E-Mediat

How to use New Media Tools as an NGO?

E-Mediat Tunisia — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:49:00 +0000

A presentation delivered by Mr Faouzi Zribi (E-Mediat Tunisia participant, representing ATL MST SIDA Sfax) to the NGOspresent on the meeting organized by the “Maison de France “ in Sfax.

�Facebook event link:�https://www.facebook.com/events/356996284336695/Mr Faouzi gave this presentation at the weekly NGO meeting organized by the French Embassy in the region of Sfax.
Ms Laura Merckx, organizer of this event, promoted it also on Facebook:
«�Laura Merckx Mdf�: Pour cette semaine, nous vous proposons, pour lancer la rencontre hebdomadaire du Mercredi des Associations du 25 avril : comment utiliser au mieux les nouveaux médias pour l’action associative ?

Faouzi Zribi, de l’ATL MST SIDA a participé à la formation « Nouveaux Médias pour ONG en Réseau », organisée par E-Mediat les 24 et 25 mars au Maroc. Il nous présentera, à partir d’un exemple concret, comment l’association a mis à profit les enseignements de cette formation pour booster son action à Sfax.�»

Translation:This time on the weekly NGO meeting, we will be learning about the best use of New Media tools for NGO activities.Mr Faouzi Zribi, from ATL MST SIDA, who participated in the E-Mediat Networking Conference in Morocco, will present us to a concrete example of how his NGO boosted its activity through social media.This is the link to pictures of the event: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.354339294623697.85260.220992211291740&type=1

Networking and Fundraising Training for NGOs in Morocco

emediatblogs — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:51:22 +0000

Guest post by Widad EL HANAFI, E-Mediat Morocco Country Director

Networking and Fundraising Event

On May 5th, E-Mediat Morocco organized a training session on Fundraising and Networking in Ifrane. The training session gathered 30 NGO members coming from different cities and rural villages from l’Oriental and Midlle Atlas regions.

We started our training session with a networking exercise that encouraged participants to meet and talk in groups of two and discuss about each other’s work, interests and organizations. After that each participant introduced his/her partner’s NGO and defined a common interest or project they could work on together in the future. The purpose of this networking exercise was twofold: 1) helping participants learn about each other and 2) reiterating the importance of networks in the success of a fundraising campaign and any other project.

Group discussions

Earlier this year, Arkhabil Association of Cultures for Development in the village of Ait Oualla in Tigrigra near the city of Azrou launched a campaign to benefit 100 families in their Village. Abdelhaq Charrou, President of this NGO explains the way their NGO has benefited from the use of social media tools to collect donations for their village and the way they’ll improve their fundraising strategy in the future.
Abdelhaq said “Our NGO is located in a very isolated rural village in the Middle Atlas region and before using Social Media tools, our NGO and even village were not known. We started using Social Media tools to promote our NGO and region. Our NGO learned Social Media tools through our participation in E-Mediat Morocco program and thanks to these tools our NGO has been able to communicate with the Youth Citizen NGO in Rabat, which had got to know about our activities through our Facebook page and Blog. Through our interaction with social media tools, this NGO learned about our organization, activities and village as well as our needs and thus proposed to provide us with social assistance by providing donations of clothing and blankets for 100 needy families and provided us with medical assistance through free tests and medicines for more than 70 beneficiaries. This NGO also organized an entertainment session for more than 200 kids from the region.”
Abdelhaq further explained that “after attending E-Mediat training session on Fundraising and Networking this weekend, our NGO will work on preparing more fundraising campaigns in more effective ways by defining our campaign SMART objectives, mission, and target. We will design our fundraising plan that will be implemented through a team and according to a timeline. We will also define several donation methods to reach the maximum of supporters and of course we will integrate social media tools into our plan. This way we will be able to raise more funds in structured and organized manner and in a specific time.”
At the end of the training session, NGOs gathered in one final networking exercise to encourage participating NGOs to constitute a network to support each other. NGOs were gathered in circle and requested to select the best topics they defined in the first networking exercise. Through their new Network, NGOs agreed to organize the following activities:

• Training on Financial and Administrative Management for NGOs to be delivered by Nama’a Association for Development, Training and Communication and hosted by AGEF to benefit 20 NGOs in Oujda in June 2012,
• Training on Human Development to be delivered by the Association Lights of Theatre for Development and Culture in Azrou and hosted by Nama’a Namaa to benefit 25 NGOs in Meknes in June 2012,
• Training on Small Business Development to be delivered by AMADEP and hosted by Omi NGO to benefit 20 NGOs in Berkane at l’Oriental in June/ July 2012
• Training on Small Business Development to be delivered by AMADEP and hosted by Nama’a Namaa NGO to benefit 20 NGOs in Meknes in June/ July 2012

NGOs also agreed to organize visits to their cities and villages to encourage local and rural tourism and they agreed to organize more activities when they manage to secure more resources and funds to sustain their Network.

[The Post was originally published on E-Mediat Morocco Blog.]

Fundraising and Networking Training for NGOs

E-Mediat Morocco — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:50:00 +0000

By Widad EL HANAFI, E-Mediat Morocco Country Director
On May 5th, E-Mediat Morocco organised a training session on Fundraising and Networking� in Ifrane. The training session gathered 30 NGOs’ members coming from different cities and rural villages from l’Oriental and Midlle Atlas regions.

We started our training session with a Networking exercise that consists of having each two participants meet and talk about each others’ work, interests and NGO. After that each participant needed to introduce his/her partner’s NGO and define a common interest or project they can work on together in the furture.

The purpose of this networking� exercise was twofold: 1) helping participants learn about each other �and 2) reiterating the importance of networks in the success of a fundarising campaign and any other project.

During the fundraising session, we focused on providing NGOs with basic steps to create a fundraising plan and to integrate social media tools into that plan. The fundraising session also shared lessons learned from some fundraising stories from the Arab world, United States and Morocco. During this session, we also provided a brief overview on E-Commerce in Morocco and introduced some institutions provided online payment services and fundraising platforms. More details on the fundraising session are available on Integrating Social Media tools into your NGO Fundraising plan blogpost. To practice skills� learnt during this session, NGOs were divied into groups to prepare a fundraising plan sample. Previously this year, Arkhabil Association of Cultures for Development in the village of Ait Oualla in Tigrigra near the city of Azrou launched a campaign to benefit 100 families in their Village. Abdelhaq Charrou, President of this NGO explains the way their NGO has benefited from the use of social media tools to collect donations for their village and the way they’ll improve their fundraising strategy in the future.

Abdelhaq says “Our NGO is located in a very isolated rural village in� the Middle Atlas region and before using Social Media tools, our NGO and even village were not known. We started using Social Media tools to promote our NGO and region. Our NGO learned Social Media tools through our participation in E-Mediat Morocco program and thanks to these tools our NGO has been able to communicate with the Youth Citizen NGO in Rabat, which got to know our activities through our Facebook page and Blog.

Through our interaction with Social Media tools, this NGO learned about our organization, activities and village as well as our needs and thus proposed to provide us with social assistance by providing donations of clothing and blankets for 100 needy families and provided us with medical assistance through free tests and medicines for more than 70 beneficiaries. This NGO has also organized an entertainment session for more than 200 kid of the region.
Abdelhaq further explains “after attending E-Mediat training session on Fundraising and Netwroking this weekend, our NGO will work on preparing more fundraising campaigns in a more affective way by defining our campaign SMART objectives, mission, and target. We will design our fundraising plan that will be implemented through a team and according to a timeline. We will also define several donation methods to reach the maximum of supporters and of course we will integrate social media tools into our plan. This way we will be able to raise more funds in structured and organised manner and in a specific time.
At the end of the training session, NGOs were gathered in one final Networking exercise to encourage participating NGOs to consitute a network to support each other. NGOs were gathered in circle and needed to select the best topics they defined on the first networking exercise.

Through their Network, NGOs agreed to organise the following activities:
“Training session on Financial and Administartive managment for NGOs’” to be delivered by Namaa NGO and hosted by AGEF to benefit 20 NGOs in Oujda in June 2012,“ Training session on Human Development” to be delivered by the Association Lights of Theatre for Development and Culture in Azrou and hosted by Namaa NGO to benefit 25 NGOs in Meknes in June 2012,“Training session on Small Business Development” to be delivered by AMADEP and hosted by Omi NGO to benefit 20 NGOs in Berkane at l’Oriental in June/ July 2012“Training session on Small Business Development” to be delivered by AMADEP and hosted by Namaa NGO to benefit 20 NGOs in Meknes in June/ July 2012NGOs also agreed to organise visits to their cities and villages to encourage local and rural tourism and they agreed to organise more activities when they manage to secure more ressources and funds to sustain their Network.

Integrating Social Media tools into your NGO Fundraising plan

E-Mediat Morocco — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:45:00 +0000

By Widad EL HANAFI, E-Mediat Morocco Country DirectorTo develop a fundraising plan for your NGO requires that you follow some basic steps. As you finish preparing your plan and get into the implementation phase, you need to integrate some social media tools to boost your plan and adopt an ongoing evaluation process.Below are some basic steps that shape the preparation of a fundraising plan: �� Objectives & MissionDefine your objectives. Your fundraising objectives need to be SMART: Specific�Measurable�AchievableRelevantTimelyDefine your mission/Message. This needs to be simple and attention getter. TargetBeneficiaries: who do you want to benefit, what are their needs: financial, technical, training, equipment…How would your fundraising strategy help them & change their lives, what would be the added value, which social/economic solutions would your strategy bring to your community,Contributors: build Partnerships with donors, organisations, government, companies, and influencers that can help you reach your fundrasing objectives, Research�Laws and Regulations that shape this sector and that are related to e-commerce, donations,�Companies and banks that provide online payment paltforms/services and compare transaction fees,Tools: search & select the right tools for your plan, which tools are appropriate for your audience: Beneficiaries & Contributors Design your implementation plan & structrureTeam: gather a team & delegate roles & responsibilitiesTools: Define & select appropriate tools Integrate Social Media tool onto your planAction plan / fundraising calendarBudget Donation Methods:�
When you work on your fundraising plan, think about diversifying donation methods and channels. If your supporters cannot use one method, they can use another one.
Your donation methods may include:
- Mailing, print, phone
- Online & E-giving
- Add a Donate widget into your blog or insert a donation form into your blogpost
- Direct donation
- Wire transfers
- Credit card donations
- Fundraising during an event Implementation phase:�When you finalise your plan, you’ll need to start implementing your action plan according to your fundraising calendar. Bear in mind that on this phase, you need to keep your fundraising objective in front of you. During this phase, you can adjust and improve your plan according to the actual context and this is importance of follow up and evaluation. Evaluation need to be an on going process within your plan.

Integrating social media tools into your plan:
Now that we have briefly overviewed some basic steps to develop a fundraising plan, we will move to focus on integrating social media tools into your NGO fundraising plan. There are several social media tools that allow and help� NGOs achieve their fundraising purposes. Some are simple and for free, others are more advanced and requires payment. Bear in mind that integrating social media tools into your plan will not be doing the whole job for you. It will help spread the word and promote your campaign but you still need to work into implementing your action plan and fundraising calendar, engaging your network, and evaluating your work.
I always recommend to NGOs to start with the basic tools and once they get some practice, they can them move to more advance tools if they can afford that.
I will be focusing on simple fundraising methods that NGOs can adopt to support their organisations and communities.
Fundraising through your blog:
When you decide to launch a fundrasing campaign, write a blog post to explain your fundraising objective and mission and insert a form within your blog post to help your audience reach out with you. Google Docs allow the possibility to insert a form into your blog just by embedding the form code into your text message.
The steps are as follow:
1- Draft your fundraising campaign article. Think about adding and inserting photos and videos that are related to your article.
2- create a online form using google Docs for example

3- Embed your form code into your article and publish your post.
A good example of this is illustrated through an initiative� by Nermeen Obeidat, a friend and colleague from Jordan who launched the 20JD= Taxi� campaign� on April 21 to support a family in Amman.

Nermeen Obeidat� explains “when I started this campaign, I was targeting my network of 750 friends on facebook. On the first day, I only got the attention of 31 of my friends and by day 6 of the campaign, many networks got involved, free agents, social and communication� professionals and the level of engagement got increased. Today (April 26) we reached 3500 JD and the campaign will continue to reach its objective.
Nermeen describes the campaign’s achievements and challenges in the following way: Some of those who donated extended the effort into their networks, The campaign was creative in drawing attention to a humanitarian issue but in a simple, modern and positive manner, The objective is SMART as everyone can skip 20 JD which = shisha and a drink in Jordan, Not mentioning how people can donate created some confusion but at the same time offered some flexibility for people to chip in in different ways,
The first thing that draw my attention to this initiative was the name of the campaign. I saw 20JD=Taxi on a flyer on Nermeen’s facebook profile and I was eager to know what was this about. The name of the campaign was inspired from its mission and objective. Also, Nermeen has also sent a clear call to action to her network which has helped encourage influencers within her network to contribute to the success of the campaign. She also kept updating her network until the end of the campaign:
� Another tool that you need to make sure to add to your blog is the ShareThis button. This will help your followers to share your blogposts with their network.
Fundraising through Facebook:
Use Facebook to tell your friends that you’re raising money for a good cause. Create a page for your cause and invite your friends to join and keep them updated on your progress and ask their ideas and insights and ask them to contribute to your goal. Share your blogposts about your fundraising campaign in your Facebook page, Create a flyer/ logo for your campaign and use it as your Facebook cover page and photo ID, Mention your fundraising drive on your Facebook status so that your closest friends and family can chip in and assist, Encourage Dialogue in your Facebook page, Keep updating your audience and sharing your fundraising campaign updates, challenges, and achievements.
Fundraising through twitter:
Twitter is an effective tool for your fundraising campaign. Use your NGO Twitter account to promote your campaign and gain your followers’ support. Select the right # hashtags based on your campaign’s name and mission and send regular tweets to update your audience and gain more support by requesting your followers to retweet. In case you start having many updates, start using Buffer to schedule your tweets.
Fundraising through Pinterest: Pin your cause: create a board for your fundraising campaign and pin your blogposts, fundraising events photos, logo, flyer,…
Encourage your supporters to pin for you and add the Pin it Button to your blog to help your network support your cause when you publish updates on your campain on you blog Fundraising through Youtube:
Create videos to promote your campaign, inform your audience and convey your message,Create videos to update your audience, followers and donors,Create your videos about the impact and results of your fundraising campaign and the way funds have served your cause and community. This will help make you NGO accountable for its work and build trust with your network and encourage them to support you again. Funds are very crucial to sustain NGOs’ work and support their mission to serve their communities. Fundraising is a process that involves different aspects and techniques. NGOs need to prepare their fundraising plan and then integrate Social Media tools and involve their network to reinforce their plan and� achieve their goals.
Join E-Mediat Morocco on Facebook and Twitter via @emediatmorocco

Overview: E-Mediat Workshops

mona — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:58:00 +0000

Workshop 1: Social Media & Networked NGOs Overview and Strategic Planning
- Introduction to social media for civil society and networked NGOs: Principles of best practices in social media
– Creating your social media strategy plan
- Coaching in small groups and one-on-one for NGOs and CSOs: Training on how to use OLC
Workshop 2: Listening and Web Presence
- Listening, security, and privacy
- Strategic internet presence: Blogs and/or websites

Workshop 3: Social Networks
- Using Facebook strategically for NGOs
- Using Twitter strategically for NGOs

Workshop 4: Storytelling with Digital Video
- How to use simple video tools to support your social media strategy plan (Part I)
- How to use simple video tools to support your social media strategy plan (Part I)

Workshop 5: Mobile Strategy
- An overview of text messaging campaign and the mobile generation
- Sharing social media strategy plans and learning�

E-Mediat Workshops Launched in Yemen

emediatblogs — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 18:42:39 +0000

In April, E-Mediat Yemen team conducted the 1st workshop for developing social media capacities of local NGOs. The 10 month program for delivering 5 social media training workshops was initially scheduled to start in June 2011. However, due to unavoidable circumstance the original schedule was changed and the program effectively started in March 2012 with participants from different local NGOs gathering in Sana’a city. The 1st workshop was conducted by trainer Ahmed Al-shami, under the supervision of SOUL for Development.

Social Networks

Participants attended first day of training with eagerness to learn more about social media. They asked lots of questions and were enthusiastic to enhance their organizations’ social media capacities even though some of them already had online presence.

Day 1 started with icebreaker session, allowing participants and the trainer an opportunity to know more about the group and get introduced to the workshop agenda. The first session was a networking exercise for the participants. The exercise required participants to post sticky notes on three flip charts. On the first chart, participants left notes with their names and details of their organization. The second chart (from me to we) or (Participants Interests), allowed participants to place 3 notes with their interests written on it. The third chart (Participants’ Inquiries & Discussions) was a wall for participants to write questions and share answers by using sticky notes. The overall idea of this activity was to show participants a practical way that would be used during training for sharing interests and mutual knowledge. This also introduced participants to a new way of interacting in a small social network. The trainer encouraged participants throughout the workshop to actively use the Inquires and Discussion Wall for asking questions and sharing answers.

Networking Exercise

The “Cases for Discussion” session allowed participants to brainstorm general principles of social media and online presence while introducing them to concepts and ideas of the workshop. The activity started by distributing cases cards to each participant followed by a small group discussion. The trainer would then display a photo in the slides that was related to each case and asked participants to identify whose card matched the photo; upon correct identification there was final discussion with the entire group for each case.

The participants were involved in group work on Networked NGOs and interactive assessment of the online presence of the participating NGOs. All participants identified their ‘crawl, walk, run and fly’ status.

Day 2 was an introduction to social media strategy where participants were coached in linking their social media strategy to their organizational mission. Besides that, some social media tools like Facebook and Twitter were briefly discussed. In addition, the concept of mapping was explained and participants were put into groups to draw their own social communication maps.

Social Communication Map

On day 3 participants played the social media game and focused on crafting their organization’s social media strategy.

Online listening tools were introduced on day 4 with participants spending time on browsing Google alerts, Social Mention, IceRocker, and Twitter Search. However, there were issues in using SocialMention.com since the platform was unable to search keywords in Arabic. The trainer had posted this problem on the E-Mediat Facebook Group and got feedback that socialmention does not support Arabic language. We were glad to connect with and learn from E-Mediat’s existing online network.

Social Media Game

Day 5 focused on creating awareness among participating NGOs about security and privacy in using social media tools and the Internet. Participants were given tips for enhancing their online security. The workshop closed with a session on blogging tools and tips. Participants created blogs for their organization and were given tips on active blogging.

We had an excited group of participants who made the five day workshop a great learning and fun experience for all.

[This is an edited version of the original post on E-Mediat Yemen Blog]

Testimonials of Appreciation from Emediat participants

mona — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:25:00 +0000

Riad Jaber (YMCA) one of the best moments in my life, sharing friends for more than a year and a half in a wonderful program with best trainers,,, thanks to all of u.

Omar Lababidi (Islamic Medical Association)�
منذ عدة ايام كنت اخضع لدورة مع احد المدريبن العرب،قام احد الزملاء بتمرير ورقة ليجمع فيها اسماء كل المشاركين والعناوين بهدف التشبيك لكن المفاجأة ان المسؤول عن الدورة قال ممنوع هذا الامر ولما طلبنا عروض الباورباونت للدورة قال ايضا ممنوع،عندها عرفت مدى اهمية برنامج الايميديات وثقافة المعلومات المفتاوحة والتشبيك التي تعلمناها.
تحية الى كل العاملين في برنامج اي ميديات،استفدت كثيرا جدا من البرنامج طوال شهور ،وتحية لمنى وندى،واجمل شي رحلة الاردن فلن انساها كل حياتي،

Lara Chahoud (Smart Center)Yes indeed E-MediaT is the best program 4 social media

Emediat Networking Conference – Jordan

mona — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:53:00 +0000

A successful networking encounter has four simple steps:
1. Be interested 2. Be generous 3. Be interesting 4. Connect and Follow up.
�E-mediat has given us the opportunity to participate in such a successful networking encounter.
Since the conference and from what I can see from statuses, pictures, and comments,�
I am pleased to see these words of affirmation expressing the generous spirits you have towards each other and towards the people you have met.
At the beginning I was surprised, but more impressed, of how fast we interacted together, not only business-wise, but also on a personal level.
�
�I am thankful and grateful to see such interesting people who are eager to meet others, despite all factors.
�

�I want to thank Nada Samia Hamzeh and Mona Messlmany and E-mediat who were leading the personal side of networking and arousing the sense of responsibility towards each other.
�I am glad I met you all. Wish you a prosperous life.
Nahi Aljawad, Riad Jaber, Fady Rose Khoury, Nadine Abdel Khalek, Rola Souheil, Dodie Thamine, Sarwat Sami Melhem, Wafa Youssef Naja, Reem Dernaika, Mona Messlmany, Nada Samia Hamzeh, Hoda Barakat, Therese Roumieh, Hisham Salem, Rola Ghemrawi, Randa Yassir, Lara Chahoud, Nahla Mounir, Faten Abou Chakra, Wafaa Abed, Marie Therese, Wassim Minkara, Mohamad Dib, Omar, Rayan Ghazal, Taha, Ayman Itani.

Hope i didn’t forget anyone
Sylva AklHayya Bina

Beth Kanter Recaps E-Mediat Networking Conference in Jordan

emediatblogs — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:15:37 +0000

E-Mediat curricula designer and trainer, Beth Kanter led the Networking Conference in Jordan on March 20th and 21st. For those who missed the fun, here is a recap from Beth. This post was originally published on Beth Kanter’s Blog.

�
I’m here at the Dead Sea in Jordan where I delivered the key note for the E-mediat Networking Conference, “New Media for the Networked NGO.” The conference marked the end of an 18-month capacity building program that trained more than 220 NGOs in Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia on how to use social media effectively to advance civil society.

Beth presents HRH Princess Rym Ali from Jordan the Networked Nonprofit

The New Media for the Networked NGO Networking Conference provided NGOs who participated in the E-Mediat program the opportunity to come together to share best practices, successes, challenges and lessons learned from their use of social media to effectively advance their organization’s work. This conference showcased the impressive work of the participant NGOs as well as introduced to them more advanced social media topics such as content curation, measurement, and integrated content strategy.
I’ve been working on this project for more than year. I have created the design and delivered an intensive Train the Trainers session in Beirut almost a year ago for master trainers and their teams from Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. I also developed the curriculum for the 15 workshops that were localized and delivered by the in-country trainers to over 220 NGOs over 9-month period.
The program accomplished the following:

220 organizations participated
Organizations raised almost $125,000 through integrated social media campaigns from donors
83% of participants are applying their social media skills to engage local and global communities
12 training centers have been established
112 participants created Twitter accounts and are tweeting regularly, 1674 videos were posted on YouTube created with FLIP cameras donated by CISCO, and 131 blogs are regularly sharing their stories.

The conference was a learning celebration where participants had the opportunity to share their lessons learned and network. I designed and facilitated the conference which included an official ceremony with special invited dignities including Her Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali, pictured above receiving a copy of my book, The Networked Nonprofit, which formed the basis of the curriculum.
When you have a formal ceremony and Royalty is attending, there are protocols you need to follow. I got to greet the Princess as she walked into the hotel. I had to address her as “Her Royal Highness Princess.” I told her that I was honored to meet her, to be in her country at the Dead Sea, and train NGOs to use social media to make the world a better place. I told the NGOs were “fabulous.” And she smiled at that phrase. Then we walked with her into the conference room as they played the National Anthem of Jordan. We were assigned specific seats at the VIP table.

Beth during the Keynote Address

I delivered one of the keynotes and as you can see from this slide, we had two screens presenting materials in both languages. In addition, there was live translation in both languages. The official ceremony includes opening remarks, a discussion panel from participants sharing their stories, and two brief presentations by the social media advisers from Lebanon and Jordan.

Beth’s colorful trainings

Once the formal ceremony concluded, there was a break and the networking conference started. This conference used interactive design — such as visual facilitation, speed geeks, world cafe, full group discussions, small group discussions, and interactive lectures. I facilitated the sessions using the translation headsets and by bilingual colleagues to help me translate in real time.

Beth facilitates small group discussions

One of my favorite parts was facilitation a small group discussion on managing information overload in an age of distractions. I heard so many of the same themes that I often hear from nonprofits in the US when we discuss this topic.

Countdown to The E-Mediat Networking Conference in Jordan

emediatblogs — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:08:31 +0000

New Media For The Networked NGO, Jordan

With few hours to go before we open the E-Mediat Networking Conference in Jordan, the excitement among the participants is palpable. Over 60 participants from Jordan and Lebanon arrived at The Jordan Valley Marriott Dead Sea Resort & Spa on the night of March 19th. (Jordan is 9 hours ahead of PST). We have an exciting group of participants here in Jordan and it promises to be a great networking and learning opportunity for all.
The New Media for the Networked NGO Networking Conference is a unique opportunity for bringing together social media expertise and experiences from the United States, Middle East and North Africa. The goal of this conference is to provide NGOs who participated in the E-Mediat program the opportunity to come together to share best practices, successes, challenges and lessons learned from their use of social media to effectively advance their organization’s work. This conference will also showcase the impressive work of the participant NGOs as well as present advanced new media topics. The conference will be led by social media expert and E-Mediat curricula designer and trainer, Beth Kanter.
E-Mediat is honored to have received the patronage of HER Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali for the Conference. HER Royal Highness Princess Rym Ali will attend the Opening Session of the Conference on the morning of March 20th.
The Conference sessions bring together presenters from across the globe for sharing their expertise and experiences in using social media for non-profits. Beth Kanter, the social media Guru, will facilitate most sessions and also speak on a variety of issues including principles of networked NGOs, content curation, content and measurement for Facebook. In response to the strong desire among NGOs involved in the E-Mediat trainings to share their social media skills with other NGOs in their communities, a special Train the Trainer session is included in the Conference. Beth shall elaborate on techniques for facilitating interactive presentations and active learning during Train the Trainer session.

E-Mediat Conference Goodies

The leadership teams from Jordan and Lebanon will lead small-group interactive sessions on privacy and online safety, getting attention with Facebook and digital photography. Representatives from participating NGOs will share their experiences in using social media at the grass-roots. The Participant Panel will feature representatives from 6 local NGOs (listed below) in an interactive session to discuss their social media stories.

Wafa Abed, Founder and President, IPW
Maha Abdual A’ll, President, Qudurat for Youth Society, Zarqa, Jordan
Sylvia Akl, Program Manager, Hayya Bina, Beirut, Lebanon
Amena Bin Rashid, Founder and President, Al Ashrafeyeh Women’s Charity Association
Nae’l Qubailatt, Mlieh Charity Society, Madaba, Jordan
Omar Lababidi, PR Manager, Islamic Medical Association, Tripoli, Lebanon

With such vast variety of topics and presenters from different regions, the E-Mediat Conference promises to be an enriching experience. For live updates from the Conference follow @emediat @emediatjo @EmediatLB or #emediat. Watch out for more on Conference sessions, pictures and the 2nd Conference scheduled for March 24th-25th at Fez, Morocco.