Collage Collective: From policy briefs to visual reflection in fragile and conflict-affected settings

In this blog Wesam Mansour, Kate Hawkins, Tesfaye Dagne, Halimatu Kamara, Katy Davis, Thazin La, Aye Kyawt Paing, Shahreen Chowdhury and Shrutika Murthy discuss the work of the Collage Collective in visualising aid cuts on health systems in fragile settings.

May 9 is World Collage Day, and it seems only fitting that we provide you with a catch up on our work as part of the response to the Thematic Working Group on Fragile and Conflict Affected States recent call on aid cuts. Members are coming together to develop a series of policy briefs exploring how health systems are shaped and destabilised by shifts in global financing and politics.

Building on this work, the Collage Collective creates a complementary space to engage with these findings differently. Through an ten-week process facilitated by Pamoja Communications, participants are drawing on insights from the policy briefs and their own experiences to explore complex issues - such as donor dependency, disrupted financing, and political influences - through visual artwork.

The images show the development of a collage by Thazin La of the Burnet Institute, Myanmar. Her work focuses on disability inclusion. In the second photo she is presenting her draft work to members of Disabled Peoples Organizations for comment and feedback

Collage is a technique with a long heritage in creative research methods, but has been rarely used in health systems research. Using accessible, low-cost materials, the process encourages reflection, critical analysis, dialogue, and co-production. It can be used throughout the research cycle in defining research questions, as a data collection tool, in analysis, and to communicate findings.

The Collage Collective brings together members from different contexts - in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa in an innovative and dynamic space - to collectively interpret the evidence, surface lived realities, and question dominant ways of representing knowledge in global health.

Importantly, this is not only about creative output. The process itself is strengthening capacity by supporting new skills in research, knowledge translation, fostering peer learning, and building connections across Thematic Working Group members. It also opens up space to engage with the political and humanitarian dimensions of aid dependency in ways that traditional formats often cannot. 

Collage offers a powerful approach in health systems research, enabling complex layered experiences to be presented visually and narratively, revealing connections, tensions, and emotions that are not easily captured through conventional methods. By intentionally bringing together fragments of stories, images, and materials, it creates space for multiple voices to coexist and opens up more reflexive and creative forms of inquiry in an inclusive way. 

Collage making is a more equitable art form since it privileges visual and tactile engagement over verbal and written proficiency. By using imagery, textures, and commonly found materials, collage serves as a powerful medium of storytelling and self-expression, especially for those who cannot read and/or write, or those with limited formal education. 

The Collage Collective will culminate in an analogue exhibition and digital showcase, offering a visual supplement to the policy brief series and a different entry point into ongoing debates on health systems fragility. We’ve included some of our work in this blog but there is much more coming soon!

This is a digitally produced collage from Joanna Khalil from the American University in Beirut. It is called Health is Wealth. 
Credit: Lead image, a collage in process by Lydia DiStefano, Community Partners International (CPI), Thailand.

Blog highlight | Launching the Charter for Feminist Health Systems

Originally published on International Health Policies (IHP) — May 10, 2026

The Women Deliver Conference 2026 in Melbourne was a landmark moment for gender, health, and justice — marked by the launch of both the Melbourne Declaration for Gender Equality and the Feminist Health Systems Charter.

Written by Dr Shubha Nagesh, Pratishtha Singh, Merette Khalil, and Dr Emma Rhule, this piece makes the case that health systems are not neutral. They reflect power, priorities, and choices — and for too long, those choices have reproduced inequality.

Read the full article on IHP → https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/featured-article/launching-the-charter-for-feminist-health-systems/