Social Media 4 Good

Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like: Internet

Timo — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:28:54 +0000

Today a guest post of mine appeared on “Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like”. It’s something I wrote a while ago while still in Liberia and cursing the lack of bandwidth more than once per day. You can read the whole post about the importance of having internet access on SEAW L.

Liberia: Ushahidi to monitor elections

New project: Social Media in Emergencies Guidelines

Timo — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:11:03 +0000

Two weeks ago I left Liberia and moved back to Germany. My next project: developing “Social Media in Emergencies Guidelines” for a UN agency.

It’s something I’m really looking forward to, particularly since the focus is not on fundraising, but on story telling, advocacy and outreach. If you have any resources, links or know of any people who I should be talking to, please leave a comment or send an email to timo.luege AT [the email service run by google]. Thanks!

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Use of technology in the 2011 elections in Liberia

Timo — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:23:13 +0000

I just noticed a post on Mobileactive.org on how technology was used by different organizations to follow the 2011 presidential elections in Liberia. The article focuses on the differences between election monitoring and crowd sourcing and also give some insights in the specific challenges that the organizers were faced with in Liberia. It’s worth reading:

Technology in the 2011 Liberian elections: mobiles, monitoring and mapping

From collaborative “crisis mapping” to “crisis feeding”

Timo — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:00:18 +0000

As many of you know, I’m quite critical when it comes to how to the impressive information gathering possibilities of crisis mapping tools turn into actionable information for responders. On LinkedIn someone shared a video with me today where Ushahidi’s Patrick Meier addresses some of these concerns.

The video is from 2010, but it’s still worth seeing:

He suggests that instead of expecting first responders to use the information collected on a crisis map, the data could be fed back to the crowd so that neighbours can help neighbours. He uses the example of snowstorms in Washington D.C. where people used an Ushahidi map to help others out with snow shovels etc.

I think he has point. If enough people were plugged into the system, it could turn into a marketplace for help needed and resources offered which could make a difference.

However, I have three caveats:

The risk remains that multiple responders would rush to a single incident that catches the imagination (think: babies) while other, more serious cases, might be neglected. I suppose the likelihood of this happening could be reduced by enabling logged in users to say “I’m taking on this task.”
The usefulness depends very much on the size of the disaster and that there is a significant portion of the population who are not affected at all or who are affected but still have resources they can spare. So while it would probably work during the floods in Bangkok, it would not help during a mega-disaster like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
This model works only in societies which have a very advanced technology infrastructure that is accessible to a large part of the population. So, while I’m not surprised that it can work in Washington DC, it will not work in the poorer parts of the world which are also more likely to experience disasters.

With these concerns in mind, I nevertheless think that “crowdfeeding” (though that is a horrible term imho) can be a useful tool to organize people who are willing to help each other at least in the highly developed world – and that is nothing to scoff at, either.

What is your opinion?

Liberia: Ushahidi to monitor elections

Gun trafficking for good?

Timo — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:16:14 +0000

AK-47. Source: "Wikipedia/ US MADE (Kr6)"

Last week’s newsletter from Good.is contained an article titled: “Gun Trafficking for Good: How to Get AK-47s Out of Africa”. The idea is to turn AK-47s into cufflinks, earrings and other jewellery. I have a few problems with this concept.

The concept behind this initiative is to buy used AK-47s and turning them into jewellery, thus taking them out of circulation while at the same time increasing the prize and, due to the increased prize, making it more difficult for people to buy guns.

While “Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration” (DDR) frequently involves buying guns from ex-combatants, I think this particular project is a terrible idea.

According to Wikipedia, about 75 million AK-47 rifles and about 100 million AK-type rifles have been built so far. Considering that more are built every day, it is unrealistic to think that it would be possible to drive the price up by increasing demand. The only thing that would have a significant effect on the price would be a comprehensive, international ban on small arms.
The jewellery is extremely expensive with a pair of cufflinks costing a much as 35,000 USD. This seriously limits how many of customers/donors you can attract, further reducing the potential impact of the project.

On a personal note I also have to admit that the website of Fonderie47 made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. The way the video is shot, the quotes by Pablo Picasso, Aristotle and Marc Aurel, the whole aesthetics of the website have an air of “death is chic” that I find utterly inappropriate and make me wonder what kind of people would wear these kind of accessories. What’s next? Necklaces made out of human bones?

I’m very surprised that the respectable “Mines Advisory Group” (MAG) has allegedly partnered with this project, but from own experience I know that even big and professional organizations sometimes enter into partnerships they later regret.

If you really want to do something to reduce the number of guns or do something for survivors of war and conflict, I’d suggest you donate directly to organizations like MAG, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) or indeed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and skip the questionable jewellery.

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Rollercoaster ride to repatriation: why “restoring family links” is so rewarding

Timo — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:33:22 +0000

The last three weeks were a mix of very intense ups and downs that left me frequently frustrated, sleepless and banging my head against a table, but ultimately gave me a sense of satisfaction that cannot be found in many other jobs: the knowledge that I had a very real, positive impact on the lives of people – and not just of an anonymous group of beneficiaries, but individuals whose names and histories I know.

Obstacles

Admittedly things didn’t start well: at first six children who were on our list to be repatriated lost their home and we had to find a new place for them to live. Then, in an example of absolutely no coordination and lone-wolfmanship, another organization took the same children from their new home and moved them to a refugee camp against their will where they had massive problems getting food. Then, the baby of 16-year old child whom we were supposed to bring to Ivory Coast got malaria and had to be hospitalized, and finally, at the last minute an agency put new bureaucratic obstacles in our path, clearly without the best interest of the children at heart. (I’m still mad).

Happy moments at the border

However, all of that frustration melted away when we picked up the children at the morning of the repatriation and took them to the border. The good-byes were warm and heartfelt and the excitement of the children was tangible. I know that I will always treasure the moment at the border when we handed the children over to our colleagues from ICRC Ivory Coast and the joy I felt when I got a text-message later that day, saying that the children had arrived and had been warmly welcomed by their families. After all, these children were not anonymous cases for me, but I was involved in registering some of them, following up their cases, talking with them about their hopes and fears and finally organizing their repatriation.

Communication makes a difference

One of countless Red Cross Messages.

All of this made me think about what it is we do when we are “restoring family links”:

Physically bringing people back together by providing transport and travel documents is the exception. In the majority cases we help with so called “Red Cross Messages” and by providing people with free phone calls so that they can tell their family members where they are, how they are, or simply that they are still alive. Sometimes it takes many months, before they get an answer to a message, for example when the recipient has moved to a different part of the country and it takes time and effort for my colleagues to find them.

What makes this service so special is, that we are not presuming that we know what is best for the affected people, but that we give them the means to decide themselves what is best for them; that is something very empowering and a different mindset than behind many programmes that provide material assistance.

Putting refugees in control of their destiny

Of course I know that this type of protection work is just a niche and that relief / shelter / food programmes which sometimes have to serve tens of thousands of people within a few days or weeks cannot approach things from each individual’s point of view. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s incredibly rewarding to be working for an organization that puts the individual in control of his/her destiny.

I have read a lot of Red Cross Messages (they are open, similar to postcards, and we are required to read them before transporting them). Many of them simply say: “I’m glad to hear from you. It’s safe in our village. Please come back”, and I was thinking about how much of a difference these few words can make to a refugee living in a strange country where he can’t speak the language and is dependent on the aid of others. These few words mean that he now has a choice, an alternative. He himself can decide to stay where he is, or to go back home and rebuild his life.

Being part of this process – be it the actual repatriations or just the conveying of messages – is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life.