Training

With the imminent advent of affordable, high-speed broadband on our shores, South African businesses, non-profits, educators, creators and home-users will be presented with infinite possibilities for online communication and cooperation. In order to harness these opportunities South Africans will need to come to grips with the latest, cutting-edge online and digital technologies, and understand how to implement them effectively in order to ensure their survival in the internet age.

The African Commons Project has a mandate to educate South Africans from all walks of life on how to utilize the power of digital technology to broaden their horizons by connecting and collaborating with each other and the world.

We believe that all South Africans can be digital citizens who have a valuable role to play as unique contributors to the global digital economy. We aim to:

• Equip the South African youth, our leaders and innovators of tomorrow, with the tools of the Information Age;
• Empower South African non-profit organizations with skills to harness social media applications, allowing them to do their work better;
• Encourage South African companies to embrace collaborative digital tools as effective instruments to improve communication with, and productivity of, their staff and for providing cutting-edge services to their clients.
• Demystify digital terminology and explain the relevance and uses of social media technology to those who find themselves overwhelmed by the leaps-and-bounds in technological innovation over time.

The African Commons Project offers stand-alone training of one- to two-day duration. We provide interactive, needs-driven training on social media technologies that covers topics such as:

• Blogging for non-profits and SMEs;
• Using wikis as collaborative workspaces;
• Finding and using open-licensed multimedia content on the web;
• Effectively integrating social media tools into marketing campaigns;
• Creating fundraising and awareness campaigns through micro-blogging and social network sites (SNS)

Why our training?

“‘So we’ve deployed internal blogs and wikis. Now what?’ All of a sudden, software that seems to work so well for millions of people on the internet, fails to make any noticeable difference when used internally.”
- A Curious Case of Enterprise 2.0 by Yuri Alkin

Social media applications have been developed to be simple and easy to use – this has been one of the keys to success of applications such as Facebook and Twitter, who boast millions of active users. But taking these applications into the work space calls for a different approach – now a fine balance between staff time and responsibilities; rewards for internal uptake and incentives for community building; returns on investment and integration into organizational processes, needs to be achieved. With the explosion of social media sites, choosing the best tool for your business amongst the vast array of applications becomes complicated. Furthermore, effectively integrating different social media tools to achieve a cohesive outcome with a unified voice also becomes tricky. Needless to say, a good understanding not only of social media tools in general, but how to apply them effectively within your business or organization is key.

The African Commons Project training programme provides courses that address these needs. Drawing on our experience working in the online and digital space, we provide workshops rich in case studies, hands-on practical sessions and helpful advice.

Experience

The African Commons Project has hands-on experience managing a global online community portal, launching online campaigns for our non-profit organization, employing viral marketing strategies and collaborating with stakeholders to organize international annual summits. Drawing on our knowledge, we have recently held the following training courses:

Social Media for NGOs
In collaboration with SANGONET, the African Commons Project undertook a one-day training workshop with representatives from local NGOs. The workshop provided participants with a contextual background to social media tools and offered case studies to illustrate how these tools have been successfully incorporated into organisational practice – from initiatives as diverse as political campaigns to social entrepreneurship. The workshop provided a ‘playroom’ space where non-profit practitioners experimented and came to grips with the tools during practical sessions.

Social Media for Boomers
In partnership with the Refirement Network, The African Commons Project hosted a workshop targeted at removing some of the mystery around social media for the Baby Boomer generation. The course provided attendees with a contextual understanding of social network sites and tools, providing examples of how they are being used, why they are so popular and how they can be incorporated into their daily lives.

Copyright and Digitisation
A training workshop held in Durban targeted at communication and information professionals working within the heritage sector. The course provided participants with an understanding of online copyright and related legal issues. It enabled participants to understand how to develop work processes that take into account new approaches to digitization and online publishing tools, in order to allow their organizations to survive and thrive in the Internet age.

Tailor-made options

Training courses can be tailor-made to suit the needs of your organization. Whether you require an introduction to social media for your staff, or an intensive online strategy workshop with your communication team, or even a specialist course to understand the implications of online copyright, we will be able to assist you.

For more info

Please contact Daniela White or Kerryn McKay on +27 11 327 3155 or via email at [email protected]