Break down barriers and challenges by recruiting more people towards your cause!

The challenges and barriers to create change in my community are many! The main one would be a lack of financial resources, but often costs are mitigated through volunteer work. Another challenge is lack of capacity. This being the case, the main challenge in my opinion would be motivating others to take action with me. One cannot clap with one hand! If I want to bring change in my community, I have to recruit like-minded people towards my initiatives. And once I’m able to do this, I have to keep people motivated and create vital space that generates the energy necessary for creating positive change. Vital space requires nourishment through various feeding patterns such as inspiration, recognition and safety.

One of my present solutions to overcome this challenge is through strong networking. Since my job is in foreign affairs, I work to get Eritrean youth from the Diaspora to bring their skills to their country of origin and volunteer in initiatives organized by my organization. Such initiatives include reproductive health awareness, gender issues, youth empowerment, and education. One of the main challenges in recruiting volunteers is overcoming an information barrier. I use Web 2.0 to break down this barrier.

Facebook has been the easiest tool to use so far when it comes to spreading information on our volunteers program. Connecting with interested youth through a Facebook group and by using my own personal network (which is pretty big) to spread information has increased our volunteer intake to a huge extent. Besides our organization’s website, I also manage a weblog to spread such information. The information I share does not only include information on how youth can volunteer, but also keeps them updated on organizational activities and current affairs within my country.

Besides using a website, weblog, and Facebook to overcome the challenges I’ve mentioned, Pulse Wire has given me a whole new type of inspiration to increase such networking and to seriously establish myself as a writer. Although I have received feedback before through the various tools I’ve been using to network, I haven’t received the inspiration I’ve gotten from being part of Pulse Wire. I can’t exactly put my finger on what exactly it is about Pulse Wire… I mean all of this inspiration can’t just be coming through interacting in a vibrant community of women (and men) working towards women’s empowerment, can it? Whatever it is, it is truly working! I’ve learned so much from the Pulse Wire initiative and I hope to be able to repeat such a strategy towards recruiting more people to bring positive change in my country.

Being that I’m a passionate advocate in peacebuilding, sustainable development, womens’ empowerment, and youth citizenship, I want to inspire others through my writing. I’m trying my best to bring positive change in my community, but I can’t act alone. I want to get even more young people to take action, and by being a citizen journalist, I know I will be able to.