Briefly News Partners With Meta to Highlight the Impact of Digital Communities in Solving Problems in Africa
Briefly News is excited to announce its partnership with Meta in a new digital community campaign dubbed "I am because we are."
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The community campaign will see a convergence of major digital publications in a storytelling mission to showcase the power of building digital communities in sub-Saharan countries.
The ‘I Am Because We Are’ campaign will feature six community leaders from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, who built digital communities to help solve problems within their regions.
To celebrate their efforts to improve Africa, Meta has brought together top digital content creators to share these founders’ stories and to inspire others to join or start digital communities that are solving African problems or promoting African culture.
Meet the leaders of Facebook groups who change their communities
South African VANSA and Slangkop Group
In South Africa, the founder of VANSA, Refilwe Nkomo, created a national network of over 7000 artists and art organisations as a support point and development agency for contemporary art practice. Her digital community develops industry knowledge, networks, and projects to help realise new social, cultural, and economic possibilities for art practice.
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“Art is a collective remembering and exploration of culture. Facebook groups allow people of all economic status or geographic location to be part of the conversation - to see, ask question and experience South African culture through its art.”
Also in South Africa, Lucretia Splinters founded the Slangkop Group as a community hub to address deprivation and poverty in a historically underinvested community. Lucretia has successfully launched a series of food drives, skill workshops, and job opportunities through the digital Hub.
“Facebook’s tools and features enable us to connect, advertise and communicate directly and has a host of programmes that support community management and my projects and programmes are proof that one can scale in the digital space on social media.”
Kenyan Nakuru County Mums and Builders & Co-creators
In Kenya, Jess Gachemi, the founder of Nakuru County Mums, is among the community leaders chosen for this campaign. This is a digital community she founded as a haven for women to gain knowledge, skills, and opportunities for personal and family development. Over the last two years, her platform has screened 836 women for cancer, and many more have received business training.
Another Kenyan community leader to be highlighted is Saline Handa Onoka, a market researcher who established a builders and co-creators group to assist Africans who are attempting to build their own homes from the ground up. Saline's Builders and Co-creators group aims to demystify Kenya's building and construction value chain by providing a forum for dialogue between laypeople and the construction industry.
“Builders & Co-creators’ mission is to make the dream of affordable housing real through education, facilitation, and networking to make homeownership a reality across Africa. Facebook has helped us drive this mission by providing a platform that keeps building relationships across borders safely and inclusively. “
Nigerian Portfolio 9 and Protect the Child Foundation
In Nigeria, Philip Udeochu founded Portfolio 9, an interactive digital entrepreneurship hub that promotes grassroot entrepreneurship in Africa to reduce poverty, unemployment, and vocational skill shortages by leveraging social media and technology.
Elizabeth Achile, a Nigerian community leader, founded the Protect the Child foundation. As an advocate, Elizabeth has witnessed heartbreaking stories of child sexual abuse firsthand. Her online community is inspired by the need to educate African parents on how to protect their children, as well as to provide children with the vocabulary and safe spaces necessary to report such cases.
"Our community empowers parents, schools, advocates, and those who work with children with the right knowledge, skill, and information needed to protect and defend children’s rights and to combat child sexual abuse. Our Facebook group has assisted us in raising awareness and recruiting more volunteers who are actively involved in our online community..."
Briefly News has joined forces with Meta to bring forth an exceptional campaign titled "I am because we are," in a bid to showcase the profound impact of digital communities in sub-Saharan Africa. With the convergence of prominent digital publications, the campaign's objective is to tell the story of community leaders from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, who have used their digital platforms to address fundamental issues in their respective regions.
Through their unwavering efforts, these leaders have brought to light the harsh realities that plague their communities, and how they have combated them online and offline. It is a testament to the fact that we are stronger together than alone, that we can change the narrative of our communities, no matter how daunting the task may seem.
CPUT media lecturer who bagged PhD at UCT in 2022 shares how she balances her career and raising 3 children
In other stories Briefly News reported on a strong mother from Cape Town who s grinding hard to balance her career as a media lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) with mothering three boys.
Talking to Briefly News, the supermom argues that while there is often a desire to attract women to academia, there are rarely policies in place to accommodate them.
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Source: Briefly News
