On May 10 I start a new chapter in the masterpiece that is my life. I'm flying off to Nairobi, Kenya to participate in Operation Groundswell's East Africa: Gender and Human Rights program. In this unprecedented trip, we will work at gaining an in-depth perspective of gender, sexuality, and human rights issues and the very real challenges facing sexual minorities in East Africa. By working carefully alongside activists and human rights defenders in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, we will learn of their successes and challenges, arming us with knowledge and an appreciation that will allow us to raise awareness and spark further change in our own communities back home.
The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK) is one such partner and is fearlessly promoting recognition, acceptance, and defending the interests and rights of LGBT organizations and their members. GALCK is working in various ways to make Kenya a safer and more inclusive environment for sexual minorities. We'll also be working with the Kenya Sex Workers Alliance (KESWA), an NGO helping to bring an end to the human rights violations perpetrated against sex workers and, to build in its place, an enabling human rights environment in which sex workers enjoy the full scale of their rights.
Last Friday, I got to spend some time at my old stomping grounds at the University of Toronto to speak to a class about my experience volunteering overseas and our experiential learning programs at Operation Groundswell. I was asked to do so by a former professor of mine, Linzi Manicom, whose class on community engagement I fell in love with in my final year of undergrad. I had always been active in community service and the nonprofit sector but it was this class that opened my mind to a whole new level of thinking...it's where I really began to challenge assumptions about local community engagement and on a wider scale, international development. It's where I really began to critically think about privilege, systems of oppression, and power dynamics. It definitely shaped my thinking and where I am today so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak to this class.
I spoke alongside a few other current students and graduates whose experiences took them to Ghana, Kenya, South Korea, Ethiopia, and Namibia. All of whom brought fascinating stories and learnings about international development and the many internal challenges that come with engaging in some sort of community service abroad. Always such a great feeling to connect with youth who are passionate about making an impact in our world and doing so with a critical eye and responsible mind!
I've just recently wrapped up a course with the Institute of Technology and Social Change (TechChange). If you know me or read this blog, it's pretty obvious that I'm deeply involved in the tech space. But recently I've also taken a keen interest in social entrepreneurship, a field that's been increasing in popularity over the past few decades. More recently, there has been a real movement of social entrepreneurs developing technological solutions to complex social problems. Naturally, I had to learn more. I storified what I've learned over the past few weeks along with some of my favorite readings and videos from the course. Enjoy!
I quietly snuck into the James Room at the Delta Chelsea downtown where I was giving a social media workshop for the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada's Youth Leadership Council (YLC). The small but energized youth were in the middle of a networking activity assigned to them when I first walked in but I was happily greeted by a friend and old co-worker of mine from Journalists for Human Rights, Carissa. We'd worked closely together giving workshops on how to use social media to spread human rights awareness and it was nice to reconnect again.
The room was filled with the 12 dynamic members of the YLC who act as ambassadors of JGI's Roots & Shoots program, a network of youth creating positive change in the environment and fostering respect and compassion for all living things. We jumped right into the workshop by discussing the significance and magnitude of social media and how to communicate effectively on these platforms. Talking social media to youngins is one of my favorite things to do because they just get it. They are the digital natives and our conversation yesterday proved that. I was struck by their depth of understanding and critical thinking when interacting with social media.
One of my activities for the group was to deconstruct Facebook posts from various non-profit organizations and to determine which ones effectively engaged their audience, which one's didn't and how those one could be improved. I was happily surprised when the group began debating what exactly constituted an engaging post anyway. Does a "like" or a comment constitute deep enough engagement? Or does it just represent another classic case of slacktivism (or as one participant referred to it: clicktivism)?
It's a question I've struggled with while working for different NPOs and it's one that I don't readily have an answer for. For NPOs (and for businesses too), a "like" doesn't really mean much if it doesn't translate into some sort of deeper action...whether it's a donation, signing up to get involved, or spreading the word and raising awareness. Unfortunately, most interactions on social media are shallow acts under the guise of true and deep activism/involvement.
I showed a couple of posts from NPOs that encouraged their audience to "like" a post or tag themselves in photos (you'll catch 'em in the slideshow above) and one participant expressed her disdain for "cutesy" and "cheap" posts like that. I agree with her and was so happy that someone brought this up. But I do think that NPOs need to find a balance between these kinds of posts and serious messages with specific and impactful calls to action (like donating, volunteering, etc.). Although it might not seem to mean much, the act of "liking" a post can have important ripple effects. That post could show up on a friend's Facebook feed and lead them to click on that organizations' page and learn more about their projects. Maybe that friend is someone who actually wants to get more deeply involved and ends up signing up to volunteer for a local initiative. It's not easy to track or measure things like that but leveraging word of mouth and increasing brand visibility is one of the key opportunities that NPOs really need to take advantage of.
All in all, it was really a lively workshop with a lot of healthy debate and valuable insights to draw from. It was refreshing to see a group of youth critically assess social media and consider ways to make something as seemingly simple as a Facebook posting into a conduit for deeper social engagement. Looking forward to seeing what the YLC gets up to this coming year!
