A social media training for potential and qualified women candidates and women from Civil Society Organisations was held on the 28th of September at the Distance Learning Centre in Colombo. The training programme introduced participants to social media platforms, enabling them to have the skills to engage with an audience online.
For the introductory session participants were taken through the basics of online tools such as email accounts, Facebook, Twitter and Blogging. This session was conducted by Devagowry, Journalist and Lecturer at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism. The Getting Online handbook, a WMC publication, was also used as a guide during this session.
The second session comprised of learning how to harness social media for advocacy and was headed by Subha Wijesiriwardena. During this session the participants were taken through the concept of online advocacy. The purpose of online advocacy, formulating a message for an online audience, advocacy tools and the safety and security measures that need to be taken when using such online tools were explained and discussed.
Close to 30 participants from Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Kurunegala, Batticaloa, Mannar and Trincomalee attended the training.