Are you a budding filmmaker, or simply somebody who is passionate about bringing about positive change in the world? Then why not enter the Encompass Trust “Superheroes for Peace” competition?!

Here at Encompass we believe that it is the little things that we do in life that make the difference. Whether it’s giving someone a smile or helping a neighbour with their shopping, it’s the little acts that make us all heroes in the global battle to bring world peace!…

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Dear friends, 



We have formed a page on Facebook as an outreach effort to create a global forum of scholars and like-minded people who think about one of the biggest pandemics of 21st century i.e. HIV/AIDS. This is a Forum for Networking and  Collaboration for sharing of increasing frontiers of Knowledge in the areas of HIV/AIDS, Drug & Alcohol Abuse, LGBTQI, Women and Children and Risk, and overall Public health concerns in the…

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Everyone wants their work to have a significant impact  – to influence individuals, academics, policies, governments, organizations, and communities. Given the resource constrained environment that peace and development work faces in the next few years, and the ability of information communication technology to foster new means of connecting, it is important to ensure we are using our resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

 

Organizations increasingly have to do…

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Too many TED talks. Too little time. Here’s seven interesting ones I’ve come across over the last few months worth sharing with how-matters.org readers. Watch them at: http://www.how-matters.org/2012/01/24/titillating-ted-talks-two/…

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Flexing Facebook's Civic Muscles: Public Engagement in the Age of Social Media

Presented by, Susanna Haas Lyons

 

Flexing Facebook’s Civic Muscles is a…

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Marc Maxson is not your usual aid worker.

Yes, he is a returned Peace Corps volunteer, lives in Kenya, works for a Washington D.C.-based non-governmental organization, and is married to someone also employed in aid.

But Marc Maxson also has a PhD in neuroscience.

So what does that enable Marc to do as an aid worker? Marc develops new conceptual approaches to solving "impossible" problems, of which there are many in international development.…

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Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have highlighted the potential use of online social networks for activism, but they have also added weight to personal and security concerns. In a recent interview with Radio Free Europe, for example, Evgeny Morozov even argues that internal security agencies might actually welcome the use of Facebook precisely because whole…

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At the beginning of last year, Transitions Online (TOL) published an article of mine as part of a small project documenting positive examples of ethnic Armenian-Azeri coexistence in Georgia. Ironically, even though Facebook had been the main focus of the article, TOL decided to publish it under the…

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The argument between the cyber-skeptics and the cyber-utopians seems to be getting ever more intense of late, with the former seemingly being afforded the most exposure. Perhaps that's only fair given the amount of positive press given to the cyber-utopians over the years. However, that doesn't mean it's the absolute truth even if only natural thanks to many media reports which naively presented a brave new world of social justice and freedom ushered in by the advent of blogs, Twitter and…

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In my last post I touched upon the issue of language in cross-border projects intended to encourage and facilitate discussion and dialogue between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. However, even when taken into account, that doesn't mean that online platforms are going to be effective, especially when Internet penetration remains low in the region. Costs are coming down, of course,…

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Yesterday I took a first look at Diaspora, a new open source social networking platform that some are already dubbing a "Facebook Killer." Plagued by many user concerns regarding privacy and the commercial direction the site is going in (which led, in my opinion, to an unnecessary and unaesthetic change to the…

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When Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two video blogging youth activists in Azerbaijan, were detained on trumped up charges in Baku, the country's capital, supporters and friends naturally used Facebook to campaign for their release. Indeed, one contact started to add pretty much everyone she could find to the…

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Since taking the first tentative steps to bring bloggers from Armenia and Azerbaijan together online in June 2008, it’s been both amazing and surprising to look back at how new media has managed to encourage and facilitate communication between the two countries. Locked into a bitter conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the online environment which exists today was…

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Hi, I am Sarah, coordinator of TFF communication



As you are likely aware, the TFF website provides an amazing resource for quality and interesting information for peace enthusiasts all over the world.



But did you know about all the other new ways in which you can stay connected to TFF?



All you ever wanted to know about peace - up to date articles on issues that matter to you on TFF’s homepage, inspirational and informative videos on TFF YouTube Channel,… Continue