There is less than one month to go before the start of the 5th annual SANGONeT "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference.

The 2009 event will be held in two parts - from 15-16 October 2009 in Johannesburg, and 20-21 October 2009 in Cape Town. The focus of this year’s conference is on the relevance of social media tools to the South African NGO sector.

For detailed information about the event, click here.

The conference will create awareness amongst participants about social media, expose them to specific tools and applications and enhance their skills in using and applying these tools. It also aims to enable participants to reflect on the value and relevance of these tools to the day-to-day work of NGOs, and to shape future applications and innovation in this regard.

Phrases such as the "bottom of the pyramid" or "the next billion customers" often characterise the way in which multinational companies and other economic actors refer to developing countries in terms of their future markets. But to what extent are decisions about new markets and the needs of future consumers guided by accurate information and experiences from roleplayers such as NGOs already serving these constituencies?

The final two sessions of the 2009 SANGONeT conference are structured to match the social media and ICT needs of NGOs with ICT service providers supporting the work of the sector.

The "Social Media: The Big Picture" session, to be facilitated by leading local and international NGO and social media experts, will build understanding among participants about the value of social media tools in relation to the core operational and strategic requirements of NGOs - fundraising, networking, reputation-building, outreach, recruitment, etc.

Following this, the final session of the conference, "Social Impact Labs", will draw on the diversity and collective expertise and experience of participants to conceptualise, share and develop innovative ideas relevant to the work of NGOs, the challenges they face and the communities they serve.

These outcomes will be shared with funders, social entrepreneurs, ICT service providers and other NGOs in the post-conference period to generate wider awareness, interest and support for the social media and ICT requirements of the NGO sector.