GV Board Elections 2017: Mong Palatino

Taken after the Global Voices Summit in Cebu City, Philippines.

Dear friends and colleagues, Mabuhay! I am both happy and honored to be nominated as a staff representative in the Global Voices board.

I have joined many elections in the past but the GV board election is perhaps the most special because no one loses. All the other nominees are outstanding members of the community and each one of them is offering an important perspective or program about the future of GV.

Last year, I celebrated my tenth year as a member of the GV family. What I wrote during that time still reflects my sentiment today. I am proud that I volunteered for GV and I am still committed to promote the noble vision and mission of our unique virtual community.

I am an activist based in Manila, Philippines. I have been the Southeast Asia editor of GV since 2008. I am also a regular contributor of GV Advocacy. I was able to join the GV summits in New Delhi in 2006, Nairobi in 2012, and Cebu in 2015.

I consider myself a senior member of GV but at the same time I feel that I never lost the enthusiasm of a newbie. There is always something new and exciting to discover about GV, whether it’s about the profile of its volunteers, the inspiring stories published by the community, or the growing relevance of what we do in improving our knowledge about the world.

I hope to bring this veteran GV outlook and newbie vibe into the GV board.

Taken during the Global Voices Summit in New Delhi, India

In the age of what mainstream commentators call ‘fake news’, ‘alternative facts, ‘post-truth’ and other fancy descriptions of the current disturbing trend in the media landscape, the work of GV is a refreshing antidote that instantly empowers readers to understand the harsh realities of the present.

GV is in a position to sustain its decade-long online legacy and offer its work as a viable and necessary alternative to combat the rapidly deteriorating quality of information exchange in all media platforms.

What I like about GV is that it is always ready to improve how it fulfills its mandate. The GV board steers the direction of the group but the day-to-day work is largely community-driven. Enhancing feedback mechanism is therefore crucial, motivating individual members of the community is a constant challenge, and validating the real impact of GV in both online and offline spaces boosts the relevance of our work.

There is no simple formula in attaining these organizational goals but the community representatives to the GV board have a specific role in providing opportunities for group interaction and encouraging volunteer authors and staff to be more active in articulating their views.

We should continue what our board representatives are doing since I believe their laudable initiatives make GV more transparent. What I can offer is the decade-long experience of working with GV and the attitude of a new volunteer who wants to explore how existing practices can be maximized to achieve the vision and mission of GV with better impact.

Please feel free to contact me via my contact page, or Twitter: @mongster.

I am also campaigning for Kevin Rennie for volunteer representative. He is a long-time member of the GV community, an outstanding team player, and a brilliant comrade of mine.

Members of the Southeast Asia team of Global Voices during the 2015 Cebu Summit.

6 comments

  • Thanks for your support, Mong. I’m sure you will be an outstanding staff rep. if elected.

  • “Enhancing feedback mechanism is therefore crucial, motivating individual members of the community is a constant challenge, and validating the real impact of GV in both online and offline spaces boosts the relevance of our work”.
    Important vision dear Mong.

    Nice gesture of support for Kevin.

    I also remember your welcome in Cebu as host.

    Good luck dear Mong!

  • Hi Mong – here is a question that I’m posing to all of the candidates, as a way to encourage discussion during the last couple of days of campaigning:

    1.) If you are elected board member, what would be the most critical challenge facing Global Voices that you would make your top priority to help address over the next three years? And why do you feel like addressing this challenge is especially important for our community?

    • Thanks Eddie for initiating the discussion. I believe that promoting the relevance of Global Voices (GV) in a rapidly changing media landscape is a crucial challenge. One way to do this I believe is to enjoin the GV community to actively make GV an influential voice in local media spaces. Seek new citizen media partnerships. Our volunteers have various reasons for joining GV but I think they can be motivated to contribute more if they fully understand the impact we make in the real world. We can enhance community feedback, encourage authors to submit and propose wonderful stories, projects, and ideas to improve our work, and inspire everyone to make GV a more popular platform by endorsing it in our online and offline networks.

  • Hi Mong,

    Inspired by Eddie, I thought I’d ask all the candidates a question too.

    I was wondering if you have any thoughts on how Global Voices can scale the trust we’ve built internally in our community to larger audiences outside of our community, so we can make more of the world look like GV?

    I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers to this question. In fact, I’m not sure I have answers myself (!), but would love to hear any thoughts that it inspires.

    Best,
    Sahar

Cancel this reply

Join the conversation -> Aparna Ray

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.