Transforming how global development works and whom it works for (2022)

Unlock Aid

Launched in 2022, Unlock Aid is a coalition of the world’s most innovative organizations on a mission to reimagine the future of global development. Soon after its creation, it brought on Spitfire to establish clear communications functions for the organization, and we worked closely with its leaders to develop a messaging platform, create social media and newsletter content, build strong partnerships with government agencies and community-based entrepreneurs through lobbying events and creative workshops, and tell the story of why the intent of foreign aid just be reimagined and its rules rewritten.

Unlock Aid was formed with the knowledge that the foreign assistance structures born out of the 1960s are ill-equipped to function in the 21st century. The status quo is no longer a viable option, entrenching outdated systems of privilege and power rather than dismantling and shifting them. By focusing on radical imagination and local wisdom, Unlock Aid works to reanimate the development sector to serve the public interest rather than legacy contractors; invest in new voices and ideas; and build a healthier, more resilient and more prosperous planet for all. To do that effectively, Unlock Aid sought a partner to help establish communication strategies that would expand and strengthen relationships within its coalition, raise the profile of its innovators and drive legislative change in foreign assistance.

Unlock Aid found that partner in Spitfire. With equity at the heart of everything we do and a leading priority for Unlock Aid, we developed a new narrative about international aid and fresh messaging that explained the urgent need for inclusivity to undo the global development sector’s previous harm, set new rules for appropriations that center on-the-ground experience, and highlighted Unlock Aid’s innovative approaches and exciting partnerships. Unlock Aid’s messages were shared through newsletters, a new “Who Are Unlock Aid” video and across social media channels, strengthening relationships with supporters and providing new guideposts for influential leadership at aid agencies and in Congress. Through social media content, media training and writing support that Spitfire provided, Unlock Aid further established its media presence and positioned itself as a serious contributor to the conversation on the future of foreign assistance.

With core messaging in place, Spitfire supported Unlock Aid in preparation for two in-person coalition gatherings. In April 2022, Unlock Aid network members from across the globe gathered in Washington, D.C., to meet with nearly 30 congressional offices about changing the way development investment operates and closing loopholes for legacy contractor wastefulness and inefficiency. Those initial meetings were complemented by more than a dozen additional meetings over the spring and summer. Spitfire crafted daily messaging for Unlock Aid members, developed talking points, and provided social media support and video production assistance. Unlock Aid’s messages landed. Congress members who met with Unlock Aid members took those members’ goals to heart and centered accountability, transparency and innovation in both their subsequent public statements and the 2023 Fiscal Year House of Representatives Appropriations bill.

In August 2022, Unlock Aid hosted its very first Moonshot Accelerator, cosponsored with the Federation of American Scientists’ Day One Project, focused on innovative ideas to hit the United Nations’ own Sustainable Development Goals and climate targets within the decade. Together in Mexico City, over 70 innovators, representing more than 40 organizations from 25-plus countries across six continents, discussed structural barriers that perpetuate broken status quo models of foreign aid, how to maximize transparency to enhance equity, and ways to share critical ideas and shape policy change that’s currently missing from the international development ecosystem. Spitfire supported Unlock Aid with communications collateral before, during and after the gathering, developing social media content and graphics and conducting media outreach.

14 original illustrations were created by artist Manuella Bonomi to depict each moonshot idea.

Through our work together, Unlock Aid was well-positioned to urge USAID Administrator Samantha Power to fulfill her promise to refocus the agency on impact and scale by introducing three concrete actions that USAID can do right now - increase transparency, scale up evidence-based solutions and build new partnerships - to prioritize innovation and accelerate impact. Such efforts and relationship-building strategies led Power to name-check Unlock Aid in her landmark May 2022 “Progress, Not Programs” speech for supporting the agency’s commitment to driving results, centering “locally-led development” and “ceding power over decisionmaking to those who know their problems best.” Unlock Aid also led a two-hour discussion showcasing the best of the coalition during USAID’s “Reverse Industry Day.” In response, USAID reached out to schedule follow-up sessions with Unlock Aid and its members about some of the specific thematic issues they raised.

In less than one year after launching, Unlock Aid became a key partner and change-maker in the development sector. After Spitfire’s partnership, Unlock Aid has expanded its in-house communications capacity and continues working closely with its members, officials and members of Congress to fundamentally alter the international aid sector for the better, with world-class, next-generation, locally led innovations leading the way to a fairer, healthier and more sustainable future for the planet and all people.