Communicators help with Haiti crisis

Communicators are among those responding to the crisis in Haiti following the 12 January earthquake. The Internews network is running a campaign called 'information saves lives' to raise funds to rebuild domestic media in Haiti. Internews is working with local media to assess their needs and acting as a link between providers of aid and local media.

Internews is a founding member of the Inter-Agency Group on Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) that includes UNOCHA, agencies such as the Red Cross and Save the Children, and other media assistance providers such as the BBC World Service Trust and the Reuters Thomson Foundation. UNOCHA has charged Internews as the lead agency on the ground to coordinate CDAC members’ humanitarian information and media assistance activities in Haiti.

Internews is producing a radio programme, Nouvelles-Utiles (News You Can Use), which is re-broadcast by local media, many of whom lost personnel and equipment in the earthquake. The programmes are available here, in Creole:
http://www.internews.org/InfoSavesLives/haiti_radio_programs.shtm

Elsewhere, the UN Mission for Stabilisation in Haiti (MINUSTAH), flew in tonnes of equipment to establish a radio network broadcasting in Creole and French to keep people informed, help them locate aid and essential services and start to recover their lives. The broadcasts are available here:
http://www.minustahfm.org/live.html

Get noticed without talking

InDev Jobs, a recruitment website focused on the development sector, offers some useful tips on using 'non-verbal communication to market yourself'. Some of the points are fairly obvious - a smile when you meet somebody - but always worth remembering.
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Culture and potential of social networks

It seems everybody is hot for Twitter, Facebook and their ilk. But what is their real potential for development-based communications? Who is using them, for what purpose?

I follow a bunch of interesting contributors on these networks, from UNEP and UNICEF reporting on the UN's operations in developing countries and conflict and disaster zones, to InvisibleTV, reporting on the US homeless. Their posts are interesting and sometimes motivating. But are they just preaching to the converted?

These organizations also follow my tweets; are they really interested in what I am saying? Are we having an interactive conversation? Are we together engaging more people, exploring issues and improving lives?

"What happens when millions of people engage in social networks? Online communities are not a new phenomenon, but the creation of large online meeting spaces marks a new era and new dimensions." Blogger and consultant Christian Kreutz looks at the cultures of social networks and their potential, on Web4Dev.
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