SMEx Invitation to Civil Society

June 11, 2008 by David Munir Nabti

Dear NGO Leader:

On behalf of the newly formed Social Media Exchange, we would like to invite you to an introductory seminar on social media for positive social change. The seminar is being hosted in collaboration with the new Beirut–based incubator for social entrepreneurship, RootSpace.

Social media, also known as Web 2.0, refers to a new set of Internet tools that make it easy for users not only to consume content but also to produce and share it. Facebook is the most-used social media site in Lebanon. In addition to keeping its members networked—no matter how far apart they are geographically—through posts, photos, videos, and virtual gifts and games, the site increasingly serves as a platform for organizing and garnering support for social causes. Still, because Facebook’s primary mission is to earn a profit, it represents only a fraction of what’s possible with social media tools when they are applied to civil society challenges.

Nonprofits worldwide have begun to exploit and experiment with Web 2.0,incorporating these tools into their strategies for mission management to determine exactly what those possibilities are. They’re using them to:
• Streamline communications internally and with head and field offices
• Increase transparency in decision making
• Provide feedback mechanisms
• Enhance communications with partners and constituents
• Update the media to keep civil society and social justice issues in the news
• Monitor aid delivery more effectively and instantaneously
• Prevent and defuse conflict
• Solicit funding
• Document information gathered in the field
• Map data to share with constituents, other NGOs, the news

Now is the time to begin leveraging these tools in Lebanon. Here’s why:

• The rate of Internet and mobile phone subscriptions are steadily increasing with the recent introduction of WANs and DSL service.

• The inherent structure of the Internet makes it less likely to be monopolized by partisan interests than traditional media.

• Young activists—and the youth that so many projects are now focusing on—are by and large internet savvy, or at least curious and amenable to learning.

• The tools themselves, because they are by and large open-source and open access, promote concepts of collaboration for the common good. Further, using them effectively inherently requires cooperation and sharing with friends and strangers alike.

• Barriers to access these tools are lower for producers (though somewhat higher for consumers) than they are to newspapers, radio, or television.

• To nurture Lebanon’s emerging alternative media, we need to create spaces for experimentation, evaluation, and contextual reinterpretation. These tools embody and enable all three.

Our first series of seminars on the social web will examine in detail the concepts presented above, provide an overview of the most important tools and how they work, and examine case studies from NGOs using Web 2.0 and mobile devices for peace and development. In addition, we’ll get down to business by taking what we learn and applying it, from an NGO perspective, to current challenges facing Lebanese civil society. We will host the daylong seminar several times in Beirut and around Lebanon, with different sessions presented either in English or Arabic.

At the end of the introductory seminar, we will issue a call for proposals from NGOs interested in developing pilot projects using social and mobile media. Promising projects will be invited to participate in a second series of intensive hands-on workshops, where an emphasis will be placed on mastering the technologies, applying them to real-world problems, and developing an implementation plan.

The social web holds enormous potential for encouraging positive social change in Lebanon. Please join us so that together, we might realize it.

To register for this free seminar or to get more information about the workshops, the Social Media Exchange, and RootSpace, please email
socialmediaexchange (at) therootspace (dot) org
or call 70-994-859 (English) or 03-792-505 (Arabic, French).

Sincerely yours,

Jessica Dheere
Project Director
Social Media Exchange

David Munir Nabti
CEO, RootSpace