I have chosen a social organization from Nepal called Reaping
Hope, where one of my friends (Mr Binod Thapa Magar) has been working. Reaping Hope is a non-profit
organization, affiliated with the social welfare council of Nepal, working for
the protection and promotion of the rights of marginalized elderly people.
Mission: Reaping Hope works with the mission to promote and
facilitate a process that can assist to protect the rights of the elderly people in general, and specifically take actions to
abolish all forms of exploitation and abuse by supporting the disadvantaged
elderly. It also works to establish a better social and natural
elderly-friendly living environment.
They
have realized how social media plays a vital role in communication within the
organization. They have been using Facebook and Viber mostly. Facebook for
posting plans, activities and updates and also to upload files so that it can be
accessed later when needed. According to Mr Thapa, they use the group mainly
because it is like a meeting point where they can comment and discuss on
different topics and also to save time by not meeting everybody be being
everywhere physically.
There
is not much use of social media for management or marketing they say, though
they use Facebook to show what they have been doing and what will be done, not
sure if that can be called as marketing. Since it’s a social organization they use
Facebook as a medium to get in touch with the donors and volunteers, sometimes
to discuss in groups. Mostly, they have been using social media to share some important
updates to their fans and followers.
There are rules for staffs of course. According
to Mr Thapa; “basically we expect our staff to share only relevant things in
social media. In our case, news and updates related to elderly. Our staffs and
members are responsible for what they post or share. We don’t want our staffs
to go craze over the internet and share every little details and irrelevant
stuffs. And swearing is strictly forbidden of course.”
He adds, “People might ask questions in social media about
our work and updates, in those situations he/she shouldn't just go ahead and
reply with whatever comes in their mind. They have to discuss with other
members and give responsible answers. We also talk with each other in groups
and finalize what should be shared and what not.”
I
have been following their organization as well, it’s a small organization but
what they are doing is big. They also have been working for the recent
earthquake victims of Nepal, focusing specially on elderly people and children.
They
are not inactive in social medias they are in, but like Mr Thapa said, those
are mostly the posts related to elderly people and also updates about what they
are doing or what they are planning to do.
