Tag Archive for 'international'

Launching the Global Scale wiki: Learn and share about scaling up!

Published in case studies and wiki. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

As readers of this blog know, I often mention the idea of “movement building.” There is enormous opportunity and potential for creating real, lasting impact in our world by operating in a movement-oriented way with our programs, events, campaigns, and calls to action. Collaboration and partnerships can easily come together and be successful under and umbrella that puts the work of all those involved toward the movement, instead of the one-time effort or project.  Scale is incredibly important to creating movements, and we are all still learning how we scale our work to a global level.

The world is made up of different culturesIntroducing the Global Scale wiki!

Bonnie Koenig and I have had some great conversations about how we have seen and how we have tackled scale in our work.  In those conversations, we realized that we probably had some good examples to share and case studies to provide; but we also realized that there were many, many more people we wanted to be having the conversation with! That’s what led us to start the Global Scale wiki, and we hope that you’ll join us…

With this wiki, we are aiming to create a resource for NGO practitioners where guidelines, lessons learned, tips, links and other help for ‘scaling up’ effective programs can be found.

Today, we’re hoping that by sharing this invitation via the blogosphere (and the corresponding tweets and emails) that you’ll share your ideas and enthusiasm with us – and join us on the wiki. Check out Bonnie’s announcement, too!

Join & Contribute

This wiki is a community learning space, where we recognize that we are all still learning, testing, and experimenting; and where we are all in a position to share and learn.  We hope you’ll take this as an open invitation to jump right in with your own case studies, lessons or best practices and also comment if there are questions you hope others can address.

Visit the Global Scale wiki to dive in today: http://globalscale.wikispaces.com

Looking forward to sharing with you there!

Published on August 10, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 2 Comments

#1MillionShirts and the Power of the Network

Published in case studies and events. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I can’t count how many times an organization, a campaigner or a consultant has asked for my opinion about “how can I make this go viral?”  My response is usually broken down into two parts: 1. what do you think viral means? 2. what are you actually trying to do (no campaign, no program, no service has the goal of simply being “viral”)?  This week a great example of someone who has an idea and wants it to go viral has emerged – and you have the opportunity to join the discussion!

Christopher Fabian has a great blog post up on the MobileActive blog about the way the #1MillionShirts idea emerged and grew via social media, especially Twitter, this week. The idea to gather 1 million t-shirts for Africa (yes, that general) was put out there, publicly, and the ball really started rolling – but not in support of the idea.

Development professionals, charity-minded folks, those interested in social media all responded.  There were uniformly negative tweets from everyone with any sense of the “African” context.  Mixed comments from those without.  The obligatory blog posts followed (at least 7 that I’ve counted) filled with personal experience on the issue, reasons it wouldn’t work, and sources for what had come before.  You can read the full blog post here.

What is so interesting about the #1MillionShirts case study is that it shows how social media has allowed us to experiment, learn, iterate and evolve in our technologies and our work at a previously unheard of speed. There’s no need to think your initial R&D phase would take a year – not when you have 48 hours of tweets, blog posts, and comments from people working in the development field from around the world weighing in on your idea, in real time and for free.  The power in the network is incredible.

Here’s where you come in:

You can join in a call with Jason Sadler of One Million Shirts, @talesfromthhood, @tmsruge, Christopher Fabian (@unickf) and Erica Kochi (@uniemk) of UNICEF, @penelopeinparis, Laura Seay (@texasinafrica), and anyone else who would like to join in to discuss this project, sustainable and responsible aid work, and the questions that the #1millionshirts project has raised.  The call is expected to be lively but respectful.  Please join!

Suggested agenda for a 1-hour call:

  • Introductions of roundtable participants
  • Overview of 1 Million Shirts (Jason)/Goals and plan
  • Comments from the aid community and response
  • Discussion and questions/comments from the audience (submitted through Ready Talk online)
  • Closing remarks, Jason and Panelists

The call will be Friday, April 30, at 12 pm EST – get the details.

Published on April 29, 2010 by Amy Sample Ward. 0 Comments

Social Media Staff Guides: Another Example

Published in case studies and socialmedia. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Timo Luege recently shared the new social media staff guidelines created at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).  Creating staff guidelines specific to online or social media use in organizations has been a hot topic for the last year or so and many organizations rely on examples of what other organizations or companies have created as a starting place for making their own.  The “nptech” (or nonprofit technology) community is one of the best networks when it comes to sharing ideas and case studies, so here’s another example to add to the lot!

>> Review the IFRC Social Media Staff Guides here.

Why create social media staff guidelines?

For starters, creating explicit guidelines for social media use will ensure that everyone in the organization is aware of what is and isn’t “okay” and feel more secure in their activities knowing what they are responsible for, etc.  It also creates an opportunity for people to be encouraged to use social media if they aren’t already!  Here’s how Timo explains this:

For the first time the IFRC is encouraging staff who are not professional communicators to actively and publicly talk about the organization and their work. The guidelines create clarity and reduce the risk of arbitrary repercussions – it’s definitely harder to shut someone up now than it was before.  On the other hand the guidelines also make clear what is unacceptable from an organizational point of view and that you might have to answer for what you write online.

Highlights from IFRC Social Media Staff Guides

What I like best about the IFRC Guidelines is that they start with best practices!  Things to remember about using social media, especially on behalf of an organization, to make the experience positive for the users (in and out of the org) as well as for the organizaiton’s image.  Some of the best practices I like best include:

  • Be passionate
  • Use a disclaimer
  • Add value
  • Be the first to admit a mistake
  • Protect your own privacy
  • Spread the word and connect with your colleagues

Lastly, the IFRC Guides also include an appendix of all the organization’s profiles and online spaces!  A great way to be sure everyone can find, promote, and access the organization in various places online.

If you’re looking for an example of social media guidelines for your organization, the IFRC Social Media Staff Guides are a great resource and example.  You can download them here (PDF at bottom of page).

What do you think?

Has your organization created social media guidelines or terms of use? What was the hardest part of creating them?  What was easiest?  How have they been put to use?

Published on November 25, 2009 by Amy Sample Ward. 5 Comments