U.S. Department of State — Tech Camp Morocco

Morocco is facing climate pressures that arrive faster than the language for them.

The program brought seven U.S. experts to Morocco to work with young leaders, entrepreneurs, and activists already doing climate work at home. Six of them covered technical ground — AI, agriculture, design thinking. I was there for narrative.

The people in the room didn't need convincing that climate change was real or urgent. They were living it. What they needed was a way to talk about it that would actually move the people around them: funders, ministries, neighbors, the public.

And most climate messaging, including the well-meaning kind, tends to land as blame. It tells ordinary people they are the problem, which produces shame, and shame is one of the least reliable ways to get anyone to do anything. That trap is easy to fall into. I have watched good communicators fall into it for years.

I built the workshop so people would feel the narrative before they understood it.

The sessions ran multiple times across several cohorts. Each one opened by putting participants inside the messaging that surrounds them every day — real campaigns, real brands, real footage — and giving them room to notice how it felt.

From there the room was ready for the mechanics. I showed frameworks, walked through brands that get it right, and told stories about why certain narratives travel.

Then everyone got to work on their own: positioning, brand narrative, the specific choices that decide whether a message opens a door or closes one.

Participants left with narratives they had built themselves, for the work they were already doing, from climate ventures, to advocacy, to community organizing.

Young leaders pitched their ideas to the program, and three were awarded funding and mentorship.

Participants said they felt feeling inspired by the emotions they felt, the case studies, and practical application of narrative design work.