Apart from the toll it has taken in lives and livelihoods, the COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered the world of work. In place of face to face meetings and physical work spaces, digital technologies have found ascendancy necessitating change in strategies with respect to how nonprofits engage with their diverse audiences to achieve the overall goal of making the world a better place for all. To enable MacArthur grantees compare notes and reflect on most effective practices in digital content creation and engagement, a webinar was recently organized by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The convening brought together grantees of the foundation working on different social causes. Participants who attended the webinar from Africa, North America, Europe and Asia shared deep insights on what worked, and what the snags have been since the pandemic compelled a lot more of nonprofit activities to move online.
Moderated by MacArthur Foundation’s Kalle Eko, the take off point of the webinar was to reflect on how the new normal imposed by the pandemic impacted work systems and personal lives. The webinar panelists shared some insights about the upsides and downsides of work during the pandemic. One of the positives from the pandemic was the fact that the restriction and lock down periods compelled people to spend more time with family. There was also the point about having some time to engage in personal development. On a wider scale, the pandemic also meant more people spent a lot more time online, resulting in a surge in participation in civic and other activities. The point was made that the surge in online presence influenced an uptick in participation of people in conversations on social issues affecting them. On the flipside, panelists made the point about constraints imposed by lock down measures, including the inability to move, the challenge of social media burnout and the issue of cyber security as some of the downside experienced.
Moving on to brainstorm on what constitutes the most promising practice in terms of using digital media for social causes, the nonprofit leaders stressed that the post COVID-19 situation calls for out of the box thinking. It was noted that communicating internally in the organization and advocating causes that affect the lives of the public required a lot of creativity in order not to bogged down the respective audiences. One of Nigeria’s renowned nonprofit leaders, Oluseun Onigbinde of BudgiT Foundation gave an instance of how his organization worked to set up platforms through which citizens in nine African countries made demands on transparency and accountability issues. Designated as the Coalition for the Effective Use of Resources, the group was track the use of funds for government interventions targeting citizens during the pandemic. Also to promote political participation among the youth, BudgiT designed what it tagged the Civic Eye, which served as a platform for youths interested in politics and the management of government affairs to voice their opinions. Overall, one of the pointers from BudgiT experience in using digital media is the importance of helping people find a way to voice their opinions despite the restrictions placed on public meetings and appearances.
On her part, Meagan Adele Lopez of the United States-based Algorithmic Justice League provided insights on effective use of online platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram to promote campaigns on civic and political issues. One such important tip was the need for content to incorporate fun elements. The logic is apparently a response to the situation with the pandemic and its unsavory realities. These have made made life so dreary, making it imperative to help people find an escape from the tensed situation. Audiences thus need some element of fun; this it was noted can be realized by developing content which are somewhat whimsical, but which still pass across the message intended for the public. The resort a light and fun way, it was reckoned would be helpful in terms of decreasing the seriousness the pandemic had precipitated, while also mitigating burn out or drop out syndrome on social media. To do this, nonprofits would also need to have a broad reach on social media and this makes it imperative to use more than social media application.
Meagan similarly pointed out that grantees should learn to be able to keep up with trends on social media and know when to adjust to such trends. This is to ensure that campaigns reach a broad spectrum of people. She urged that grantees should indulge in using social press kits, while sharing other people’s messages, which would result in the creation of a community. This was corroborated by Onigbinde who similarly advised that grantees could incorporate using emojis and captions to strategically keep attention of their readers on content relating to their work. There was however a call on grantees to apply caution when engaging with different trends such as writing or commenting on viral stories. Given the plague of fake news and misinformation online, this is surely a useful caveat for grantees.
In his contribution, Neeshu Srivastava of The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) in India urged grantees to ensure their digital engagement contents are interactive and rewarding to their viewers. Apparently in the spirit of collaboration and synergy, the grantees were also tasked to use their platforms to review and get familiar with other people’s stories. This diversity of content relating to social and civic causes, it was reckoned, would keep readers interested. Bringing the webinar to a close, Kalle Eko of MacArthur Foundation made the point about flexibility, and how it breeds productivity. He called on grantees to tap into their happy places to be able to come up with great ideas and content for digital engagement. Lastly, the panelists informed that despite the changes the pandemic forced on their organizations, they had been able to stay afloat. This ability to survive the vagaries and challenges imposed by the pandemic, they noted came from being balanced and disciplined, while enjoying the upsides like more family time, which came with the pandemic.