UBUNTU VILLAGE INC.
A living commitment to community dignity, informed consent, and narrative justice.PREAMBLE
We tell stories because we believe they matter.
This Ethical Storytelling Policy guides Ubuntu Village Inc. as we engage people within communities, between the African diaspora and the continent, and between the ancestral past and the living present. Every story we tell is an act of relationship, and every photograph we share is a deliberate choice about whose humanity we are honoring and how.
This policy exists because we have seen what happens when nonprofit organizations tell stories carelessly: communities rendered as problems, donors positioned as saviors, complexity flattened into sentiment, and dignity traded for clicks. We refuse that exchange.
Ubuntu philosophy teaches us that our humanity is not individual—it is bound up in one another’s. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: a person is a person through other individuals. This is the lens through which every story Ubuntu Village tells must be seen.
"Stories are not ours to own. They belong to the people living them. We are honored, always, to be trusted with their telling."
— Michele Mitchell, Founder & CEO, Ubuntu Village Inc.
SCOPE
Who and what this policy covers
This policy applies to all storytelling activities produced by or on behalf of Ubuntu Village Inc., including:
- Website content, blog posts, and landing pages
- Social media posts, reels, and stories across all platforms
- Fundraising campaigns, donor communications, and appeals
- Grant applications and reports to funders
- Photography, videography, and visual documentation
- Press releases, media interviews, and public statements
- Partner communications and co-branded content
- Volunteer-generated content published under Ubuntu Village's name
This policy applies to all Ubuntu Village staff, board members, volunteers, contractors, photographers, videographers, and partner organizations acting as storytelling agents on Ubuntu Village’s behalf.
CORE PRINCIPLESSeven principles of ethical storytelling
These principles are not guidelines — they are commitments. They are the floor, not the ceiling.CONSENT FRAMEWORK
How we obtain and manage consent
Before storytelling begins
Ubuntu Village uses a Storytelling Consent Form for all individuals featured in organizational content. This form, available in English and translated into relevant local languages, explains:
- How the story, image, or quote will be used
- Where it will be published and for how long
- The individual's right to review content before publication
- The individual's right to withdraw consent at any time
- How Ubuntu Village will respond to a withdrawal request
Consent forms are stored securely and retained for a minimum of five years. Verbal consent may be accepted in contexts where written consent is not practical but must be documented by a witness and noted in the story file.
Consent to tell a story is not the same as consent to be named. A person may share their story and decline attribution, and contributors may write under a pseudonym where being identified would place them or others at risk. Where we agree to that, we hold the arrangement permanently and do not disclose the identity behind it, including to funders and partners.
The right of review
Whenever possible and practical, community members featured in Ubuntu Village’s storytelling are offered the opportunity to review content before it is published. This is not a veto over Ubuntu Village’s editorial voice—it is a check against misrepresentation and an act of respect. Where review is not possible before publication, Ubuntu Village will make reasonable efforts to share content with community members after publication and respond to concerns promptly.
Withdrawal of consent
Any individual may withdraw consent for their story, image, or quote at any time by contacting Ubuntu Village at the contact information below. Upon receipt of a withdrawal request, Ubuntu Village will:
- Remove or archive the content within 30 days
- Update any cached or distributed versions where reasonably possible
- Confirm removal to the individual in writing
Withdrawal of consent does not affect previously distributed print materials, but Ubuntu Village will take reasonable steps to limit further distribution.
VISUAL STANDARDS
How we represent our community visually
Ubuntu Village’s visual identity is rooted in Afro-diasporic aesthetics—warm lighting, rich melanin, natural hair textures, and the full spectrum of African and American experiences. These standards apply to all photography, illustration, and visual content produced or selected by Ubuntu Village.
What we commit to
- Warm, dignified lighting that honors the full range of melanin tones
- Natural hair textures — locs, coils, braids, afros — represented as the norm, not the exception
- Images that center people's faces, expressions, and presence — not their poverty or circumstances
- Community settings that are real, not staged to confirm external assumptions
- Active representation: people working, building, leading, laughing, teaching, farming, creating
What we refuse
- "Poverty porn" imagery — photographs designed to provoke pity rather than understanding
- Images of children without written parental consent
- Images that frame African or African-diaspora communities as passive recipients of Western generosity
- Stock photography that does not reflect or represent Ubuntu Village's actual communities
- Before-and-after imagery that reduces people to their material circumstances
- Images taken without the knowledge of the subjects
All photography used in Ubuntu Village communications must be sourced from Ubuntu Village’s own documentation, from community-controlled archives, or from stock libraries with explicit licensing for nonprofit use. The photographer’s name and any consent documentation must be stored in the Ubuntu Village media library.
Stock imagery is used only where the subject is not presented as a member of our communities or as a participant in our programs.
Where we use illustration or AI-generated imagery, we hold it to the same standard of dignity as photography, and to three further limits. It never depicts an identifiable real person. It is never presented as documentation of a real event, program, or participant. And it is labelled wherever a reader might otherwise take it for a photograph. Generated imagery lets us picture an idea without asking anyone to surrender their likeness. It is never a substitute for the consented portrait of a real community member.
LANGUAGE STANDARDS
The words we choose and why
ACCOUNTABILITY
How we uphold this policy
Internal review
All content that features identifiable community members must be reviewed by the Ubuntu Village founder, or by Salim Kiarie Mbogo, Communications and Editorial Lead before publication. This review checks for compliance with this policy and is documented in the Ubuntu Village content log.
Neither reviewer signs off on their own writing. Where the content under review was authored by the person who would ordinarily review it, the other takes that review.
External feedback
Ubuntu Village actively welcomes feedback from community members, partner organizations, and the public regarding our storytelling practices. You can submit feedback at any time through our website contact form or directly to the email address below. We commit to responding to all storytelling-related feedback within 14 business days.
Policy violations
Any staff member, volunteer, or contractor who knowingly publishes content that violates this policy is subject to corrective action, up to and including termination of their relationship with Ubuntu Village Inc. Content found to violate this policy will be removed within 24 hours of identification.
We also correct. Where we publish something factually wrong, we fix it and say so on the page rather than amending it silently. Where evidence is genuinely contested, or was still changing at the time of writing, we name that in the piece rather than resolving it for the reader. Figures reported during an unfolding event are marked as reported at that time.
Two people carry these commitments, so that none of them depends on one person being reachable. Michele Mitchell, Founder & CEO, and Salim Kiarie Mbogo, Communications and Editorial Lead, may each act on a removal, a correction, or a consent withdrawal, and either may act alone. If one is unavailable, the other acts within the same timeframe. The clock does not pause for absence, travel, or time zones.
Annual review
This policy is reviewed annually by Ubuntu Village’s leadership and updated to reflect lessons learned from the previous year’s storytelling work, feedback from community members, and evolving best practices in ethical nonprofit communications. The effective date on the cover page reflects the most recent revision.
CONTACT
Questions, consent requests, and feedback
For questions about this policy, to submit a consent withdrawal request, or to provide feedback on Ubuntu Village’s storytelling practices, please contact:
Ubuntu Village Inc.
Michele Mitchell, Founder, President & CEO
Website: ubuntuvillageusa.orgNew York City, New York
501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Nonprofit Organization
Ubuntu — I am because we are. And since we are, therefore, I am.
This policy is a living document. It grows as we learn.