Earlier this year, CGIAR launched an online climate community – a dedicated space to share updates, insights, and foster connections among experts and peers committed to addressing climate adaptation and mitigation challenges. The Dgroups Foundation is supporting the Platform as it nurtures and grows this online community.

Planning for engagement

Engagement and relationship-building are central to successful communities. To support these goals, we developed a 90-minute virtual workshop to help new community leads strategize their growth. Before launching the CGIAR community, we guided a small group of colleagues through key steps to establish a solid foundation. Starting with a values check-in, we explored lessons from successful communities of practice, clarified roles and responsibilities, and identified priority activities. Additionally, we created a resource to guide community engagement, offering practical insights for designing and activating thriving online spaces.

Group setup and technical support

Launching an online community involves a blend of technical and engagement planning. Together with the CGIAR core team, we established a dedicated multi-community space using the groups.io platform, which supports email-based groups and collaboration tools.

Initially, efforts focused on creating a dedicated group for CGIAR members to share events, updates, and thematic discussions. A parent climate community, open to external members, facilitates connections and conversations beyond CGIAR’s boundaries, offering flexibility to engage diverse stakeholders.

Facilitating meaningful interactions

To spark engagement, we planned a series of thematic e-discussions within a specialized sub-group for CGIAR affiliates. These discussions provide a focused environment for deeper collaboration and foster connections across CGIAR centers.

As Dgroups Foundation, we have run many of such exercises and have a robust methodology and process that ensures active participation. As D4Ag community lead, Giacomo Rambaldi shared in a recent conversation, thorough preparation and planning are essential for the success of an e-discussion. This includes:

• Drafting a conversation framework to outline the topic.
• Identifying and formulating key questions.
• Assigning roles, such as question launchers and summary writers.
• Scheduling emails and preparing templates.

The first e-discussion explored the role of carbon credits in achieving climate goals. Responses highlighted diverse perspectives, projects, and challenges, enriching the conversation with valuable insights. To support both active participants and passive readers, we shared mid-point and final summaries of the discussion. Beyond e-discussions, the group has been used to highlight relevant events and share curated social media round-ups.

Guiding users and growing capacities

In parallel with thematic facilitation, we provided guidance to members on effectively participating in discussions and utilizing the groups.io platform’s features. While engagement is possible directly through email, platform tools such as the member directory, the calendar, and the wiki can foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.

A key part of our approach is strengthening the capacity of CGIAR colleagues in online facilitation and community management. Through hands-on demonstrations, we model effective facilitation behaviors, suggest actionable steps, and guide colleagues in designing and managing discussions. By doing so, we aim to empower CGIAR colleagues to confidently take the lead in managing the community next year, with the Dgroups Foundation stepping into a supportive, background role. This transition is essential for fostering a sustainable and self-reliant community.

Looking ahead

Communities require ongoing nurturing, blending online and offline interactions. As we look toward 2025, we will continue to support the CGIAR team in growing their community and deepening its impact. Reflexive learning and feedback loops will ensure the community’s value proposition remains relevant and impactful.

In 2021 we facilitated three learning sessions to improve online collaboration capacities of groups, communities and networks. 

The heart of our online communities are the individual people signed up to our groups.  To help Partners get more from their groups, in April and August 2021 we ran two short briefings for IFAD and KM4Dev group members. In these sessions, we covered some of the basic and advanced features of the groups.io software, which underpins the dgroups.io communities. We looked at how to best use the group email, and how to get the most out of the groups by logging in online – to manage the profile; set email subscription preferences; and control the volume of email messages received from a group.

Similarly, in July 2021 we run a session for dgroups.io group moderators and administrators. In this session, we looked at the key features of the groups.io software. We then presented 4 things each group admin should know (profile; feed, topics, and calendar homepages; bouncing and bounced members; group guidelines). Further, we reviewed the key group settings. Finally, we discussed some of the group web features (calendar; database; polls; wiki) and presented how some communities are using these features.

More capacity briefing and training sessions will be organised in 2022. If you are interested in planning a session with us, or want to know more about how the Dgroups Foundation can support the design, set up and run effective online groups, communities, dialogues or events, please get in touch with us!