Social Networks Key to NGO Programmes
Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies; it is a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one way communication) into dialogues (two way communication) that democratises the dissemination of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.
By shifting the way people discover, read, collaborate and publish news and information, social media technologies are reducing barriers and allowing people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, social, political and business use.
As such, it is important for social enterprise organisations not to lag behind but stand and utilise this new phenomenon, as the majority of the people are now “netizens” who are easily accessed through the cyber space.ZDDT has recently launched its Citizen Journalist programme, in which community members text the Trust’s Field Correspondent and Provincial Development Officer to relay any information pertaining to Community Development and Restoration.
Zimbabwe has an internet saturation of over 50% and over 80% of this is through cell phones, making it one of the highest in the world.
Social media improves citizen participation by connecting people to one another, which is a major instrument in the social enterprise sector where relationships have always been the key currency. ZDDT exploits the capacity of social media, as Facebook and Skype to enhance its relationships with members, donors and stakeholders for volunteer labour, financial support and advocacy muscle.
Social media technologies, such as Facebook and Twitter, have, for some time, been essential crowd pullers. FaceBook has assisted the Trust in its networking and community mobilisation as it uses these online instruments to notify the public of certain events and developments.
Social media offers development practitioners and NGOs a chance to move away from the magic bullet media approach and make a transition towards interactive communication, which is a key factor in the democratisation of the process of communication and other human aspects such as leadership, people participation and raising of awareness in various issues.
This form of communication has enabled the Trust to network with colleagues and stakeholders and therefore deepens its relationships. It further facilitates collaboration in the office and in the field through the transmission of photographs, realtime reporting of community activities and the ease with which general information can be shared.
Moreover, it is essential for NGOs to invest in these social media technologies, as their success is highly dependent on cultivating strong relationships. ZDDT has employed these virtual tools for reaching into the heart of the community through bulk text messaging, FaceBook and website. As of August, its Facebook page have over 2 000 reaches and the website has had 9429 hits over the last 12 months.
Furthermore, social media technologies assist NGOs to find and actively interact with people, strategically package their messages and therefore penetrate every possible market in this global village through the information highway.
Social media technologies are also an important programming tool because they go beyond the usual impersonal world of international development contracts and deliverables by going further to reveal the human face of an organisation and, by so doing, encouraging personal connections with the “audiences”.
They are also key in that they enable the organisation to easily track issues, public opinion and news, and respond rapidly as they provide low-cost, on-demand, learning opportunities which enable each social enterprise to support peer-to-peer knowledge exchange and learning around their core areas of influence and operation.
ZDDT views all these qualities of social media as important apparatus to employ in its programming as they are in sync with its core values and objectives such as promoting citizen participation and advocating the right of expression.
These values are cornerstones to the transition to a more democratic society in which there are no longer any “sacred cows” who feel and think that they are above the rule of law and can suppress other citizens’ voices. They promote Freedom of Expression and have become a voice of the people.
Furthermore, social media technologies help the Trust in amassing important programming information from the residents, thereby enhancing its bottom-up approach with which it empowers the communities from the grassroots level through such programmes as community mapping and community outreach exercises.
In a nutshell, social media has become a major part of the people’s lives and an essential tool in achieving both community and organisational goals within a short period with the use of limited resources, thereby enhancing progress in a quick but more resource conscience and efficient manner.