Surefire Communications

🌍 Launching Our Climate Justice for Children and Youth Handbook 📘✨ On the 8th of December 2025, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and Terre des Hommes Germany (@tdhg_sea )were pleased to introduce a new resource developed in November 2025 to support children and youth in understanding climate justice and taking meaningful action for a more sustainable future. This handbook recognizes that while young people face distinct challenges as a result of climate change, they also hold significant potential to influence positive change. It provides clear and accessible explanations of key environmental concepts, the impact of climate change on vulnerable groups, including younger generations, and the importance of decisions made today for the world of tomorrow. The handbook also highlights essential human rights, particularly those that safeguard children’s health, safety, and well-being in a changing climate, and offers practical guidance to help young people raise their voices and advocate for climate justice. Developed specifically for children and youth passionate about environmental protection, this resource aims to empower a new generation of informed, confident, and active climate leaders who can inspire change within their communities and beyond. 🌱✨ Together, we can build a more just and sustainable future! We extend our sincere appreciation to our Youth Advisory Group for their invaluable insights, time, and feedback. Their thoughtful review ensured that the handbook speaks meaningfully to young audiences, reflecting their experiences, priorities, and aspirations for climate justice. A special thank you to @surefirecommunications for designing the handbook in a practical, accessible, and child-friendly way, and bringing our ideas to life! #climatejustice #youthforclimate #childrenandyouth #humanrights #environmentaljustice #climateaction

Tools of the trade #5: Cameras, of course! We couldn't do Surefire without our cameras - digital and analogue. Jen - one third of our team - even has a BA in Photography! . . . . #photography #digitalphotography #analoguephotography #ngocommunications

Tools of the trade #4 - tools to MacGyver with! Yes, we LOVE to MacGyver a situation - making a plan with the resources we have around us. Take, for example, the humble peg. We needed them recently when creating the backdrops to our "studios" - which were created using a big piece of fabric ... . . . . #photographer #photography #southafrica #ngocommunications

Tools of the Trade #3: Little action cameras. These easy-to-use cameras allow for participative documentary making (and it doesn't have to break the bank, as there are cheaper alternatives to GoPro!). Recently, we made a series of short self-shot documentaries for Lawyers for Human Rights. The film footage followed a letter written by the participants themselves. The footage allowed for intimate access to peoples' lives, and ensured that they only filmed what they were comfortable to film. The photos on this post showcase some screenshots of the footage that was filmed by these participants. lhr_sa #documentary #participative

Tools of the trade #2: Felt-tip pens! A lot of our work starts out with a big piece of paper, our brains and some felt-tip pens. We scribble, scratch and play - and it is an important part of our process to create uniquely creative content for our clients. Take, for example, an animation we did for @bookdash - we scratched around with a script and sketched out a storyboard (cue felt tips). Later, we added to some digital illustrations animating them in After Effects. And, hey presto! A short animation which is used in all sorts of contexts by Book Dash to explain its work and celebrate its impact. . . . . #creativecontent #animation #toolsofthetrade #ngo #ngocommunications #storyboarding #storyboard #illustrations #digitalillustrations #animatedvideo #aftereffects

Tools of the Trade #1 Our Lapel Microphones. We do love our lapel mics - helping us make sure that our interview audio is crisp for films and documentaries. #films #documentaries

Skilling up is very important to us at Surefire: skilling ourselves up, and skilling up our clients, too. Within the Surefire team, we've been developing our skills around basic animation that sits between After Effects and Canva. We digitally draw things, animate them in After Effects, and upload them to Canva where the animation tools mean that other people - such as NGO clients themselves - can edit and tweak these animations. We like to create content that clients themselves can learn how to edit in-house - increasing the sustainability of our services! Earlier this year, we ran our first online Communications Masterclass! It was directed at people working in the NGO sector - especially those that do not have developed communications strategies. The aim was that they would walk away with a brief communications plan, using our Speak Easy Table! . . . . . #communications #Aftereffects #canva #ngo #creative #southafrica #animation

Want to know what Surefire Communications actually does? Check out our 2024 portfolio, showcasing some of the creative communications services we offer to the NGO sector. The link to the portfolio is in our bio!

Do you want your NGO to create more effective and strategic communications content? Our three-hour online Communications Masterclass might be just the ticket! Between 9.30am and 12.30pm on Thursday 29th February, we will support you to create a tangible tool to plan your communications content - and measure its impact. Click in the bio to book your spot!

Annual reports. Those words often evoke boredom - even dread - in most NGO staff. We think annual reports should be short, light and to-the-point. It should be a visual celebration of all the hard work of an organisation, using photography, design and data visualisation. Dare we say it, we look forward to putting together an annual report… here’s one example form @edufundi See the full annual report via the link in our bio

@bolognachildrensbookfair - one of Europe’s biggest children’s book fair - hosted @bookdash this year, and we were asked to conceptualise and create themed materials - from large artboards and posters to stickers and brochures. We blended together some starry, magical elements from one of their books to evoke a sense of dream and wonder, hinged around Book Dash’s vision - that every child should have one hundred books by the age of five.

@framefortyfive - which bridges the gap between knowledge, policy action and social change around migration in the cities of the Global South - wanted to showcase their project which went to the @viebiennale this year. This project brought together a pianist, a sociologist, a composer and an artist in their artistic responses to Kihato’s book, “Migrant Women of Johannesburg: Everyday Life in an in-between City.” Check out the site in our bio. . . . . #migration #socialchange #everydaylife #websitedevelopment #southafrica