Twestival (or Twitter Festival) uses social media to bring people
together offline to rally around the important cause of education by
hosting local events to have fun and create awareness. All of the
local events are organised 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket
sales and donations go direct to Concern Worldwide’s education projects.
IoM Twestival will take place at Jaks Bar & Steak House, a
popular music venue in Douglas. The main event is going to be a
performance and karaoke singalong with band Red. The evening will include a
silent auction, raffle and other fun, fundraising activities.
Further details will be released as plans are finalised.
The first Twestival Global was held last year in 202 cities to
support the charity Water. More than 1,000 volunteers and 10,000
donors raised US $250k+, which resulted in more than 55 wells in
Uganda, Ethiopia and India having a direct impact for over 17,000
people. It was a remarkable achievement by volunteers working under
short timescales and utilising social media tools like Twitter to
make it happen efficiently.
This year, the focus is on education and the 72 million children in
the world who don’t have the opportunity to go to school.
Concern Worldwide was selected by the Twestival global team and local
organisers because of its comprehensive and well-respected approach
to education.
One hundred per cent of Twestival funds will go to project costs.
This includes material purchases (curriculum, desks, pencils) as well
as project activities such as construction of schools; rehabilitation
of classrooms; teacher/management training; PTAs; HIV/AIDS school
clubs; water and sanitation in schools; health education in schools;
education advocacy; vocational/life-skills training for youth,
farmers and women; and curriculum development for secondary
school/university. Money will not be used for things like
administration, overhead, reporting oversight, etc.
