Project toto - Bangladesh

As part of ActionAid's Project TOTO I helped train young Bangladeshis in digital media. I also blogged about my experiences back to Australia to raise awareness about Bangladesh's marginalised communities.

About Project Toto

Project TOTO is a ground-breaking initiative launched by ActionAid Australia in 2009.

In 2010 ActionAid chose Sharna Bremner and myself as joint-winners of the TOTO Challenge out of a field of over 60 candidates.

Winners were selected based on three challenges, including a writing piece and a video covering topics like poverty mitigation, climate change and social media.

Sharna and I were sent to Dhaka, Bangladesh to teach digital and social media to ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) staff and marginalised communities from the city's slums and nearby countryside.

We helped AAB set up a new website, which was their first online presence. It connected the Dhaka HQ to AAB's 32 development areas across Bangladesh where the NGO is active, as well as government officials, overseas sponsors and potential donors.

Sharna and I also posted daily blogs and videos from Dhaka about our adventures and insights into local culture and lifestyle. These garnered lots of media attention including radio and print, as well as TV, helping raise the profile of AAB, directing traffic to their site and attracting more sponsors and potential donors.