Tuesday, September 25, 2012
For the first time, Somalia hosted the Social Good Summit, a global discussion uniting a dynamic community of innovators and change-makers from all corners of the world including New York, Nairobi, Beijing and many other cities.
They came together during UN Week September 22-24 to ask: How can the power of innovative thinking and technology be harnessed to solve the world’s greatest challenges?
The Social good summit took place in Somali capital Mogadishu long cut off from the rest of the world due to conflict. However, the event organizers, United Nations Development Programme and the What Took You So Long Foundation argued that a new era is dawning in the Horn of Africa nation and its war torn capital, Mogadishu, is regenerating - businesses are opening up and life is springing back to its streets.
Participants were drawn from Mogadishu and largely attended by corporate firms and businesses propping up in Somalia as a result of the relative peace being experienced in the city.
“Social good Summit Mogadishu is a program that brings together young Somali innovators together to share ideas on how to use technology as a link between Somalis in Somalia and the Somalis in Diaspora”.
Ilwad Elman of the Elman Peace and Human Rights center says that Somalis are embracing new technology to propel themselves into the global connected community and bring positive change to their country since the war and famine ravaged nation had elected its first formal president in 43 years bringing hope and change to the millions of Somalis.
Somalis are fast embracing the power of technology and properly utilizing the social media. Examples recorded on how Somalis were internet active include the presidential election process that was televised live earlier this month that enabled Somalis globally to watch it via internet, journalists tweeting news as it happens from the war torn nation, solar energy being harnessed to light Mogadishu’s streets among many others.