve years, five of them as communications lead for the UK branch of Nairobi-based public health NGO Amref Health Africa. Now freelance, she is currently working for Amref’s global fundraising office on a project that aims to weave the organisation’s commitment to ethical storytelling and representation into its fundraising brand and content. She regularly speaks and writes on the topic of ethical storytelling, and co-chairs Bond’s People in the Pictures working group, which encourages ethical approaches to image-making among INGOs.

Rachel believes strongly that, although the INGO sector must take responsibility for the harm it has caused through decades of partial and paternalistic (if well-intentioned) storytelling, it’s time to shift the dynamics of fundraising content production, creating opportunities for the people we support to tell their own stories. We all know we must do better: the question now is how. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But when it comes to moving away from deeply embedded, decades-old ways of doing things, even small changes can be meaningful - and we all have a part to play. Rachel is passionate about helping individuals and organisations find the courage and confidence to evolve.