Tamara Plush, PhD
being heard
Ensuring marginalized voices can be heard means to understand and shift inequitable powers that ultimately benefit from stories being silenced or ignored. It requires strategic efforts to connect unheard stories and ideas to the right people who will listen and sufficiently respond.
Around the world, I’ve been fortunate to work with people who have amazing stories to tell and innovative ideas for positive change. I’ve worked alongside engaged community members and often in partnership with civil society, UN agencies, and humanitarian and development organizations (i.e., UNICEF, CARE, the Red Cross, Save the Children, Plan International, & more).
Together, we worked on the frontlines of where stories and action are most needed to tackle the world’s most pressing problems—from climate change to food insecurity to gender violence; prioritizing the voices and needs of those with the lived experiences, knowledge, and skills for finding viable solutions within their unique contexts and cultures.
Through media for social change, action research, and participatory approaches, much of my own engagement has connected with youth and women living in vulnerable situations—with a particular focus on climate change, disaster risk reduction, humanitarian response, gender equality, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Working through partnerships, we’ve used communication and collective storytelling to build local and peer-to-peer awareness, strengthen relational power, and bring about some of the social, political, economic and environmental shifts needed to tackle today’s growing inequities.
I appreciate all I’ve learned from everyone who invited me into their lives while working and/or living in Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, South Africa, Tanzania, the UK, the USA and Vietnam.
I also appreciate you visiting my site; and look forward to connecting, working together, having a chat, and deepening our collective understanding of all that is needed for a better and more just world—and taking the ideas to a place of action.
PORTRAIT BY DEREK FORD STUDIOS
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Tamara is the kind of person who takes initiative, connects easily with individuals and groups, and actively engages in a range of initiatives. She is always full of ideas and then creates the opportunities to further explore or execute them.”
Elske van de Fliert, PhD / Associate Professor, University of Queensland; Director, Centre for Communication and Social Change