Project TOTO is ActionAid Australia’s attempt to give poverty a voice through social media.
ActionAid plans to establish a number of blog outposts in poor communities around the world, with locals trained to use free social media tools such as Twitter and blogs to tell their stories.
We established our first blog outpost in Tanzania in June 2009, and plan to launch the next outpost in an urban slum in Bangladesh, in June this year.
Photo taken during training for first outreach blog in Tanzania
What will Project TOTO achieve?
Poverty is too often hidden from view, but through Project TOTO, ActionAid is helping to shine a light on issues of injustice and human rights violations on the world stage.
Ultimately, Project TOTO aims to:
- Provide a new medium through which people living in poverty can express themselves and raise awareness of their rights.
- Give Australians an intimate and powerful insight into the lives of people living in poverty and highlight the injustices and human rights violations that cause poverty.
In short, Project TOTO hopes to bridge the divide between people with important stories to tell, and Australians who want to listen.
Get involved in Project TOTO
You too can give poverty a voice through social media by getting involved in Project TOTO:
- Join the conversation on this blog and learn more about our outposts around the world
- Follow ActionAid on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates on Project TOTO
- Raise awareness of poverty and injustice through your own blog, Twitter account and other social media tools
- Visit the ActionAid website and learn more about our work
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Congrats on an inspiring initiative – just wondering how long would the commitment be for?
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LENGTH OF STAY:
The length of stay in-country will be between 1-2 weeks. Anyone nominating themselves should be available for two weeks in country.
The length of stay will depend on the country chosen (as travel times to and from projects vary considerably) and also on the level of technical knowledge of locals (low levels of technical knowledge will require longer training times).
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Hello, I was just wondering if in order to qualify, do you have to live in/be a citizen of Australia?
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Hi Karen.
Technically, yes, we are searching for an Australian blogger. Why? Because one of the primary purposes of Project TOTO is to connect people in Australia with the people we work with in developing countries.
Over time, we hope this will become a much bigger project that connects people around the world from developed and developing countries into a great big network of change.
But you have to start “small” sometimes, so we’re focussing on Australians for now. An Australian should, in theory, be better able to communicate with fellow Australians about the challenges facing people in our program countries – in a style that Australians will connect with. They’ll also have the networks back in Australia to get the information out.
Having said that, if we come across a nominee who would be perfect for the job despite not technically being “Australian” – we would definitely consider them.
Hope that answers your question!
Mark Chenery
Communications Manager – ActionAid Australia
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