Recap session on Fair Consent

Fred Perraut from Oxfam Novib UK shared how Oxfam approaches “fair consent.” He emphasised that consent should not be treated as a procedural step, but as a set of non-negotiable principles—or “red lines.” At the core is the idea that having proper consent is always more important than capturing a powerful or award-winning image. In practice, this means making careful ethical decisions at every stage: for example, blurring faces in contextual images, avoiding identifiable images of children without parental consent, and ensuring that people in group photos cannot be recognised unless consent is clear. Oxfam also sometimes chooses not to publish material if consent feels uncertain.

For Oxfam Novib, fair consent is grounded in three key principles: people must understand where their story will be used, they must be able to withdraw consent at any time, and they should feel respected and genuinely listened to. To support this, Oxfam uses a digital consent app and, in some cases, records consent conversations to ensure there is no pressure involved. The organisation also highlighted the importance of working with local producers, who understand the language and context and can help reduce power imbalances.

From forms to dialogue

This shift from forms to conversations was a recurring theme throughout the session. Paper forms are often experienced as legalistic and intimidating, whereas more dialogical and digital approaches can help create space for genuine informed consent. At the same time, participants stressed that technology is only a tool—the essence of consent lies in trust, transparency, and ongoing dialogue.

Wesley Koskei from Amref Health Africa built on this perspective by defining consent as a people-centred process grounded in dignity, choice, and accountability. At Amref, the consent process begins well before any content is captured, with project officers playing a key enabling role. They prepare communities in advance, help identify participants, and support the obtaining of informed consent—particularly in contexts such as schools, where parental consent must be obtained in advance.

Amref also works with the FairConsent app, which can function offline and links consent directly to visual assets. A strong element of their approach is ensuring that consent is truly informed: participants are shown examples of how their stories or images might be used, and it is clearly communicated that they can refuse or withdraw consent at any stage. This includes the importance of a feedback loop—ideally, people should be able to see how their images and stories are used and retain the ability to withdraw consent if they are no longer comfortable.

At the same time, Amref highlighted several ongoing challenges, including difficulties collecting participant feedback, tracking consent expiry dates, language barriers, and not always being able to share final outputs with those involved.

The discussion also touched on complex questions, such as consent in group photography, working with children, and adapting consent when the context of use changes. Across these topics, one key insight emerged: fair consent requires continuous reflection, dialogue and decision-making, rather than fixed rules.

The main takeaway from the session is that fair consent requires a broader organisational mindset shift—from seeing consent as an administrative requirement to recognising it as an ethical foundation. This means prioritising the rights, dignity, and agency of individuals above the pursuit of the most compelling story or image.

As a next step, participants proposed forming a working group to continue exchanging experiences and developing practices together, with several organisations already expressing interest in joining.