PH+SocialGood Summit: Manila Journalism Forum

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Rappler, MovePH, the Houston-based Global Center for Journalism and Democracy and +SocialGood, joins a global community for this year’s Social Good Summit – a look at how technology and new media can help solve age-old problems.

In the Philippines, no other problem has an impact as large in scale as natural disasters. Each year, thousands of lives and billions of pesos worth of instructure, property and livelihood are lost. The 2012 World Risk Index says the Philippines is the 3rd most vulnerable nation to climate change and disasters in the world. Our capital, Metro Manila, is the world’s 2nd most vulnerable city.

In last year’s PH+SocialGood Summit, Rappler unveiled Project Agos, outlining the year-long collaboration integrating disaster mapping, crowdsourcing and social media in a transparent platform combining top-down government workflows with bottom-up civic engagement.

That was a little more than a month before the world’s strongest typhoon hit the Philippines, killing more than 6,000 people.

In 2014, Rappler expands PH+SocialGood to two cities, Manila and Tacloban, the symbolic center of a global disaster.

We also add workshops for the private and public sectors: MovePH will work with local government units in the Eastern Visayas for workflow and table-top simulations while the Global Center for Journalism and Democracy conducts workshops for journalists, citizen journalists and concerned citizens.

MovePH, Rappler’s citizen journalism and civic engagement arm, operates Project Agos. It builds, nurtures and engages communities that want to bring about change through conversations and stories that move people to act. Along with our partners, MovePH will conduct a one-day seminar in Tacloban for about 300 disaster management professionals, local government officials and frontliners with a table-top simulation using Project Agos.

The Global Center for Journalism and Democracy (GCJD) believes journalism is a powerful development tool. It has a 3-fold mission: to train professional journalists; help create healthier relationships between the press and groups it covers; and raise awareness of complex issues. Its training teams include professional journalists, academics, industry experts and innovators. It will bring these trainers to the Philippines:

• Kelli Arena, CNN’s former Justice and Investigative Correspondent, is the first recipient of the Dan Rather Chair of Journalism and the founding Executive Director of GCJD.

• Jason Enia, Sam Houston State University Political Science Professor, to talk about the politics and economics of natural disasters.

• Bill Dorman, CNN’s former Tokyo correspondent and former Managing Editor of Bloomberg’s Asia-Pacific Broadcast, will talk about journalism and corruption. He is the news director of Hawaii Public Radio.

• Kris van Orsdel, environmental consultant and policy advisor for New Jersey Governor’s office during Hurricane Sandy, will speak about the politics of natural disaster recovery.

• Shahira Amin, former Deputy Head of Egyptian state television’s Nile TV, quit at the height of the Egyptian uprising to protest state TV coverage. She will speak about walking the fine line between journalism and activism.

• Rick Dunham, former Houston Chronicle correspondent, will talk about the business of natural disaster reporting.

On Tuesday, September 16, PH+SocialGood 2014: Manila #2030NOW kicks off in Manila. Starting with a message from Melinda Gates, the day’s speakers will look at how technology is changing disaster response and bottom-up civic engagement. What will our world look like if it were #2030NOW? This will be livestreamed, live-blogged and live-tweeted.

The journalism workshop in Manila takes place on Wednesday, September 17.

On Friday, September 19, MovePH and GCJD will each conduct separate, simultaneous workshops in Tacloban. These will be livestreamed, live-blogged and live-tweeted.

It all culminates in PH+SocialGood 2014: Tacloban #2030NOW on Saturday, September 20. Speakers assess lessons learned from Haiyan/Yolanda, Hurricane Sandy, the new technology available and imagine what the world would look like if it were #2030NOW.

This will be livestreamed, live-blogged and live-tweeted and will kick off the global Social Good Summit from New York City, held during UN Week from September 21-22. The livestream will also be seen on +SocialGood.

Join us at PH+SocialGood 2014 to see how technology is changing our world and how you can help.

About "WazzupPilipinas.com"

WazzupPilipinas.com is the fastest growing and most awarded blog and social media community that has transcended beyond online media. It has successfully collaborated with all forms of media namely print, radio and television making it the most diverse multimedia organization. The numerous collaborations with hundreds of brands and organizations as online media partner and brand ambassador makes WazzupPilipinas.com a truly successful advocate of everything about the Philippines, and even more since its support extends further to even international organizations including startups and SMEs that have made our country their second home.