REPORT
2003
I-
Activities:
a-
Training Workshops:
Virtual
Activism has conducted a total of 6 online workshops. Participants
in the workshops received a hard copy of a 'Certificate of Participation
and Completion' at the end of each workshop. Our workshops are
provided free of charge, but a $20 donation recommendation is
made to participants from the Global North. We do not exclude
anyone's participation when they do not pay.
To-date, Virtual
Activism has conducted four online workshops on Maximizing
the use and effectiveness of the Internet in Human Rights and
Development that were very successful. In total,
more than 100 individuals and NGOs from all over the world participated
in the workshops. To read more about the workshops, view participant
evaluations, and view the statistics, please
click here.
Virtual Activism
also created a new curriculum for Simplified Web Designing and has organized one pilot online workshop where participants
have succeeded in designing their own sites. The step-by-step
tutorial is now open online. Click here for the websites that
have been created by Sheree
Trottman from Barbados, and by Nedal
Sawalmeh, Palestine while participating in the workshop.
Virtual Activism
also organized a workshop on Privacy in the Information
Age [November 24-28th] which was co-moderated by Chris
Bailey from Social Rights, Bulgaria.
In
addition, Social Rights Bulgaria has decided to translate the workshop on Maximizing the use of the Internet into Bulgarian
to provide it to Bulgarian NGOs. You may view their announcement
on their website by
clicking here.
b- WebWorks Program:
Virtual Activism continued to develop
the WebWorks Program and continued to have new partners from around
the world. Besides creating and maintaining their websites, Virtual
Activism has also hosted them. Virtual Activism has also continued
to maintain the more than 100 sites for the different partners.
Some of the highlights of our new partners for this year are:
-
Punjab
Justice, India: The
Committee for Coordination on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP)
which launched its report Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency
and Human Rights in Punjab. The site is complimentary
to the report and the activities surrounding the report. The website
contains electronic copies of the report, a database, video interviews,
and documents further supplementing the collection of materials
in the report. http://www.punjabjustice.org
-
Lifetag,
Nigeria: Life Tag's Mission is to ensure greater improvement in the
living conditions of mankind through functional information management,
and conservation of the environment upon which human life is dependent. http://Lifetag.virtualactivism.net
-
Tunaimi,
Kenya: Their mission is to empower young people in marginalized
rural areas through the provision of accurate, up to date information
on issues that directly affect them, their families and communities
at large and help them make responsible choices in life. http://tagkenya.virtualactivism.net
-
Society
for Participatory Well-Being, Pakistan: women’s group
that works with rural women in Pakistan. http://spwb.virtualactivism.net
-
Alliance of Academics for Justice, USA: who work for the
rights of school teachers who have been fired because of the peace
activities. http://aaf.virtualactivism.net/
-
Ghana
Center for Public Integrity: an organization founded by young
investigative journalists in Ghana. http://gcpi.virtualactivism.net
-
AVTAD:
Association of Victims of Torture, Kuwait. Virtual Activism
helped them get started for a few months and now they have their
own site elsewhere.
Our
partner iEARN received the Childnet International AWARD for
2003 for being 'new online': "There
has been significant progress in our use of technology through
iEARN Sierra Leone's partnership with Virtual 
Activism,"
says Andrew Greene, Director of iEARN Sierra Leone upon receiving
the ChildNet Award. The award highlights and rewards young people,
and those working with them who are developing outstanding,
innovative online projects. More..
c- The e-Newletter:
The idea of an e-Newsletter came
only after many people from around the world either sent Virtual
Activism emails asking questions about ICT, or about participating
in its workshops. The e-Newsletter is a monthly newsletter that
is distributed by subscription only. Virtual Activism does not
subscribe anyone without their knowledge and we have not sent
out an invitation for subscriptions. The ‘how to subscribe’
information is on the website.
Included
in every issue is an interview with someone related to ICTs and
NGOs, articles on ICTs of relevance to NGOs, tips on using the
Internet more effectively, book reviews [of existing online books
only that deal with issues of importance to NGOs], announcements
about Virtual’s workshops and other workshops and conferences
that may be of use to NGOs, and online resources that NGOs may
not have known existed but that are very important to their work.Among
the interviews that Virtual Activism has conducted are interviews
with Daoud Kuttab of Ammannet, Jordan; Nancy Hafkin a prominent
ICT activist in Africa; Raymond Archer of the Ghana Center for
Public Integrity, and Chris Bailey of Social Rights Bulgaria.
To-date, Virtual Activism has published 7 issues. We have
200 members subscribed to our newsletter and they are increasing
on a daily basis. The e-Newsletter is published on the
website one month after it is sent out to subscribers. Previous
issues may be found by
clicking here.
The
e-Newsletter has been one of the successes of Virtual Activism
this year.
d-
Panels and Talks:
Virtual
Activism was invited to attend several workshops and panels this
year:
1- Executive Director presented two talks on
ICT and Democracy: Marlyn
Tadros, Virtual Activism's
Executive Director has been invited to two foras to present papers
on the Role of ICT and Democracy. The first was an invitation
by the Department of Politics and Government, Illinois State
University to participate in a workshop entitled Politics
of Global Arrogance at the 44th Annual ISA Convention of
the ISA [International Studies Association], in Portland, OR.
The second was at the Davies Forum at the University of San
Francisco, May 2nd and 3rd, entitled Digital Democracy. More...
2- Executive
Director gave
a presentation in a panel discussion at the re-inuguration of
the Ibn Khaldun Center in Cairo, Egypt: Marlyn Tadros, Virtual Activism’s Executive Director,
attended and presented a talk at the re-inauguration of the Ibn
Khaldun Center in Cairo, Egypt. The Center's director is prominent
human rights activist and sociologist Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim,
who had been imprisoned by the Egyptian government for his activism,
and had been released and all charges dropped against him in February
2003. The re-inauguration of the Ibn Khaldun Center took place
July 1st, 03 at the Center. More...
3- Virtual
Activism attended the Pan-Arab Regional Conference for the WSIS, June 16-17: Doaa Hassan, Virtual Activism's representative in Cairo,
attended the Pan-Arab Regional Conference for the WSIS in Cairo,
Egypt, from June 16-17, 03. The conference is part of the WSIS
preparatory processes. To read her brief report on the regional
conference, click
here
4-
With funding from Ford Foundation in Cairo, Virtual
Activism will be attending the UN World Summit on the Information
Society [WSIS] in Geneva, Switzerland in December. The Cairo
office is also supporting Virtual Activism’s administrator
in Cairo, Doaa Hassan to attend the conference. Doaa had attended
the regional pan-Arab conference on WSIS that took place in Cairo
in June.Virtual Activism has been involved in several caucuses
related to WSIS including the Human Rights caucus and the Gender
caucus.
II-
MEDIA
Virtual
Activism in the News:
1-
Virtual Activism was featured in the online radio program: Making
Contact: International Internet Activism - July
30, 2003: Virtual
Activism was featured as part of an online radio program on activists
using the Internet for human rights. In this edition of the weekly
program, you'll hear about the successes of internet activism
in South Korea, how activists in Egypt and Bulgaria are bridging
the digital divide for small non-profit organizations, and how
an internet radio station helped to galvanize San Francisco peace
activists at the start of the second Gulf War. Click
here to read more and to listen to the program.
2-
Virtual Activism was featured in the Swedish
newspaper Dagens Nyheter, in an article
written by Lotta Schüllerqvist, November 20th 03 [article
in Swedish only].
3-
Virtual Activism was featured in the Italian
online newspaper Culture. [Article in Italian only]
4-
Virtual Activism was featured in the OneWorld newsletter twice. To
view the first article on the use of volunteers, click here;
and to view the article on Partner
News, click here.
III-
Administration and Board:
a-
Board:
Virtual
Activism had two new board members this year:
a-
Shalini Nataraj has been working on social justice and human
rights issues for over 16 years, in India and the United States.
She is currently Associate Director of the Reebok Human Rights
Program and is a founder and the coordinator of the Boston Coalition
Against Trafficking and Slavery, that is focused on developing
a comprehensive response to aid victims of trafficking in the
Boston area, educate about issues related to human trafficking,
and mobilize action aimed at advocacy on this issue.
b-
Fateh Azzam has been the Program Officer for Human Rights,
The Ford Foundation office for the Middle East and North Africa,
Cairo. As of September 2003, he moved to the American University
in Cairo as Lecturer in Political Science and Director of the
Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program. Fateh has contributed
to the boards of several Palestinian, Arab and international human
rights organizations and participated in human rights missions
and projects by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in
Syria, Algeria, Morocco and elsewhere.
b-
Staff and volunteers:
Staff:
Doaa
Hassan: Virtual Activism's administrative contact in Cairo,
Egypt. She has been hired to work with Virtual Activism on a
part-time basis.
Volunteers:
Virtual
Activism continued to work with volunteers throughout 03:
Mark
Lawson: worked extensively on a new project that Virtual
Activism will be announcing in 04.
Susan
Ott: worked on some book reviews and interviews for Virtual
Activism's e-Newsletter.
Audrey: worked on French translation of some of Virtual's
pages.
IV-
Future Prospects
Cairo
Branch:
Based
on the board decision to look into the establishment of a Cairo
office, the Executive Director is currently working together with
a Cairo lawyer to establish the Cairo center. The Cairo Office
will be the focal point for Virtual Activism's work in the Middle
East.
MENGOS
project:
Virtual
Activism has been working on this huge networking project for
the past year. We will not divulge its details now, but we will
be announcing this project in January 04.
Arabic
Workshops:
Given
language barriers, Virtual Activism is currently working on a
translation of its workshops into Arabic and will be providing
both online and physical workshops in Arabic in 04.
