Using the Internet to Promote a Cause: Introduction

I have received a number of emails, questions, and requests for information about how to use the internet and internet marketing techniques in order to promote humanitarian, charitable, and non-profit causes. 

Rather than spend my time re-explaining things to dozens of people in emails or over the phone, I’ve decided to write a simple series of posts about just that subject – how to use the internet to promote a cause.

The questions I have received did not come from individuals who already work online or who could be classified to any degree as computer or internet “geeks,” but from individuals with more offline lives, to whom these subjects are relatively unfamiliar.  Therefore, in writing about this subject I will not assume that you know anything about the internet or have any familiarity with using the internet to promote anything – causes or otherwise.

If you are an experienced blogger, internet marketer, or webmaster, these posts will contain a lot of what you would consider old data.  I wanted these posts to communicate to those who have very little familiarity with this field.

Why use the Internet?

The fact is, the internet is possibly the most powerful tool we have ever had for the broad-scale and rapid spread of ideas and communications on a broad scale.

Compare our current circumstances to just a few hundred years ago, and what it took to get a message across long distances or distributed to many people.  When one had to ride overland on horseback with a letter, signed and sealed in wax, and often through dangerous environments or enemy territory.  In those days, one never even knew for sure if such a message would reach its intended recipient – and if it did, the originator did not always know whether the message had arrived or not.

Just fifteen years ago, the only way for most people to communicate over long distances was through paper mail, expensive phone calls, or perhaps a fax.  In many areas of the world, no international communication was possible, even when phone lines and basic infrastructure were in place.  In some places, one still had to use a telegram service.

While it is true that there are still many areas of the modern world which do not have ready internet access, I’m sure you understand that this is not really my point.  The reach and scope of the internet is growing every day.  Even in the middle of nowhere it is technically feasible to go online.  You might need a special satellite connection, but less than two decades ago, it was not even a possibility.

Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to research a subject, or find out more information about a particular place or organization, you would most likely visit your local (or not so local) library.

These days, you sit down with your laptop – possibly in a cafe, or in your Saturday morning pajamas with your coffee – and you go online.  Or at least, most people do!

Furthermore, the speed with which ideas and communications can spread on the Internet is phenomenal.  The most famous example is the spread of one of one of the first free email services in 1996.  The service expanded from having under 500,000 users, to having over 12,000,000 users, in less than a year’s time.  The reason for this was because a simple advertisement was placed at the bottom of every email which was sent, encouraging the recipients to try using the free email service as well.

Entrepreneurs and businessmen have already caught on to the power of the internet in order to expand their businesses, earn a considerable income while working from home, or to become millionaires.

The non-profits are catching on as well.  Though, not as quickly as they could.

I am writing this series from the viewpoint of how the internet can be used to promote non-profit activities and humanitarian or charitable causes. 

Many of the concepts I will go over are basic to businesses, social purposes, and income-generating activities, but the central focus will be how the Internet can be used to promote non-profit activities and humanitarian causes.

The internet is a constantly changing playing field.  Promotion strategies which seem to work today might not work a month from now; and within a year, some “successful” techniques might become completely defunct.  However, in order to “ride the waves of change” and come out on top every time, one does not need to do any super-complex study.  One mainly needs to comprehend some very basic principles, and try to stay up-to-date with our changing times in cyberspace as much as possible – which isn’t all that hard either.

I will cover these concepts in a few basic stages.  I will begin with the concepts that are most applicable to anyone who uses the Internet, and who would like use simple techniques to support or promote a charity or a cause.  I will possibly follow up with information that is relevant to those who already have their own websites, pages, or videos published online (or who would like to).

Basic Assumptions

I will write this series from the standpoint of a few assumptions.

• I will assume that you have some interest in promoting humanitarian or charitable causes and are willing to spend some time to do this (even if just a little).
• I will assume that you are somewhat familiar with the internet, that you know how to read and respond to your email, how to search for information online, and how to start up your computer (at least most of the time).
• I will not assume that you have any more advanced knowledge than that.  Those of you who do might still find beneficial information in this book, although some of it may not be new.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions, so that I can direct you to more information, add additional data as necessary.  I am also very happy to hear your feedback.

Remember, if you come to any word or term you don’t know, you can look for a definition in a dictionary or at www.onelook.com.  If that doesn’t work, try searching for the term in http://www.google.com or in a dictionary.

For example, if I used the word “dog” and you didn’t know what a dog was, you could go to Google and search for “what does dog mean” or “dog definition” or “dog glossary.”

The Criminon Program in Rwanda

What is Criminon?

Criminon – meaning “without crime” – is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to criminal rehabilitation and reform.
Criminon utilizes the highly effective secular works of author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. Mr. Hubbard continuously searched for the one common denominator that marked anyone’s start of a career in crime. He found that the loss of self-respect is what brought about any life of lawlessness and criminality.
To remedy this, Mr. Hubbard developed a practical and workable methodology which is available today in the Criminon program.

Criminon Methodology

Criminon helps inmates, ex-offenders and at-risk individuals by means of practical courses and on-site programs that teach basic life skills. Offenders gain a practical understanding of right and wrong and the satisfaction of ethical and social conduct — sometimes for the first time in their lives.

The Criminon program is broken down into several modules:

• The Literacy and Learning Module

This module teaches basic learning skills. It encompasses reading and grammar courses, as well as a course that teaches a student the basic skills of how to study any subject in life without giving up on the studies.

• Self- Respect Module

This part starts with the highly successful Way to Happiness Course, followed by a course that teaches personal values and integrity, plus a course that teaches the inmate how to improve conditions in life.

• Drug Rehabilitation Module

This extensive module covers all aspects of drug addiction. It comprises withdrawal from drugs, a full detoxification program and a drug education program aimed at making inmates fully understand what the source of drug addiction is and how to handle it permanently.

• Life Skills Module

Life skills are aimed at offering the inmate a thorough understanding of interpersonal relationships, of handling negative influences in life and of being a successful parent.

• Vocational Education Module

This part of the program aims at improving the inmate’s communication skills and teaches him how to do a job interview. It also comprises computer education and job skills training.

Criminon in Rwanda

Criminon started its program in Rwanda upon the invitation of the Ministry of Interior Security. The program was implemented in order to handle a situation connected to the 1994 genocide. In that genocide war, which took place between April and July 1994, over 1.000.000 people – men, women and children- were killed. The horror of that war still bears its marks on contemporary Rwanda.

In the aftermath of the genocide, more than a hundred thousand people were imprisoned. Tens of thousands still remain incarcerated. Needless to say that the future of Rwanda and the prosperity of its society depend on the rehabilitation of those inmates.

This is where Criminon Africa has been asked to help. A pilot project was run in the 5 prisons centrally located around the country’s capital. Due to its success, the program will soon be implemented in the other 9 prisons.

The first course which is being taught is The Way to Happiness. This practical Road to self-respect is highly effective and therefore very much appreciated by both prison staff and inmates. Witness the request of Gitarama’s prison director, who, in September 2008, asked to extend the course delivery to include the entire prison staff.

“We have quite a few programs running in our prisons, but since we started the delivery of The Way to Happiness course,  punishment measures have been reduced to 50%. I am aware that this is because of the inmates putting into practice the precepts of the course. Therefore, I want my staff to do the course as well. The precepts of the course apply to everybody, not only toprisoners. Everybody should do this course, including the children in the schools.”

As we speak, the program brings life-changing results to many prisoners. Criminon Africa receives many success letters, such as this one from a female prisoner of the central prison of Nsinda:

I have read and re-read the booklet Way to Happiness and I have gotten the maximum of advices and other ideas which have brought about a change for me.

For now, I have very good relations with my prison mates. I have a good image, the proof of it is that recently I have been ‘elected’ responsible for the female prisoners of the Nsinda prison.

The course has allowed me to find my place in society and I have started to speak about it to my fellow inmates.  I am also translating it in Kinyarwanda in order to disseminate it as widely as possible. I would like to pass this course to my husband and to my children as soon as I have the occasion to do so.

I am determined to form a maximum of my fellow inmates and when I get out of prison to communicate it to my people.

I have noticed in myself changes in my own character, in my way of looking at things, with the result that some of my fellow inmates come to me regularly to ask for advices – they are inviting me to work out issues between them.

I am satisfied of the contents of this book and I thank you very much for all the efforts you have made in order for me to receive it and to teach it to me.

THANK YOU.
S. N .
Central prison of Nsinda

More information on the implementation of the program in Rwanda, its results, and success stories can be found at www.CriminonRwanda.org.

Els Van den Eynde
Criminon Africa