IFAD Innovation Network

Gladys Morales presented the IFAD innovation network as an example of using online groups to discuss an issue in a community of interest. The IFAD Innovation Network is an informal group of innovation practitioners, authors, and global influencers that aims to reach 2,000 members by the end of the year. The network serves as a hub for innovation-related activities and initiatives within IFAD, as well as a mechanism for engaging with external partners. It provides a space for collaboration, dialogue, and learning, with the aim of driving innovation in IFAD’s operations and beyond. It is open to the public, and members include innovation practitioners, authors, and renowned global influencers in innovation, as well as individuals from academia, research institutions, private sector companies, and civil society organizations.

In terms of platform functionalities and features that are used to enhance collaboration, engagement, and knowledge sharing among members of the network, Gladys focused on the use of hashtags. Hashtags are used consistently to categorize posts related to specific innovation themes or projects. This makes it easier for members who are interested in that topic to find and engage with the post, to track the overall conversation and engagement around a particular theme or project.

CGIAR GENDER

Vivan Atakos introduced the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform as an example of using online groups across initiatives or projects. She shared how they use the group platform to support networking and sharing across different initiatives related to gender in agriculture. The group brings together gender researchers from 14 research centers across the world, and the platform is used to actively enable internal knowledge sharing, learning, and collaboration. The group has 225 members, including gender researchers, donors, and practitioners interested in gender issues. The platform provides a safe space for informal exchanges, sharing of events, publications, job opportunities, and consultancies related to gender in agriculture. Vivian encourages membership by providing targeted emails to new staff members, inviting them to join the platform, and providing a link to sign up.

A group feature that is particularly relevant and used is the calendar – a convenient and effective way to track key events and ensure everyone is informed. It is a simple solution that makes a big difference in keeping members updated with the latest happenings related to gender in agriculture.

KM4Dev (internal) groups

The KM4Dev group is well-known as an example of a successful online Community of Practice. But behind the main, public, group, the KM4Dev volunteers and core group also use several other online groups. These are normally small groups, set up and used to facilitate specific processes related to the management of the community and community activities – for example: to organize the rotation of monthly volunteer moderators; to discuss research and research issues; to coordinate between KM4Dev Journal editors; to plan and follow up on Core Group meetings and discussions.

Sarah Cummings illustrated how these different subgroups work and how they are managed, and some of the platform functionalities that they use. In the volunteers’ group, using polls makes the process of identifying monthly list moderators very efficient – the poll functionality is part of the platform, and polls can quickly be set up and launched.

C4C Advocacy group

John Ede from Charter for Change (C4C) illustrated how C4C is using online groups to support their advocacy initiatives. Charter for Change is an initiative led by national and international NGOs aiming to implement changes in the humanitarian system to enable more locally-led humanitarian responses. The C4C Advocacy Group is a smaller group within the network that advocates approaches to address imbalances and inequalities in the global humanitarian system and make equitable partnerships with local and national actors core to funding streams. The group has approximately 150 members from local, national, and international NGOs, as well as allied networks and organizations working on the localization of aid agenda. Members exchange information and collaborate to advance advocacy as individual agencies and collectively as the Charter for Change network, driving progress on the localization of aid agenda.

The group uses the email list functionality of the online platform to organize calls and discuss joint statements or pledges, which are then fed back into the group for comments or additions. The group also jointly develops advocacy statements as INGOs and national NGOs to influence key humanitarian decision-makers or strategies and organizes localization-focused side events.

D4Ag online dialogue

Giacomo Rambaldi shared experiences with an online, facilitated dialogue that the Digital Agri Hub convened with support from the Dgroups Foundation.

The online dialogue aimed to identify priorities and gaps in capacity-building opportunities for digitalization in agriculture. The dialogue, designed and facilitated by the Dgroups Foundation, was conducted for a three-week period across various platforms such as Zoom and the email list. Other group features were used to support the process, such as: the calendar, to publish the dialogue timeline and milestones; the wiki, to explain the dialogue process, provide technical guidance to participants, and publish weekly discussion summaries; the hashtags, to organize messages and topics.

He also focused on some of the challenges of engaging people to contribute to such exercises. From a survey he conducted some time ago, the results indicated that members in online groups may be hesitant to contribute due to their language constraints, which make them afraid to write and contribute publicly to a dialogue. He suggested that a similar survey could be replicated, with a standard questionnaire administered across different Dgroups Partners groups to identify other potential challenges to engaging contributors.

The chat and discussion throughout the talk show highlighted how the groups.io platform is rich in functionality, facilitating member engagement and providing a voice to many. Participants also noted the importance of ‘democratizing’ online dialogue and exchange through user collaboration and engagement. Some participants also suggested organizing training for the community at least once a year to remind members of the platform’s functionalities and to foster adoption. Finally, participants suggested and encouraged to continue this type of experience-sharing events to all benefit from individual experiences across the Dgroups partnership.

This is the third of a series of short posts from the discussion. The other two posts cover:

• Online interaction around events and meetings – the peer assist
• Online collaboration experience exchange – the 24 February session

Talk to us if you look for advice, coaching, and support in your work with online groups and communities

The highlights for the year are really the exciting events we ran; the productive online dialogues we supported; the ‘stories’ we captured; the interesting people we have interacted with and learned from.

We put more effort into documenting better what we do – so go ahead and read a summary of our 2021 activities below here. Or if you want to see all individual posts, head over to the archive page for last year.

Adding Value Online

Our first event took place in January 2021 with the Dgroups Partners Dialogue on Adding Value Online. This event built on the various dialogues and interactions we had in 2020 that resulted in this brief with lessons for more effective online collaboration, dialogue and interaction, focusing on what works in international development.

During the event, we heard from 4 Dgroups Partners how communities of practice and online collaboration provide value for their organization or initiative and their members:

• Rocio Sanz from the KM4Dev community provided a brief history and background of KM4Dev. She then talked about the KM4Dev monthly Knowledge Cafés and how they have been instrumental in growing and strengthening the community.
• Jana Dietershagen took us on a quick journey through the Pacific, talking about a four-year project on promoting nutritious food systems in the Pacific islands. A significant part of the project was to create a multi-stakeholder community and platform and to facilitate online and offline discussions and that would provide networking opportunities and strengthen the trust among the participants.
• Tarini Ross presented how Charter4Change (C4C) has been using email based discussion groups to facilitate and enable its work and the collaboration amongst its members.
• Ilaria Urbani shared how IFAD has been setting up and supporting online communities and networks to develop, capture, curate and share knowledge, especially by building on the collective knowledge of members.

In the second part of the event, we had the pleasure to hear from Ewen LeBorgne, who presented how Liberating Structures (LS) can be used to unleash participation and collaboration in online meetings and events. He also described what advantages Liberating Structures bring to our practice, regardless of the type of meeting and events.

Improving capacities of groups, communities, and networks

In the spring and summer of 2021, we facilitated three learning sessions to improve online collaboration capacities of groups, communities and networks. Two short briefings were held for IFAD and KM4Dev group members and one for dgroups.io group moderators and administrators. 

More capacity briefing and training sessions will be organized 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!

‘Community connector ‘ – a public directory of online groups and communities

In October 2021, we launched the first version of the ‘community connector‘ – a public, searchable database and directory of online groups and communities in the development and humanitarian sector working towards shared sustainable development goals. Have a look at the initial set of online groups and communities in the Community connector.

We would like to keep improving and expanding the connector, and see how we can further develop it so that it’s more than a directory. If you’re interested in working together to continue developing the community connector, use this form to suggest other communities that we should add. Or reach out to us to discuss how we could improve and expand on the existing functionality.

Online collaboration trends and actions for more effective international development

In October 2021, we convened an online partnership dialogue to look back and forward, exploring how online collaboration in the development sector might evolve and actions we can take to prepare for the changes.

• In the opening chat show moderated by Peter Ballantyne, we heard how Louise Clarke, Steve Agbenyo, Ivan Kulis, and Nawsheen Hosenally got started with online collaboration. Together we reflected on the changes, challenges, and successes we have experienced – where were we, where are we now, what are our predictions for the future.
• Next, in a conversation with Nancy White, we looked to the future and discussed the notion of critical uncertainties – and how to navigate them for better collaboration and more effective international development.
• During the closing fishbowl moderated by Saskia Harmsen, Giacomo Rambaldi, Hannah Kabelka, Neil Pakenham-Walsh, and Tarini Ross reflected on the meeting, the issues that emerged, and the main takeaways.

Shaping digital agricultural capacities – a D4Ag online dialogue

Close to the end of the year, we partnered with the Digital Agri Hub to support and facilitate an online dialogue on shaping digital agricultural capacities. This dialogue aimed to identify capacity gaps, opportunities, priority needs and best-bet learning solutions for people and organizations working with digital agriculture.  The dialogue was organised with a mix of ‘live’ online events (a kickoff and closing webinar) and a facilitated and moderated email-based discussion. Overall, between the webinars and the e-discussion, the dialogue involved 194 unique participants from 58 different countries and territories. Talk to us to explore how we can support your online dialogue or event.

Looking forward

We are keen to continue and expand the work we do – by bringing on board new projects, working with new partners, and new associates. Some activities are already well underway. 

Are you interested in what the Dgroups Foundation could do for you? Would you like to learn more about the projects we are involved in, and the type of support we provide? Do you see potential to partner and collaborate together? Do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to working with you in 2022!

Join us online: on the web; on Twitter; on LinkedIn; on YouTube; in one of our communities.

In this video, Tarini Ross presents how Charter 4 Change (C4C) has been using email based discussion groups to facilitate and enable its work and the collaboration amongst its members.