Narratives are shared stories that help us understand how the world works. Oasis helps partners strengthen both stories and the systems that support them, driving narrative change at scale.
Inspired by more than twenty years of RAES experience advancing social and behavior change across Africa, Oasis was created to address a specific challenge: turning research into narrative change.
Based in Johannesburg and active across the continent, Oasis is a research and action hub that helps storytellers, practitioners, researchers, and funders strengthen story power.
Through research, tools, training, and ecosystem development, we strengthen both stories and the systems that enable them to travel, resonate, and endure.
Storytellers, funders, practitioners, and researchers regularly encounter the same structural barriers.
Insufficient data on who audiences are, what they believe, and how they engage with media
Lack of shared models and metrics to assess behavioral impact
Limited access to best practices in socially impactful storytelling for narrative change
Disconnections limit the potential of stakeholders and their stories
Oasis provides the research, tools, and training needed to unlock story power and drive narrative change.
Data to design stories that resonate and influence.
Methods to understand what stories change—and how.
Training and tools to strengthen storytelling.
RESEARCH HUB
Oasis brings together experts in audience insights (media habits, cultural reference points, and lived realities), narrative-change models and metrics, and research on audiences, narratives, and narrative change.
Oasis develops NED (Narrative Ecosystem Design), an approach that intentionally shapes both stories and the systems that support them in order to drive lasting narrative change.
TRAINING HUB
Oasis offers three forms of support: practical training for actors who create, distribute, and evaluate stories for social impact; content-development support; and the Oasis Training Center—a mobile learning platform designed for practitioners across Africa and beyond.
Training topics include narrative design, audience research methods, program evaluation, and social-impact content creation.
Oasis works with funders, researchers, practitioners, and storytellers across Africa
and beyond to strengthen story power and drive narrative change.
Are you a storyteller, funder, practitioner, or researcher working at the intersection of stories and social change? We'd love to hear from you.