“Breaking
Digital: NGOs Debate” April 2 in
Washington, DC
As NGOs
proliferate around the world, many in the nonprofit community are examining what
model of organization best serves the populations they support – the
traditional “brick and mortar” model, the fully digital form or a hybrid of
both? What are the comparative
advantages, strengths, and weaknesses of “going digital”? Where do we see different forms of activism
compete, and where are the most promising cases for collaboration?
During an
April 2 interactive debate in Washington, DC, a group of academics and NGO
leaders representing both traditional and digital NGOs will use a real-world
crisis scenario as the catalyst for a debate about the advantages and
challenges of adopting digitally enabled forms of activism and their
relationship to theories of change, strategies and tactics, and organizational
and leadership characteristics. The
event is sponsored by the Transnational NGO (TNGO) Initiative at the Moynihan
Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University; it
will be livestreamed for those unable to attend.
Debate
participants will include:
- Michael
Silberman, Global Director of the Digital Mobilization Lab, Greenpeace
- Jason
Kowalski, Policy Director, 350.org
- Robtel
Neajai Pailey, Academic/Activist/Author, SOAS, University of London
- Ben Wikler, Washington Director, MoveOn.org
- Jason Cone, Communications Director, MSF USA/Doctors without Borders
- Blair Glencorse, Founder and Executive
Director, Accountability Lab
- Andrea Koppel, Vice President of Global
Engagement & Policy, Mercy Corps
- Steven Livingston, Professor, George Washington University
- Mark
Smith, Humanitarian & Emergency Affairs Senior Director, World Vision
- Dave Karpf, Professor, George Washington University (moderator)
Tosca Bruno-van
Vijfeijken, director of the TNGO Initiative, says that digital NGOs and brick
and mortar NGOs are not binary choices; they operate on a spectrum, a continuum
in civil society. But each has legitimate
reasons to claim that its approach is best.
“While leaders
of digital NGOs and platforms claim that
they are faster to raise funds and more responsive to citizen activists’
desires to initiate civic action on their own terms,“ says Bruno-van Vijfeijken,
“leaders of brick and mortar NGOs say ’not so fast!’ It is easy to say that you are starting a new
digital campaign every week and to claim that you have millions of followers
and are raising large sums of money. But
when it comes to providing tangible assistance during humanitarian relief and
development situations, brick and mortar NGOs are the only ones that can
directly do so. They also have the kind
of institutional staying power in countries that helps them pursue policy change
over the longer term, and they have the long-term relationships in
communities,” she adds. “What is certain is that there is plenty of
room for complementarity and collaboration across the spectrum, and we see it
as our role in the Transnational NGO Initiative to support this exploration.”
The event
will be held on April 2, 2015, 1:30 – 5 pm at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. A live stream will be broadcast to 060
Eggers Hall, the ICT Global Collaboratory at the Maxwell School, and will also
be available at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/maxwellsu.
This event is made possible by a Moynihan Faculty Challenge Grant and is
part of the Maxwell School’s 90th anniversary celebration.
For more information, go to www.ngodebate.org or https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan/tngo/Digital_NGO_Debate/, or contact Ken Harper at the Newhouse School, 315-443-6131
or Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken at Maxwell, 315-443-5073. 03/25/15