Elvita Cahyani 180410100039 (A2) Pros with the Invisible Children Campaign I agree with the Invisible Children

Campaign because of the impact that will be produced for people in africa, especially children. Here are why we have to support the campaign: The film and the campaign around it was created by US-based charity Invisible Children, which describes itself as a movement to end the conflict in Uganda and release the children. Kony 2012: Invisible Childrens campaign to save child soldiers strikes viral chord, but is it all positive?. The Periscope Post. 7 March 2012. 17 April 2012 < http://www.periscopepost.com/2012/03/kony-2012-invisible-childrens-campaign-to-save-childsoldiers-strikes-viral-chord-but-is-it-all-positive/> - Invisible Children's mission has never wavered: we exist to stop LRA violence and support the war-affected communities in East and Central Africa. We also exist to empower young people to do more than just watch, to take steps towards ending injustice. These are the three ways we achieve this mission; each is essential: 1. Make the world aware of the LRA. This includes making documentary films and touring them around the world so that they are seen for free by millions of people. 2. Channel energy from viewers of IC films into large-scale advocacy campaigns to stop the LRA and protect civilians. 3. Operate programs on the ground in LRA-affected areas that focus on protecting communities, supporting LRA victims and post-conflict reconstruction. We spend roughly one third of our money on each of these three goals. This three-pronged approach is what makes Invisible Children unique. Some organizations focus exclusively on documenting human rights abuses, some focus exclusively on international advocacy or awareness, and some focus exclusively on on-the-ground development. We are committed, and always have been, to be 100% financially transparent and to communicate in plain language the mission of the organization so that everyone can make an informed decision about whether they want to support us. This video by CEO Ben Keesey details Invisible Children's development philosophy and finances. In FY2011, Invisible Children spent 80.46% on programs that further our three-fold mission of awareness, advocacy, and on-the-ground development; 16.24% on administration and management costs; and 3.22% on direct fundraising. (In the U.S., the fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30). - Invisible Children has been independently audited by the outside accounting firm of Considine and Considine since Fiscal Year 2006, and all of our audits have resulted in unqualified opinions on the audit reports. An unqualified opinion means that the auditors believe the financial statements are "free of material misstatement and are in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles of the United States. 17 April 2012 <http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html>

- A new campaign spreading across the Internet says it has one goal in mind: To bring to justice Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the violent, child-recruiting Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The viral film, with tens of millions of views in the last day alone, was created by Invisible Children, a charity that seeks to end the conflict in Uganda and raises awareness about human rights abuses by Kony and the LRA. Jedediah Jenkins, director of idea development for Invisible Children, The film has reached a place in the global consciousness where people know who Kony is, they know his crimes, he said. Kids know and they respond. And then they wont allow it to happen anymore. Charity Navigator, a U.S.-based charity evaluator, gives Invisible Children mixed rankings. The charity received four of four stars financially and two stars for the category of accountability and transparency.

Flock, Elizabeth. Invisible Children responds to criticism about Stop Kony campaign. Washington Post. 8 March 2012. 17 April 2012. < http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/invisible-childrens-stop-konycampaign/2012/03/07/gIQA7B31wR_blog.html>

- Invisible Children is not a new organization. They have spent tremendous effort over the last decade reaching out to youth. They have widespread reach in high schools, colleges, and churches throughout the United States. Many youth are (uncritically) committed to helping stop bad things from happening to other children in Africa. Invisible Children has focused for years on the value of attention philanthropy. They raise money to raise attention. They leverage celebrities and Hollywood film tactics to reach wide audiences in a hope to activate them to create more attention (and, thus, both funding and political pressure). They engage directly with churches, where word-of-mouth networks in the U.S. are strongest. For the last decade, they have worked on creating films and bringing in celebrities to raise attention to what is happening in Africa, first in Sudan (Darfur) and then in Uganda. Boyd, Danah. The Power of Youth: How Invisible Children Orchestrated Kony 2012. Social Media Collective Research Blog. 14 March 2012. 17 April 2012. < http://socialmediacollective.org/2012/03/14/the-power-of-youth-how-invisible-childrenorchestrated-kony-2012/>

-The

Invisible Children is an advocacy group, which has been in existence for the last nine years,with the aim to stop the atrocities of Ugandas LRA rebels. The organization just released a campaign film, Kony 2012, to create global awareness that will eventually lead to the arrest of LRA leader Joseph Kony and disarmament of his rebel group. Because of the Kony 2012 campaign film, millions of people of good will are now know of who Kony is and the evil he represents. Paterno, Steve. Why critics of Invisible Children 2012 Campaign to stop LRAs Joseph Kony miss the point. SudanTribune. 11 March 2012. 17 April 2012. < http://www.sudantribune.com/Why-Critics-of-Invisible-Children,41817>

Cons with the Invisible Children Campaign I disagree with the campaign because they are has problems withtheir financial, such as doesnt all of our money distributed to people who need. They used the money to make a film. Here are the facts why I dontwant to waste my money: -In October 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he was sending 100 Special Forces soldiers to help the Ugandans hunt down Kony. By the end of the year, the Ugandan army confirmed that the troops had moved along with the Ugandan army to Obo in the Central African Republic and Nzara in South Sudan. The problem with Invisible Children's whitewashing of the role of the government of Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni in the violence of Central Africa is that it gives Museveni and company a free pass, and added ammunition with which to bludgeon virtually any domestic opposition, such as Kizza Besigye and the Forum for Democratic Change.

By blindly supporting Uganda's current government and its military adventures beyond its borders, as Invisible Children suggests that people do, Invisible Children is in fact guaranteeing that there will be more violence, not less, in Central Africa. Deibert , Michael. The Problem With Invisible Children's "Kony 2012". Huffington Post. 7 March 2012. 17 April 2012 < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deibert/joseph-kony-2012children_b_1327417.html>
- Foreign policy experts and Ugandan nationals noted the situation on the ground was much

more complicated than just the crimes of one man.Ugandan journalist Rosebell Kagumire was among those pointing outthat Invisible Children oversimplified a complicated geopolitical struggle. BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding described the controversy from the campaign, and called attention to a tweet arguing that "the awareness of American college students is NOT a necessary condition for conflict resolution in Africa". Dailey, Kate. Kony2012: The rise of online campaigning. BBC News Magazine. 12 March 2012. 17 April 2012. < http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17306118>

- Invisible Children has been condemned time and time again. As a registered not-for-profit, its finances are public. Last year, the organization spent $8,676,614. Only 32% went to direct services (page 6), with much of the rest going to staff salaries, travel and transport, and film production. This is far from ideal for an issue which arguably needs action and aid, not awareness, and Charity Navigator rates their accountability 2/4 stars because they lack an external audit committee.* But it goes way deeper than that. Oyston, Grant. 8 March 2012. Tumblr. 17 April 2012. < http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble>
-The Invisible Children NGO is itself opaque. It reportedly rakes in millions from sales of such

things as buttons, Invisible Children T-shirts, bracelets and posters priced from $30-$250, but it ranks low on transparency regarding other donors, which include The Chase Community Giving Foundation and The Humanity United Foundation. The group, which employs around 100 people, is expected to raise millions of dollars from their Kony2012 video, but so far it refuses to say how much has been donated or how it will spend the money. The founders of the group, who advocate direct US military intervention in response to the LRA, had been previously criticized for posing with guns alongside members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2008, an organization widely accused of rape and looting.

According to the London Guardian, Invisible Children's accounts show it is a cash-rich operation, which more than tripled its income in 2011 to nearly $9 million, from foundations as well as personal donations. Of this, nearly 25% was spent on travel and film-making. Most of the money raised has been spent in the US, not for Africas invisible children or even visible ones. According to information obtained by the Guardian, the accounts show $1.7million went to US employee salaries, $850,000 in film production costs, $244,000 in professional services thought to be Washington lobbyists and $1.07 million in travel expenses. Nearly $400,000 was spent on office rent in San Diego Charity Navigator, a US charity evaluator, gave the organization only two stars for "accountability and transparency." [4] The USAID, a State Department agency which coordinates its foreign interventions with the Pentagon and CIA, openly states on its website that it has funded Invisible Children Inc. William F, Engdahl. Invisible Children's Kony 2012 Video: A Justication For More US AFRICOM Wars Over Oil. Global Resecearch. 3 May 2012. 17 April 2012. < http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29870>