Leadership Institute Colloquium: Social Media and Global Activism with Hans Peter Schmitz

Location

Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, 211

Free

A growing number of virtual organizations promise to affect social and cultural change across the world. These groups directly challenge the role of traditional international NGOs in areas of global development, environmental protection, and humanitarian aid. Kiva.org, 350.org, sumofus.org, change.org in many ways complement, but also directly compete with established organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Mercy Corps, or World Vision. What are some of the different strategic and tactical innovations introduced by these new global actors? Are they capable of addressing many of the long-standing challenges of the international nongovernmental sector? Can they deliver on their promise of greater effectiveness and efficiency? This session will reflect on an April 2015 debate between digital and ‘brick and mortar’ NGOs facilitated by a team of academics based at Syracuse University, George Washington University, and the University of San Diego  (ngodebate.org).