Accelerating Social Innovation: NGOs, Open Networks & Developing Marketplaces Ayelet Baron, Director, Social Networking and Collaboration May 28, 2009

Shared Specialization Partnering “ How can we work with corporations?” Basic Info Sharing “ What are my peers doing?” We need to collaborate or perish Increasing Levels of Trust Joint Projects “ What can we build together?”

THIS PRESENTATION WAS CREATED NOT BY ONE PERSON, BUT BY MANY IT’S A PRESENTATION ABOUT THE POWER OF CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE ONLINE AND USING COMMUNITIES TO GET IT DONE http://www.flickr.com/photos/pogonophobia/

HOW MEDIA IS CHANGING FOREVER

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS BECOME UBIQUITOUS

BUT THIS ISN’T THE POINT

184 million bloggers 73% of active online users have read a blog 45% have started their own blog 57% have joined a social network 55% have uploaded photos 83% have watched video clips 39% subscribe to an RSS feed Source: Universal McCann Comparative Study on Social Media Trends April 2008

BUT THIS ISN’T THE POINT EITHER

Influence Revolution Universal McCann, When Did We Start Trusting Strangers? PRE MEDIA AGE Talk face to face Talk to shop worker Government, monarchy, religious institutions dictate the agenda MASS MEDIA AGE Consult a professional Readers letters Phone in; TV / Radio Talk to shop worker Talk face to face Phone call Professional media dictate SOCIAL MEDIA AGE Personal blog Social network page Widgets Photo sharing site Chat rooms Message boards Video sharing site Comments on blogs Comments on websites Viral emails Wish lists Ratings on retail sites Reviews on retail sites Auction websites Social Bookmarking Chat room Price comparison sites Social shopping sites Consult a professional Readers Letters Phone in; TV / Radio Talk to shop worker Talk face to face Phone call SMS Email Instant Messenger Consumers dictate

Social Media Is Counter-intuitive To Communications Media Space defined by Media Owner Brand in control One way / Delivering a message Repeating the message Focused on the brand Entertaining Company created content Space defined by Consumer Consumer in control Two way / Being a part of a conversation Adapting the message/ beta Focused on the consumer / Adding value Influencing, involving User created content / Co-creation COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA SOCIAL MEDIA

COLLABORATING ONLINE

The internet is for people . For people to form groups Groups with shared purposes http://flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/ David Cushman, Brando Digital…http://fasterfuture.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adviceposters/sets/72157602720078403/ WE HAVE TO RELEARN WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW

ONLINE COMMUNITIES CAN BE A PUZZLE UNTIL YOU REMEMBER THEY ARE ALL HUMAN AND STOP TRYING TO CONTROL THEM www.spy.org.es/upload/actuacion/imagen-35.jpg

"Over and over again, connecting people with one another is what lasts online. Some folks thought it was about technology, but it's not.“ Seth Godin Image: http://www.gapingvoid.com/ UNTIL YOU REMEMBER THAT IT’S NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

“ It’s about relationships” Andrew Rogers, Head of User Content Development, RBI…http://engagement101.blogspot.com/

Online communities aren’t like the real world, they ARE the real world. As people change, so will the online communities they form - being right isn’t important, but being right there is Predicting how we form and shape our communities online is impossible. But it is safe to say that the future will be awesome. Sam Ismail, Digital Strategist…http://www.samismail.com/

Community is not a place. It’s about people. People own their communities: brands don’t. http://www.flickr.com/photos/piet_musterd/1858568495/ Katy Lindemann - Naked Communications - kitschbitch.com

“ Our focus should be not on emerging technologies but on emerging cultural practices .” – Henry Jenkins, Professor of Comparative Media, MIT and author of Convergence Culture: When Old and New Media Collide Faris Yakob, Chief Tech Strategist, McCann Erickson New York…http://farisyakob.typepad.com/

Pic by skeddy in NYC on Flickr (CC Licence) If you want to know what technology will change the world, watch young mothers and don't watch teenage boys - young mothers have no time for any technology that isn't useful and doesn't work. Clay Shirky, 2005 Dan Thornton, Bauer…http://thewayoftheweb.net/

3 THE CITIZEN SECTOR

Emerging Markets Lead The Super Influencers Super Influencers by country, share of active users

http://www.flickr.com/photos/picturesofthings/3009655146/ Mobilising Offline And On 4.8 million facebook fans 200,000 events 500,000 blog posts 35,000 volunteer groups Ben Akin-Smith, Head of Strategy, Enable Interactive…http://www.akin-smith.com/

NING Source: Disaster Relief 2.0 How the social web lent a helping hand during the hurricane season of 2008 http://deannazandt.com

WIKI Source: Disaster Relief 2.0 How the social web lent a helping hand during the hurricane season of 2008 http://deannazandt.com

TWITTER Source: Disaster Relief 2.0 How the social web lent a helping hand during the hurricane season of 2008 http://deannazandt.com

Romanus Berg, CIO, Ashoka Mark Dronzek, CIO, Family Health International by @ SamTheButcher

Collaborative Approach Romanus Berg, CIO, Ashoka His team develops and manages a global operations platform integrating 12 programs that cover over 60 countries. Romanus joins Ashoka from Oceana, where he served as VP of Global Operations. There his team rapidly pushed a fully integrated operations footprint spanning over 10 time zones across Europe, North and South America - all via an initial growth timeframe of under two and a half years. Born in Guatemala to German immigrants, Romanus attended university in France and Germany before obtaining a BS in Computer, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences from the University of Maryland. After graduation, he helped build public-private bridges supporting the successful $1.8 billion privatization of the United States Enrichment Corporation; he continued to work across public, private and social sectors to find his true calling in developing sustainable, competitive advantages for substantive missions at the intersection of communities, practice and technology. Mark Dronzek, CIO, Family Health International. Mark has more than twenty years of experience spanning leadership positions in pharmaceuticals, start-ups, state and federal government and overall technology management. His roles during the past ten years have had a global focus, including multi-language IVRS for clinical trials, ERP development and implementations, business processes and infrastructure deployment. In his current role, he is CIO for $400M organization conducting work in over 70 (developing) countries for research and public health services and programs; over 1,500 partners including U.S. government, private sector and foreign governments; areas of responsibility include: global infrastructure, application development, legal and regulatory compliance, knowledge management, service desk (ITIL-based) and data center operations. He has a BA in English from Wake Forest University, is a member of CIO Executive Council and is currently testing for his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Increased innovation finding more resources—knowledge, talent, financial—increases sustainability and growth for all http://www.flickr.com/photos/8998965@N05/ ACCELERATE INNOVATION AND INCREASE MARKET-MAKING Linking entrepreneurs to others catalyzes more knowledge and innovation and accelerates the rate of change Linking new and faster innovation to other networks--citizen sector organizations, corporations and funders—strengthens the “community of practice”– and enables new markets to form

Moving from knowledge repositories (people-to-information) to knowledge collaboration (people-to-people) Building A Sustainable Online Network of Social Entrepreneurs and Practitioners for Social Good

OBJECTIVES http://www.flickr.com/photos/arbegofoto/ Focus on the citizen sector as the baseline for implementing successful communities Pilot an online network of practitioners and social entrepreneurs to create dialogue to drive incremental change around solutions Create a scalable “social innovation toolkit” for the developing world to drive an adoption strategy that can be expanded and sustained by other practitioners

Omar Rodríguez, Environment Ashoka Fellow, Costa Rica, 2007-Present Omar has achieved demonstrable success in one region of Costa Rica and is spreading his approach through ten different Latin American countries, as well as the rest of Costa Rica Omar identified local schoolteachers as a means to educate the community and promote practices, both on land and in the sea, to protect the ocean’s marine life and coral reefs. He translated the complicated technical description of the problems into practical, common sense explanations that he explained to primary school teachers in coastal towns. The teachers incorporated this material into their curriculums and began to incorporate reading about the sea into their daily classes, use seashells in math class, and introduce class projects about the sea. As teachers became more committed and children learned more, they gradually became important new actors in their communities, promoting healthier practices and opening new dialogues with their families and local fishermen. Omar holds festivals in the communities to celebrate the best student projects and teaching techniques, which broadens and deepens the communities’ recognition and understanding of the issue and has helped spread his ideas to neighboring communities. Government officials noticed the groundswell of local support and began sponsoring these innovative school and community programs more substantially. In response, enthusiasm has grown and communities have begun to clean their beaches, implement more sanitary practices to reduce seawater contamination respect fishing regulations, and mitigate the harvest of undersized clams. Eventually, many ecosystems in the Gulf of Nicoya began to show signs of improvement. By converting the local community members and fishermen from substantial polluters to protectors of the environment, Omar has proven that community involvement is a critical component in reversing marine life degradation. Furthermore, Omar has planted the seeds to spread this approach to ten countries in Latin America.

Antonieta Castro Abaj, Human Rights Ashoka Fellow, Guatemala, 2004-Present Antonieta Castro Abaj helps marginalized, indigenous Guatemalan women become knowledgeable civic participants who are willing to defend their otherwise neglected human rights and even pursue leadership positions. Recognizing that her model is relevant throughout Central America and indigenous regions of southern Mexico, but that she and her small staff cannot alone reach much beyond the current state of 28 groups, Antonieta intends the current participants to be the multipliers. Before spreading to new communities, however, she is focusing on the growth potential of the existing groups to become effective multipliers. Antonieta’s has been part of regional networks of Central American women’s groups and has begun disseminating her concepts and techniques. She is pulling together her approach to serve as a comprehensive model that she wishes to spread not only within Guatemala but to indigenous women far beyond.

Collaborate Address day-to-day issues and build relationships Engage On real time issues and solutions regardless of geographic location Innovate Leverage practices to scale solutions the right people, issues, and solutions at the right time Connect

Purpose – these are members inherently vested in their mission. Their mission’s outcome can be dramatically amplified by collaborating with fellow experts in the field – something that they largely cannot do today within their own organization, let alone across like-minded organizations and other communities. Reputation – the entire community of members are practitioners and subject matter experts, rather than a primary contributor and a passive audience of consumers. This is also the first ongoing mechanism for these experts to confer, as they’re geographically isolated and have minimal opportunities for collaboration.

LINEAR Scheduled Appointment Sit back Messages NETWORKED On demand Whenever, wherever Participative Experiences We control the way it is delivered We allow you to play with it, pass it on Content we think you’d like Content we know you like (because you’ve told us)

Citi : In the "Banking for Social Change" competition, Citi was primarily interested in finding 1-2 investable innovations that they could take to market within in India in 18 months, but they were also focused on leveraging the social marketing activities and media hits spurred through the competition. Ultimately, they found over 120 potential investees they are now evaluating. Nike : Over two separate competitions, Nike has used the competition model to source and connect a community of sport for change innovators, while also using the competitions to test market entry strategies in specific cities. The results have been new partnerships and product offerings in emerging markets, allowing Nike to expand its geographic reach and build trust with local communities. Global Water Challenge : Focusing their competition on water and sanitation issues, the Global Water Challenge used the competition primarily as a sourcing and vetting mechanism to more efficiently identify a pool of potential investments; they were then able to mobilize over $6 million in investments from partners like Coca-Cola and the Rwanda Development Bank to invest in multiple entrants from their competition.

Haidy Duque Cuesta, Human Rights Ashoka Fellow, Colombia, 1999-Present Haidy Duque has created an integrated set of psychosocial interventions to help people who have been displaced by violence in Colombia to recuperate their lives, increase their self-esteem and reintegrate themselves into society through productive means. She has a special emphasis on working with African-Colombian communities. Soon after her own displacement and move to Bogotá, Haidy created an organization, Taller de Vida, geared towards helping people in similar circumstances recuperate or "reinvent" their lives. The organization became a legal entity in 1995. As her work on the ground progressed, Haidy sought out alliances with institutions with which she could multiply its impact. Her strategy is to bring together citizens' organizations, schools, university students, and community groups to recruit and train members, forming local teams that will carry out her methodology in their towns. The Taller de Vida model has already received funding support from Amnesty International, as well as Swiss, German, and Norwegian funders. Haidy has also turned the handicraft projects into sources of marketable goods, such as greeting cards with poetry, jewelry, and candles. This phase of her work has provided a dual benefit.