Mind the gap!

I recently returned from Lebanon, where I spoke to local NGOs on how to think forward for the future development and look at their internal governance and structure.I visited a vocational training centre for school leavers in Sidon. Two hundred teenagers left school because they either felt demotivated by teachers or needed to work to support themselves. I came in just as they were having a lesson in mechanics and chatted to them about their life and what they want to achieve.

Out of sheer curiosity, I asked the boys how many of them had a Facebook account. Their answer was stunning as over 90% of the boys said yes! I was thrilled to find new friends from this age group and social environment.

To find out more about how local NGOs interact with the people they are trying to help, I asked around if the organisations have websites or Facebook pages. I was told in no uncertain terms that this is not the case. No online presence whatsoever.

Under these circumstances, I can see there is a social gap between the kids, who are being trained and the teaching institutions, who are the ones professionally training them.
An NGO in the 21st century should be fully equipped with relatively cheap advanced technology. It has to understand the diverse dimensions of online presence and its impact on masses, donors, Media, social workers etc.

We need to close the negative social gap by helping both sides reach a level of understanding, of common ground via communications. What better way than Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc.) to do it?!