Susannah Vila
Training South Asia’s Youngest Civil Society Members
I just got back from doing a new media advocacy week long workshop in Sri Lanka with youth leaders from throughout South Asia. Posted this at The Huffington Post
This summer, frustration towards pervasive corruption in India reached a tipping point when hunger striker Anna Hazare mobilized thousands. While an awakening of the world’s largest pluralistic democracy should perhaps not come as a huge surprise, is something also brewing in neighboring Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the rest of South Asia?
That’s what a new generation of committed youth activists in the region would tell you. Last week, I co-led workshops on online strategy at a training event in Sri Lanka - where activists conceived of and refined ideas for new, regional NGOs and campaigns.
To my surprise, it was not the examples of online activism from North Africa and the Middle East that provoked the most excitement - instead it was news from the Indian anti-corruption movement.
Here’re the presentations from the workshop I gave at the event - which was a partnership between the U.S. State Department and the Sri Lankan NGO, WCIPER. The goal was to offer a more strategic framework for these young leaders to plan their campaigns within, and then to go deeper into how new technologies can be embedded into this strategy.
Strategy, New Media and Winning Campaigns from susannah vila on Vimeo.
In the coming months, the projects that these youth leaders envisioned over the course of the week long conference will be implemented. The campaign that we (trainers and judges) gave first prize to will receive support from WCIPER, the US Embassy, and other supporters.
Susannah works at the intersection of social change and new technologies.
