SESOBEL's Story with Social Media

Earlier this year, we started working on plan for our online presence. The first thing we wanted to do is update our website. Updating relied on updating the website design and updating the info. To accompany this presence, Facebook page and twitter account were mandatory to share our content and interact with SESOBEL supporters. These accounts came in handy for showing people our recent activities and talk to them on a daily basis.

At first, the department was a little hesitant about having such account. We were scared about people’s reactions and comments. The thing that scared us at first was that we don’t know how social media work. But after following and reporting the first trainings hosted by E-mediat Lebanon, we were able to go on with the strategies we have planned at the beginning of the training. As we went on with the plan, we found it quite enjoyable to connect with people via the NGO’s profile.

It is a hard job to collect followers/fans to the page, but there are few factors that play an important role in that. We started at telling the whole staff to like the page, and then we told them to share this page and invite their friends. Now we have around 260 fans on the page. Some of them have joined the page because of the content we share from photos, videos or links related to our cause. Twitter is another story. People in Lebanon are few there, but there are some really active bloggers and activists. We started by following them, and according to twitter etiquette, they followed back. Some of them were glad to see us going into social media with constant activity.

Once we were in a collective meeting with all the staff. Throughout the email, I was live-tweeting the highlights of what was being said. People outside SESOBEL were following our tweets were able to know some of our 35^th anniversary plans. One of them called a colleague who in turn told me that she has been following our tweets throughout that meeting.

We are now very happy that we are able to excel in social media on the NGOs level. We hope that we would get more support in our future plans and projects.

The 2012 TechWomen Application is Now Open!

Deadline For Submission: February 15, 2012
TechWomen: Empowering Women in Technology Apply here  befoore February 15th,2012.
The TechWomen initiative will identify approximately 42 women who are emerging leaders in technology sectors for a five-week program, including project-based mentorships at leading companies in California, workshops, networking events, a conference, and meetings in Washington, D.C.

Participants will be women engaged or rising in professional careers that require significant expertise/knowledge of technology and/or innovative application of these skills, and who already are – or show promise of being – role models for others in their countries, particularly for women. “Technology” should be interpreted broadly to include – but not be limited to – the fields of science, education, and business.

Eligibility Criteria

An applicant must:

• Be a woman with a minimum of two years full-time professional experience in technology sectors and/or a career requiring significant expertise/knowledge of technology and/or innovative application of these skills
• Have, at minimum, a university degree
• Be proficient in written and spoken English
• Demonstrate a willingness to participate in exchange programs, welcome opportunities for mentoring and new partnership development, and exhibit confidence and maturity
• Be citizens or permanent residents of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia or Yemen at the time of application, and while participating in the program
• Not have applied for an immigrant visa to the United States, or participated in a visa lottery in the past five years
• Be able to obtain a U.S. visa
• Not hold U.S. Citizenship or be a U.S. legal permanent resident

Preference will be given to applicants who:

• Have demonstrated themselves as emerging leaders in technology
• Have an advanced degree, especially in a technical field
• Have limited or no prior experience in the United States
• Have a record of voluntary or public service in their communities

Deadline For Submission: February 15, 2012

The deadline for submitting TechWomen applications is 23:59 Cairo time, February 15, 2012. Finalists will be contacted via email for in-country interviews in March, April and May 2012. All applicants will be notified of the results of their applications; final decisions will be made in June 2012.
“We want to harness one ofAmerica’s strengths – our excellence in technology and innovation – and use it to build effective and lasting partnerships with rising women leaders in Muslim countries.”
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

About TechWomen
Harnessing the power of business, technology and innovation, TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in technology sectors from the Middle East and North Africa together with their American counterparts for a professional mentorship and exchange program at leading companies in the United States.
Pairing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power diplomacy” with “21st Century Statecraft,” TechWomen works to empower women and girls through technology.  It connects and supports the next generation of women in technology sectors by providing them the access and opportunity needed to pursue careers in technology.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Under Secretary Clinton’s leadership, the United States has engaged in “smart power diplomacy,” thereby utilizing every asset at the United States’ disposal to create opportunities for greater understanding. A key tool in this effort is 21st Century Statecraft, which engages people across the world through the ever-changing technology mediums.

The Department of State is partnering with the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) to implement this initiative.

Apply Now & share your memories next year:

For more information and eligibility requirements please visit:
Techwomen   
TechWomen blog
Techwomen Facebook page
Techwomen YouTube channel
Follow Techwomen on Twitter

Importance of Media Relations for NGOs

Media are one of the key channels and means to reach out to a wider audience, to educate, inform on achievements & promote alternative policies or behavior, or advocate for change on the local or national level. In the arena of ideas, media are possible independent players, potential partners, or an independent space where ideas are presented and compete for supporters in the change process.

As such, media are one of the most important partners and tools for civil society organizations engaging in civic activism and promoting change in their community on working effectively with mainstream and social media.

Media is very important for NGOs in order to attract volunteers, raise funds, and amplify impact.  Civil society organizations create positive change in the communities where they work. However, the role of the media in these local initiatives is often limited due to several reasons. 

USAID/OTI Lebanon had prepared a good manual can be used by NGOs in Lebanon on how to develop media relations in NGOs & how to work effectively with different media in addition to other interesting topics an how to write a press release, ….

http://www.transparency-lebanon.org/reports/USAID-MediaRelationsforNGOs.pdf

Looking Back at 2011

Five basic workshops and more than three additional workshops connected us with over 50 organizations in Lebanon and the trainings were instrumental in introducing them to the strategy of using social media. We started our work by changing the commonly views about networking, social communication and outreach strategy among local organizations.
Time was shorter than the content but we accepted the challenge because we realized that the need for this training was much larger than our challenges. Our first achievement was deleting the word “new” from the


New Media Training. We believe that social media has become an essential need for organizations and not just another option; social media is the core of any organizations mainstream communications strategy rather than an auxiliary medium.
We are glad that during the past year the E-Mediat trainings inspired many organizations to experiment with participatory communication approach and led to some impressive changes on the ground.

• SSBA Lebanon shifted from a decision of a complete online absence to a strategic online presence.
• IPW has through the use of social media strategy realized some important freedoms for local women. IPW’s efforts have been instrumental in pushing legal reforms that allow mothers to open bank accounts for their children and travel with their children without permission from the fathers.
• The new Plan of Electricity went from being a citizens’ demand to a government approved plan after Omar Lababidi created a Facebook group with more than 3,500 people in less than a week to claim the adoption of the plan.
• Today, more NGOs, activists and political figures are supporting Kafa in their campaign of protecting women against domestic violence. Kafa’s efforts have resulted in Parliament discussing drafts of laws for protecting women’s rights.
• Adyan was the first organization to show it’s commitment for social media by recruiting a full time social media officer.

My participation in The Arab Women Summit focused on “Empowering Women through ICT” was the grand finale of the year. The opportunity allowed me to share the experience of E-Mediat trainings and address the fear prevalent among Arab women about using social media.

Share Heather Murphy & Stacey Ramirez visit to Lebanon

It was really nice to meet Stacey & Heather our program officers at IIE SF in Lebanon.

After their arrival to Lebanon, we visited Mrs. Wafaa Abed, the president of IPW (Institute of Progressive Women). Mrs. Abed introduced the NGO's activities & programs, especially the law that had been approved from the parliament and which allows women to open bank accounts for their children. Mrs. Abed mentioned the importance of social media in promoting their NGO, as they are now working on a new law (Women’s right & gender discrimination). IPW is very active on social media,it has 2 Facebook pages: one for the NGO & the other is created especially to promote Made@Home activities.

The next day, we had the emediat supplemental workshop @ Amel association on online offline Media with Wadih Tueini (Annahar) & Branding with Milad Hadchiti. It was an interesting educational workshop as participants learned how to brand their NGOs realizing the importance of making sure to have branding as an essential part of their organization’s communication plan. Participants from Tripoli & Beirut were very glad to meet Heather & Stacey.

Day in Tripoli

It was a great long day; we had a round table
@It Lebanonwith e-mediat Lebanonparticipants
 who shared their experiences & their online
presence achievements, challenges & future needs.

Heather & Stacey had the chance to visit Prime Minister Najib Mikati & suggested to have a social media strategy all over Lebanon.

After that, we had site visits to Safadi Foundation, Azem & Saade & Islamic Student Association whereby the participants talked about their projects, achievements & their online presence after participating in emediat program.

SMEX Barcamp

we attended also with some of our participants SMEX BarCamp @AUB. It was a new experience as the concept of BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering emerging from the people’s desire to share info and learn in an open environment. It was an intense event with discussions, demos & interaction from attendees. NGOs & other society sectors attended & benefited from the various workshops that all are on social media topics. In addition, the activity was a great networking opportunity.

We visited Minister of Information Walid Daouk with a recommendation from Prime Minister Mikati and we discussed using of social media tools to increase and raise awareness in the community. He was very responsive and expressed his willingness to cooperate through the official TV, Radio & website.

 Stacey & Heather were impressed by Adyan’s online presence while visiting them at their new office. Adyan is very active in using social media & they were the 1st NGO participating in e-mediat training to hire a social media officer.

E-MEDIAT Lebanon participation at "The Arab Women Summit" in Morocco

I was more than glad to participate in The Arab Women Summit in Morocco Rabat, 6th and 7th december 2011, about empowering Arab women in the ICT sector and improving their education in ICT and giving them the opportunity to contribute to their country's economy.

The Summit was organized by  IDC MEA in partnership with ISESCO and in collaboration with UNDP, UN Women, the World Bank, Intel, Dell, ESCWA, ECWT and  Mohammed VI Foundation.
I shared E-Mediat experience with highly enthusiastic women coming not only from Arab countries but from all over the world to talk about the need of Arab women to be given the same access to technology as men. Currently a variety of educational, accessibility, cost and social barriers limit the use of ICT by women in the Arab countries.
 
Gender equity, role of Arab women, digital illiteracy, capacity building, entrepreneurship and social media were the main topics of the summit. These themes were discussed in the wider context of emerging regional needs and challenges such as education, governance, and other phenomena that are inhibiting the betterment of women’s interests across the Arab region.

It was a good opportunity to meet and listen to Mouna el Ayoubi and Saida Bouhmidi, mentees for TechWomen 2011 in Morocco. History and success of the Women in Technology (WIT) program was inspiring. The video of the success story of WIT beneficiaries was highly moving.

I participated in the panel entitled: “Social Media in the Arab Women's life" that caught the attention of the audience who wanted to learn more about social media. My speech focused on breaking the fear that women have for technology and social media in particular. I highlighted the benefit of social media for women-centric campaigns like defending women’s rights or aspiring women entrepreneur. The presentation ended with a video of an E-Mediat participant NGO that helped make changes in Lebanese government laws and also helped women entrepreneur to market their business by using social media

The panel was moderated by Mirna Barbar UN- Escwa and included some interesting presentations. It started with Racha Mourtada from Dubai School of Government who shared the statistics of the 3rd Arab Social Media Report. Ayman Itani, Strategic Advisor for E-Mediat Lebanon talked about Arab women voice via social media. In the final presentation, Dimitris Raftopoulos, Head of strategic leadership at Life Long Research Institute introduced and explained a variety of social media tools.

The audience was very interested in learning more about social media and moving up the social media learning curve. The conference was a great opportunity to interact with Widad El Hanafi, Program Director in Morocco and supplement our online networking with offline exchanges. For me, the high points of the Summit were the TechWomen and E-Mediat panels.

“TECHWOMEN & E-MEDIAT” deserve:

Congratulations!

How children use internet in a safe way

This conference was organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs (Higher Council for Childhood ) & World Vision, under the patronage & in presence of the Minister of Social Affairs.

Governmental Stakeholders & local & international NGOs participated in the conference; all  worked together to come up with some recommendations aiming to keep children safe while using internet, through Awareness, TOT for school teachers & organizing the work of Internet cafes in Lebanon.

Some of our participant NGOs were also present in this conference (YMCA, Azm Wal Saadeh, Dar Al Amal & Women in IT). 

 

In addition to that, we knew that Lebanon registered in the Safer Internet Day on 7 February for the first time this year; this day will be focusing on connecting generations & education to each other where we encourage young & old users to discover the digital world together in a safe way. www.saferinternetday.org

By the end of the conference, everyone should have agreed to recognize that our children are now digital children and we must make them aware of their right in using the Internet and not scaring them.