By

Kabiru Saidu Dakata

CITAD in partnership with SAVI organized a two-day workshop for CSOs on the use of Social media for Advocacy held on 2^ND and 3^rd May, 2013 at Tahir Guest Palace Hotel, Kano. The objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of CSOs in the use of social media to support the various advocacy efforts they were undertaking. More than 50 participants attended the workshop. The workshop commenced with a welcome address by Mal Kabiru S. Dakata who outline the programme of the worked and elaborated on its objectives. He added that the workshop was organized in conjunction with SAVI, Kano which supported the initiative as part of its programme of capacity building for CSOs in the state.

Cross section of participants

Y.Z. Yau presenting a paper

The first was presentation was on “Understanding Social Media” by Y.Z Ya`u, Executive Director of CITAD. In this he explained the nature and meaning of social media and illustrated its various dimensions and their uses for social activism. This was followed by another presentation on Use of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube” by Kabiru Sa`idu Dakata, CITAD Senior Program Officer.

After these presentations the participants were taken through hands-on practical on facebook and twitter, facilitated by Shehu Usman Salihu from CITAD which carries them through setting up their personal profiles, and twitter handles as well as groups and pages. The practical also featured on various skill for the use of these tools such as sending messages, uploading pictures, addling friends, etc

The second day also featured three presentations during the morning session. These were Planning Social Media Advocacy by Isyaku Garba, Building up Friends and Followers by Y. Z. Ya’u and Online tools and advanced Internet Applications by Kamal Umar. These was followed a case study session in which participants went through specific examples of use of social media for advocacy. These were a Presentation on spgn.org by Isiyaku Ahmed, which a site developed by partnership for good governance and Promoting Budget Accountability Platform as a Case Study by Kabiru Dakata which looked at the multi-tool project on the Kano Budget that the CITAD and CDD are employing using social media. Another hands-on session was facilitated by Shehu Usman Salihu and Engr Kamal Umar on YouTube brought the workshop to an end.

Both the participatory approach of the workshop and the hands-on session exited many of who were trying their hands on the use of such tools as twitters and facebook for the first time. The initial misconceptions that these were tools for children or elites were discarded and instead people saw that they could add real value to what they were doing. Hajiya Hafsat Kola, one of the participants from PPMCH summed up when she said “now, I can have facebook account, because I understand there are useful ways of using it”. For Surajo Umar Wudil of Northern Youth Assembly (NYA), it is an undertaking: “I will make sure I make a step down training to my colleagues”. Tukur Aminu, K/NA`ISA found it so interesting that the time was “running faster” while thanking CITAD for this effort to simplify and modernize the way we advocate on behalf of the participants, Aminu Idris, DASA hopes that more people would get the opportunity to through the workshop while Sadiya Adamu of Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) looks “forward to more opportunities from CITAD”. Ashiru Kachako, Freedom Radio who offered the closing prayers “This is a magic; I would have missed a lot”.