Social media campaign to promote the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. In 2017, a United Nations agency recruited candidates to be in a roster ready for deployment as Digital Media Officers. Part of the requirements for applicants who made it through the first round of the vetting process was to create a social media campaign in just two hours designed to promote the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers in a mythical country. This is my successful submission that helped get me into this UN roster.

Evaluating Online Activities: Online Action Should Create & Support Offline Action
Hundreds of "friends" on an online social networking site. Thousands of subscribers to an email newsletter. Dozens of attendees to a virtual event. Those are impressive numbers on the surface, but if they don't translate into more volunteers, repeat volunteers, new donors, repeat donors, more clients, repeat clients, legislation, or public pressure, they are just that: numbers. For online activities to translate into something tangible, online action must create and support offline action. What could this look like? This resource can help organizations plan strategically about online activities so that they lead to something tangible - not just numbers.

For Local City & County Governments: You Should Be Using Social Media. Here's How.
To not be using social media to deliver information and to engage means you are denying critical information to much of your community and promoting an image of secrecy and lack of transparency. In fact, the lack of use of social media can be seen as your city council or county government trying to hide something, and even lead to rumors that are much harder to dispel than they would have been to prevent. This advice talks not only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media, but also how to handle tough questions and criticism.

To see my social media activities in real time, follow me:

       

Rio Convention Environmental Project in Ukraine Outreach / Marketing Plan (PDF). This initiative, a part of UNDP, was staffed by just one full-time person who is not a communications professional. She wanted to know what she could do within UNDP's communications activities to help reach her initiative's goals, which included changing behaviors and understanding of citizens regarding climate change. This was a "no cost" approach that I authored for her, relying primarily on social media and the UNDP web site to get messaging out.

Guide for Facilitating the Preparation of Women-Focused Development Plans (PDF). By Nika Saeedi, Gender Specialist and Jayne Cravens, Communications & Reporting Advisor, both at National Area-Based Development Programme (NABDP) Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development Kabul, Afghanistan. June 12, 2007. Primary Audience: Afghan ministry staff at all levels. The full document was also shared with partner organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and several donor governments.

Workshop for Afghan women to help them improve their public speaking skills (PPT). This was a workshop I put together for female colleagues at the Afghan ministry where I worked in 2007. I researched women teachers and public figures in various Islamic countries and cultures, including in Afghan history, and contacted several Muslim women's groups with a large Internet presence for advice to create this workshop. I also relied on my assistant, a local Afghan woman to help me phrase things properly, and I put her in charge of creating the design around my words in the slide show presentation and including culturally-appropriate photos. Read the notes for each slide, as these offer much more information.

 

Samples of my presentations and webinars (all on YouTube):

• OpenAIR - great opportunity for nonprofits, NGOs & charities. This video was for the nonprofit Knowbility and was to recruit mission-based organizations to participate in an annual hackathon.
   
• Human rights, the digital divide & web accessibility. A video commentary about organizations that have a mission regarding inclusion or human rights but don't have accessible web sites.
   
• Webinar - Tech 101: The Best Assignments for Online Volunteers. An online training I did for the nonprofit TechSoup.
   
• Knowbility 2018 OpenAIR Kick Off Event. I was the MC for this event, and I also edited this video from over two hours down to just over an hour and I closed captioned the video myself. I appear starting at 14:50)

 

print publications:
 
The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook

available for purchase as a paperback & an ebook
from Energize, Inc.

selected materials from my web site & blog:

Preventing Folklore, Rumors (or Rumours), Urban Myths & Organized Misinformation Campaigns From Interfering with Development & Aid/Relief Efforts & Government Initiatives
Folklore, rumors and urban myths / legends often interfere with development aid activities and government initiatives, including public health programs - even bringing such to a grinding halt. They create ongoing misunderstandings and mistrust, prevent people from seeking help, encourage people to engage in unhealthy and even dangerous practices, and have even lead to mobs of people attacking someone or others because of something they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend. With social media like Twitter and Facebook, as well as simple text messaging among cell phones, spreading misinformation is easier than ever. Since 2004, I have been gathering and sharing both examples of this phenomena, and recommendations on preventing folklore, rumors and urban myths from interfering with development and aid/relief efforts and government initiatives. I've updated this information with new information per the organized misinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine and the elections in the USA. Now, with fake news sites set up specifically to mislead people, as well as crowdsourced efforts by professional online provocateurs and automated troll bots pumping out thousands of comments, countering misinformation efforts has to be a priority for aid and development organizations, as well as government agencies.