Equipping a global field to tell powerful stories focused on prevention rather than punishment
Spitfire is partnering with To Zero, a global network dedicated to eradicating childhood sexual violence, to shift narratives about this painful and persistent issue and build communications capacity across the field.
Launched in 2022, To Zero supports the global community of practitioners, survivors, advocates, campaigners, researchers and policymakers tackling childhood sexual violence (CSV). From local direct service organizations to international governance institutions, the To Zero network works to build a world in which children are nurtured and supported to thrive and can grow up without fear or abuse. Following a research, visioning and strategic planning process, To Zero partnered with Spitfire to develop robust narrative strategy and build communications, storytelling and media engagement capacity across its hundreds of member organizations.
To Zero had already done the hard work of building a shared, inclusive vision for a world free from childhood sexual violence. But the field it supports still faced a paralyzing narrative problem: a pervasive sense of fatalism, resignation and despair around CSV. Survivors, families and advocates know that this is a solvable problem, yet have long struggled to communicate this vision. To Zero recognized the need for a partner to the field who could combine deep narrative and communications expertise with practical, actionable tools that organizations on the front lines of protecting children could put to immediate use; a partner as committed as they were to a more just future for children everywhere.
Spitfire began with a comparative global media analysis, examining coverage across six continents to understand how the world talks – and doesn’t talk – about CSV. The research surfaced dominant frames that were undermining the field’s own goals: perpetrators cast as inhuman “monsters,” systemic failures reduced to conspiracy, and punishment treated as the only solution. Coverage often perpetuated the silence, stigma and shame survivors carry rather than naming the systems that enable abuse and violence, while sidelining information about how common and preventable CVS really is.
To translate that research into something the field could act on, Spitfire facilitated a two-day in-person narrative strategy workshop with the To Zero Steering Committee and 10 field leaders in Dublin, Ireland. The session brought together survivors and advocates to pressure-test new narrative frameworks, stories, messaging and communications guidance. Participants called it “transformative,” “brilliant,” “invigorating,” “deeply participatory” and “profound.”
Drawing on what Spitfire heard in Dublin, the team developed Growing Up Safe: A Narrative and Messaging Guide to Prevent Childhood Sexual Violence, in partnership with To Zero. Rather than reinforcing the frames that fuel despair, the guide equips advocates and communities with aspirational narratives that emphasize prevention, highlight realistic solutions, reduce stigma and instill hope, all paired with practical talking points, examples and tools they can put to use right away.
To bring these tools directly to the field, this past year Spitfire designed and led a series of in-person media, messaging and narrative trainings with To Zero’s international network partners in Paris, France; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Nairobi, Kenya. More are planned for 2027. Each multiday convening gathers regional field leaders, providers, campaigners, survivors and organizers for hands-on workshops on shifting cultural, community and media narratives, strategic storytelling and message development. Spitfire also hosts a series of Learning Labs, virtual communications skills-strengthening sessions open to the entire field. Alongside these trainings, Spitfire updated To Zero’s Fundraising Guide for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, and helped disseminate it to To Zero’s broad network, which has grown to include more than 630 member organizations worldwide.
The response has been immediate and tangible. The Growing Up Safe guide’s webpage has already been viewed by over 800 visitors, and partners say it has helped them “look at their professional activities from a different perspective” and offers them “a compass for future interventions in combating childhood sexual violence” with “practical, actionable tools that can be immediately applied to their communications work.” One survivor said the guide gave them a clear framework to “develop a narrative of my story.”
The regional and virtual trainings have drawn similarly strong reactions, with participants calling the sessions “excellent,” “superb,” and “impressive,” with one noting, “The depth of [Spitfire’s] understanding of the complexities when communicating about CSV is extraordinary.” The Paris training’s ripple effects reached far beyond the room, leading the Kering Foundation to Spitfire to lead a similar session for its U.S.-based grantees working in gender-based violence and violence against children, and prompting Safe Online to request a narrative and messaging training for its grantees, extending To Zero’s reach further across the field. The Buenos Aires convening, which brought together over 30 global leaders from 25 organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean resulted in a unified regional declaration of solidarity, collaboration and commitment to end sexual violence and all forms of violence against children. Participants also met with legislators, legal experts and media to share their common agenda for prevention and protection. Sean Coughlan, To Zero’s founding director, notes, “We are already seeing the impact of this work within the field, with organizations, advocates and campaigners using the insights gained to develop higher impact communications strategies and new, powerful, hope-based narratives.”
Spitfire is honored to continue supporting To Zero’s communications and narrative strategy through 2028. Building on what the partnership has learned so far, Spitfire will keep designing and leading in-person and virtual trainings for To Zero’s partners, expand the Growing Up Safe narrative guide, develop new strategies for measuring the impact of narrative work, and create a guide for working with survivors to support communication efforts.