Africa’s mothers are in crisis. 70% of maternal deaths occur in the Sub-Sahara. 1 in 3 women live in medical deserts. Conflicts and disasters are forcing a 15% rise in migration.
Today, we don’t lack awareness or compassion around such stats. What we lack is hope–the belief that any of us has the power to make a difference. But with drastically decreasing levels of governmental aid, as a humanitarian NGO based in Dakar, ALIMA relies on people’s hope despite circumstances and empathy beyond personal acquaintance.
So to raise awareness about their work and ignite compassion and support for their maternal health programs among US donors, ALIMA tapped into Africa’s rich storytelling tradition.
Idea
Every now and then, you hear about a stranger who stepped into a critical moment of someone’s life and changed everything. These improbable stories of positive plot twists and happy endings brought about by ordinary people are uplifting and energizing. Because just as hyper-awareness of global issues can overwhelm people into apathy, tales of transformative kindness can reignite collective hope, prompting us to tap into our individual power to change–maybe not the world–but a single story.
Enter Ode to Strangers, a collection of tales from mothers who faced dire circumstances and were helped by a stranger. Spanning generations and continents, each story centers a mother in crisis and a stranger who cares. Together, as a series, Ode to Strangers turns Africa’s maternal health crisis into an issue that’s not about the many but the one: the individual stranger, the singular moment, the one family who made it, but wouldn’t have otherwise.
Creative Execution
We sourced stories from around the world and selected those that spotlight crisis contexts experienced by Sub-Saharan moms today, from displacement to medical deserts and child mortality.
We recorded interviews to capture the mothers’ experiences in their own words. Recordings were edited into 60-second audio clips laid behind illustration to protect mothers’ anonymity.
The series includes two illustrated reenactment films and two looping GIF videos, a take on the quintessential paperback cover, modernized with animations. Micro-stories were written to allow representation across regions where recordings aren’t possible.
Visuals feature hand-drawn illustrations in a free-flowing inking style. Smudges and imperfections mirror the stories’ urgency and embodiment of human frailty.
We layered bespoke ambient tracks to add atmospheric context to each story and crafted a sonic logo to transition from the tales to ALIMA’s CTAs. Original music was composed for, “The Man Who Stopped A Train,” giving expression to the story’s broad emotional range.
Each video ends with the lines, “You don’t need to be there to be there. You can be a stranger who cares,” underscoring how easy organizations like ALIMA make it for us to be that stranger in someone’s life. The adage is one last reminder that millions of stories are still being written and each of us has a role to play.
Rollout
A landing page housed the videos to inspire audiences, offering opportunities for visitors to be that stranger for a mother in crisis by donating to ALIMA.
To get the word out, we enlisted 30+ content creators, including healthcare providers, birthworkers, momfluencers, authors, artists, and Black maternal health advocates to share our videos, create content, and lead conversations about motherhood and community on Instagram. In addition, a peer-based email program activated 200 doctors, nurses, and parents to spread the series across their networks.
We also leveraged the campaign to secure ALIMA’s first-ever cause marketing partnership–a coup for a nonprofit ALIMA’s size. Inspired by, “The Woman in a Rainy Night,” BIPOC-owned jewelry brand Omi Woods designed a bespoke Ode to Strangers set with proceeds going to ALIMA.
Our aim was to raise awareness and support around Africa’s maternal health crisis while building a US audience for ALIMA to cultivate into supporters. By any measure, Ode to Strangers was tremendously successful.
Through the campaign, the Associated Press, Muse, Jejune, and Nonprofit Nation covered ALIMA.
As an international series, we avoided racializing or essentializing the region’s current crisis and need. For this, Ode to Strangers was particularly well received by ALIMA’s African team and US BIPOC audiences who wrote to us saying they appreciated how we presented the crisis and the dignity with which we portrayed the mothers’ stories.
By tapping into influencers and content creators across relevant niches, Ode to Strangers reached 4M people. The series blew up ALIMA’s Instagram reach 7,400%, garnered 700K views, and shot engagement up 1,600% with 3,420 likes, 360 comments, and 200 shares—numbers on par with major brands and nonprofits 1,000-times ALIMA’s size. With a 285% increase in profile views, ALIMA netted a 26% follower increase within a month, outpacing typical growth 570% to reach a level it would have taken the NGO nearly 2 years to hit. The campaign also generated a traffic surge, increasing visitors 403% and spiking email signups 68%.
Most importantly, we inspired scores of strangers to act on their compassion and give for the sake of another–an outcome that’s even more crucial given recent US policy decisions to cut aid to NGOs in Africa.
To date, through the kindness of individual strangers, our campaign has changed more than 1,000 life stories by providing vital perinatal care to Sub-Saharan families.
