Homepage > Programs > Frontline Lives & Local Resilience
Across the world, climate change is reshaping daily life – sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once. Yet the people most affected are often the least heard. The Frontline Lives & Local Resilience program exists to change that.
WeAreTELL partners directly with communities in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and beyond to document how individuals and families are experiencing the climate crisis, adapting to it, and fighting to protect their homes and futures. These stories are real, powerful, and rooted in lived experience – offering the world a clearer picture of what climate change truly looks like on the ground.
We begin by working with local leaders, youth groups, researchers, and grassroots organizations to understand where climate impacts are most severe. These include areas facing:
frequent droughts
rising sea levels
extreme storms and flooding
failed harvests
forest loss
disappearing fisheries
This process ensures we focus on the communities with the highest climate vulnerability — and the strongest stories of resilience.
Instead of parachuting in with cameras, we invest in people who live in these communities. We train:
young storytellers
local journalists
Indigenous communicators
photographers and filmmakers
They learn ethical climate reporting, mobile filmmaking, interviewing, fact-checking, and trauma-sensitive storytelling. This builds long-term capacity and ensures stories are told with authenticity and accuracy.
Our field missions capture powerful, multi-format stories such as:
farmers adapting to unpredictable seasons
families rebuilding after floods
Indigenous leaders protecting forests
women developing new climate-smart livelihoods
youth inventing local solutions
communities facing loss and damage
Each story is produced with consent, dignity, and a focus on humanity rather than suffering.
Formats include:
short documentaries
written features
podcasts
photo essays
social clips
local-language summaries
data-driven visuals
Climate information must reach people where they are.
We translate and adapt stories for:
local languages
community radio
WhatsApp and SMS distribution
schools and youth groups
community screenings
low-bandwidth audiences
This means the stories are not just for global platforms — they also serve the communities that shared them.
Through global media partnerships, regional broadcasters, climate networks, and civil society organizations, we ensure that frontline voices reach:
policymakers
educators
researchers
journalists
global citizens
Our goal is simple: turn local experiences into global awareness and global awareness into action.
Every story returns to the people who inspired it.
We host:
community screenings
listening circles
dialogue forums
This builds trust, ensures accuracy, and helps communities use their stories for advocacy and support.
Join us as we change the way the world understands the climate crisis through powerful, human stories.
