New project aims to boost charities' internet advocacy

Africa’s civil society is failing to harness the power of the internet to help communicate “strategically and effectively”, a global computer NGO network warned on Monday. The Association of Progressive Communications (APC) said that all too often, advocacy and campaigning by charities and NGOs was undermined by their lack of internet communications. “In this era of globalisation the internet has been promoted as a means of bringing people together, but all-too-often organisations in the south have been left behind,” said APC. The comments came at the launch of a pioneering project during a week-long summit at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa to help charities tap the potential of the worldwide web. At the conference, sponsored by German development agency GTZ, APC unveiled free computer software that aims to boost the advocacy powers of charities across the world. Called APC-ActionApps, APC says it is designed to rival software sold by computer giants and enables NGOs to regularly update their websites “cheaply, simply and speedily”. “At its simplest it allows for simple updating of websites,” said Anna Feldman, who unveiled the software tool to pan-African organisations. “But its collaborative features enable organisations to share their content on each other’s sites and strengthen information communities," she added. “Coalitions of organisations that are geographically dispersed can quickly put together a campaign site,” Feldman said. “The result is greater and faster outreach to a wider audience. It means that NGOs can let the rest of the world know about the vital work they are doing.” The package also uses “open source software” which, says APC, is "free-to-get, open-to-change and collaborative-to-develop". “This makes it an exciting departure from the restrictive and expensive licences that characterise proprietary software products,” said Feldman. Advocacy organisations like Anti-Slavery International and the Arid Lands Information Network have already started using the software. Womensnet, an online resource centre for South African women who have been piloting the software, also hailed APC-ActionApps at the conference in Addis Ababa. “The tool has made an enormous difference to our ability to get news and reports online, as they are written,” said Sally Shackleton, Womensnet project worker.