Titled “Five Years On, Five Years Ahead: The Digital Agriculture Ecosystem for Small-Scale Producers in LMICs”, the initiative will run over two months and will bring together practitioners, partners, and stakeholders through a combination of eConversations and webinars to reflect on recent developments and explore future directions.

The series includes two eConversations and two webinars:

• The first eConversation, starting 20 April, will look back at how the ecosystem has developed, including the role of the Digital Agri Hub.
• A webinar on 7 May will build on these exchanges and offer a broader view of key trends and lessons.
• A eConversation from 11 May will turn to future scenarios and emerging priorities.
• The series will close with a second webinar on 2 June, focusing on what the next five years might bring.

The initiative is organised by the Digital Agri Hub in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, FAO, IICA, Grameen Foundation, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), the Asian Farmer Association for sustainable rural development (AFA), and the Dgroups Foundation.

Since 2020, the Dgroups Foundation has hosted the D4Ag online community of practice, an electronic knowledge network of over 2,000 members worldwide, and supported the Hub through earlier virtual e-discussions and a series of virtual launch events.

To join the first eConversation on the D4Ag community, visit: https://bit.ly/JoinD4Ag.

The NAgDI initiative is not a technology platform, but rather a framework that promotes a sectoral approach to digital public infrastructure for agriculture, fisheries, livestock, and forestry that combines technical systems with governance, principles, policies, and market-oriented business models. It provides a shared framework for countries to organise their existing national data platforms and systems, reduce fragmentation, and lay the foundation for scalable exchange at regional and global levels.

In support of this vision, the Commonwealth Secretariat developed the NAgDI Policy Guide, which describes a comprehensive framework and roadmap for action that outlines priority areas such as governance, interoperable technologies, independent oversight, and sustainable financing. The guide was developed collaboratively with countries and experts and validated through multi-stakeholder engagement.

The Dgroups Foundation supported the NAgDI process by enhancing knowledge exchange around country-level activities. The Foundation helped incubate national-based online groups to support preparation for country workshops and sustain discussion beyond in-person events. It also supported and facilitated two thematic webinars that brought together stakeholders from diverse contexts to share their experiences and insights on agricultural data management.

Following those events, an e-conversation on NAgDI-related themes emerged organically within the D4Ag online Dgroup, supported by the Digital Agri Hub, another Foundation partner. This follow-on discussion was co-organised by the partners of the Foundation using a mix of webinars and online exchanges, accompanied by summaries of the eConversations.

Although the Foundation was not directly involved throughout all those interactions, it is proudly associated with the collaborations amongst its partners, connecting their respective initiatives and collaboration spaces for the benefit of their communities of practice. This collaboration also experimented with the use of AI to summarise the conversations amongst contributors and the generation of podcasts based on these summaries.

Altogether, the workshops, webinars, and subsequent online discussions illustrate how collaboration across organisations and initiatives can grow when people engage through Dgroups Foundation-supported communities and platforms. By providing spaces for ongoing dialogue and exchange, the Dgroups Foundation helps create conditions where synergies between partners can emerge, deepen, and contribute to shared goals in agricultural data infrastructure. We look forward to reading more from the NAgDI Community.

One of the key areas we’ve worked on recently is the integration of different online collaboration platforms with other tools and systems for knowledge sharing and management. This work has allowed us to explore innovative solutions and deliver more cohesive systems that enhance collaboration outcomes for our partners.

Alongside this, we experience growing demands to integrate Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) systems with internal Knowledge Management platforms. This is a relatively new area for the Foundation, and we’ve enjoyed collaborating with partners to design and implement different solutions.

Moving forward, we aim to continue improving how we document and share news from the Foundation and our Partners to strengthen our collective impact. You can stay updated on our website at dgroups.info or following us on LinkedIn.

Finally, we are pleased to announce the expansion of our team of Associates. We are enjoying being able to draw on the expertise of Jessica Ball, Tony Murray, Simon Hearn, Sajid Chowdhury and the team at Big Blue and Susanna Pecora – covering facilitation, online collaboration, web design, and platform building.

Survey on online collaboration

In October, we launched a survey to understand needs, trends, and demands for online collaboration and interaction in the development, humanitarian, and health sectors. And to identify popular and promising technical solutions that people are using to enable online collaboration and interaction.

So far, we received 50 responses from a wide range of people. While we are still analysing the responses, here are some emerging results:

• Email, document sharing and editing platforms, and video conferencing tools are the most common modes of online collaboration/interaction.
  
• In terms of tools and platforms, the most used are: Google Workspace and MS Teams; Zoom; Google Drive, OneDrive and SharePoint; and email in general.
  
• Emerging trends identified as shaping future online collaboration and interaction include:
  • Integration of AI in workflows, analytics, and collaboration tools.
  • Hybrid collaboration, blending face-to-face and online interactions.
  • Budget and environmental constraints, increasing reliance on virtual meetings and online tools.
  • Smartphone proliferation in low- and middle-income countries, enhancing accessibility but likely to significantly influence the choice of tools and apps.
  • Increasing use of high-quality automated translations for more inclusive global collaboration.
  • Growing integration across platforms and tools.

We plan to share the full survey results in early 2025 and continue this conversation in a public virtual exchange with Dgroups Partners and other interested individuals and organizations.

Project updates

Integrating content and ‘spaces’ in the CLARE KM platform

Earlier this year, we developed a  Knowledge Management (KM) Platform for the CLimate Adaptation & REsilience (CLARE) Programme of FCDO and IDRC. The platform integrates the groups.io software with WordPress, and imports records from a Dspace repository into WordPress as custom post types. This demonstrates how different open content can be brought together in an integrated system that reinforces different collaboration outcomes. We have documented this in a short case study. Read more

Supporting knowledge management for the AQUADAPT Initiative

We further continued our partnership with IDRC – working with the AQUADAPT initiative to scope, design and build its knowledge management platform. The platform will enable the collection and analysis of monitoring data across projects, and facilitate cross-programme peer learning, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. The beta version of the platform is expected later this year, with the full release in early 2025. Read more

From planning to action: Launching the CGIAR climate community

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 collaborating with the Platform to nurture and grow this online community, adding value to its members, their work, and the Platform’s overarching goals. Read more

Integrating MEL systems with knowledge management platforms

For two recent projects, we developed monitoring systems Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) systems integrated into internal Knowledge Management (KM) platforms.As a relatively new area for the Foundation, it’s been exciting to collaborate with partners to design and implement tailored solutions in this space. Read more

Establishing an AMR knowledge sharing space for IDRC

Building from our work with CLARE and AQUADAPT, we just agreed a further project with IDRC to support ‘InnoVet-AMR’ – a four-year partnership between IDRC and the UK Department of Health and Social Care to address the emerging global threat of antimicrobial resistance by reducing the misuse of antimicrobials in animal production in the Global South. In early 2025, we will develop a knowledge management platform to support the program’s internal information storage and knowledge sharing between grantees.

Practical steps for engaging communities of practice

Earlier this year, we published a concise CoP Engagement Planning Guide that draws on some of the best-known practices to offer a practical and actionable framework for online communities. The guide outlines clear strategies for effective CoP planning and management within the development sector. By implementing these strategies, organizations, projects, and networks can significantly enhance the effectiveness of their CoPs, fostering more meaningful interactions and driving successful outcomes. Read more

Partner experiences

Aside from our own directly contracted projects and support, we observe our partners using their groups in different ways. Here we share a few updates.

The D4Ag community specialises in online community conversations as mechanisms to drive membership engagement and experience sharing on digital agriculture. We recently published a short case on its approach, covering the  community’s evolution, its strategies to engage members, and practical tips to cultivate dynamic and inclusive digital communities. Particularly interesting is the strategic use they make of eConversations, to build dialogue and partnerships, and turn dialogue into knowledge. Read more

At ILRI, the GLAD livestock community has been with us for several years. It brings together individuals and organizations with interests in sustainable livestock systems in developing areas, sharing plans and resources that can help make the case for increased investment. Operating somewhat in the background of the initiative, it supports the advocacy efforts of various groups that each have their specific strategic niches. In recent years, it has particularly supported information-sharing and engagement campaigns around major global events.  Alongside the community space, the initiative has a dedicated website – https://whylivestockmatter.org/

The CGIAR GENDER community was set up in early 2020 around a meeting in Rome of the gender research community of CGIAR. Then, the idea was to provide a mechanism for the wider CGIAR gender community to engage with that meeting – the organisers provided daily discussion updates, and the wider community was asked to contribute their ideas. Since then, the community has grown into a broader community of interest in gender and agriculture with regular sharing of information on events, publications and opportunities. 

In October 2024, the GENDER platform convened a face-to-face meeting in India to discuss strategies to make agricultural extension more gender responsive. For this meeting, recognizing the ambitious agenda and limited time, a dedicated online sub-group was created for participants to introduce themselves in advance of the meeting. Alongside their short introductions the contributors also shared the critical factors they saw holding back more gender responsive extension. In the meeting itself, this initial interaction proved useful as people also readily knew something of each other and, interestingly, the critical factors identified proved to be a good match for an evidence review that the organisers prepared. Since the meeting, a few updating messages have been shared and there may be interest to continue the discussions.

KM4Dev end-of-year event

On 18 December 2024, we joined members of the KM4Dev community in an end-of-year event. The session was an occasion to celebrate what the community has achieved during this year and to brainstorm ideas and plan activities around the 25th Anniversary of this long-standing, thriving online community.

Looking forward

To wrap up, here are a few activities and ideas we look forward to taking forward in 2025:

• Virtual exchange: Early next year, we will hold another online Partner-driven, exchange meeting. The program will include a  review of the survey results to test the results and implications as well as hearing updates on partners and others on their lessons and innovations around  online collaboration and communities of practice. Together, we will capitalize on the experiences from partners and beyond. More details in the new year.

• A database and directory of online groups: A few years back we prototyped the Community Connector – a public, searchable database and directory of online groups and communities in the development and humanitarian sector. As we gain experience integrating information from different online communities and other platforms, we are keen to find partners to explore how we can  move the ‘connector’ to a next level that leverages the possibilities offered by API and other integration methods. Drop us a line if you are interested in this initiative.

• Supporting KM4Dev 25th Anniversary: For its 25th birthday celebrations in 2025, KM4Dev is planning a series of events and activities during the whole year. As Dgroups Foundation, we’ll be supporting these efforts by providing the platform that enables planning and implementation of the celebrations. And supporting the process of revamping the KM4Dev website, for a closer integration between the website and the various km4dev-related email groups.

Let us know of any ideas you might like to explore further or discuss – we are always keen to collaborate on joint projects and outreach using online tools and approaches where the Foundation’s networks can add value.

A journey from Kigali to global influence

The Digital Agri Hub online community, commonly referred to as D4Ag, was established in 2013 with the launch of the first ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) conference in Kigali, Rwanda. Initially, the community was known as ICT4Ag and primarily comprised members from ACP countries – Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Over time, it evolved into D4Ag, reflecting a broader focus and a more diverse membership base.

When the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) transitioned stewardship of the community to Wageningen University & Research, D4Ag underwent significant changes. It has expanded to include members from Asia and other continents. Under Wageningen’s guidance, the community has become a dynamic space for listening, connecting expertise, identifying priorities, bridging knowledge gaps, and fostering innovation in agriculture.

D4Ag’s focus extends beyond traditional farming to include agroforestry, fisheries, and livestock production, encompassing the full spectrum of land-based production systems. This broad approach supports diverse agricultural stakeholders in navigating and leveraging digital technologies for sustainable development.

A diverse membership base

D4Ag is a thriving global community of 1,900 people from a wide range of stakeholder groups, including development agencies, researchers, academics, practitioners, entrepreneurs, and consultants. In addition to the English-speaking D4Ag community, the Digital Agri Hub maintains both smaller French– and Spanish-speaking D4Ag dgroups.

However, a critical gap remains: representation from farmers’ organizations. While the exchanges and discussions in D4Ag often focus on farmer-centric issues, direct input from farmers is limited. This reflects a broader challenge faced by many digital communities, where barriers such as digital literacy, accessibility, and confidence in expressing opinions limit participation.

Patterns of engagement: Active participants, lurkers, and inactive members

Engagement within the D4Ag community mirrors trends observed in many online groups. Approximately 8%-10% of members actively contribute, sharing ideas, insights, and driving discussions.

The majority, often referred to as lurkers, are silent readers who do not actively engage but gain knowledge from the group. Far from being passive, the presence of these informed lurkers highlights the community’s role as a resource for learning and inspiration, even for those who choose to remain in the background.

A smaller subset of members, however, remains inactive, neither reading nor engaging with the group’s communications. Recognizing and addressing these diverse levels of engagement is essential to build a more inclusive and involved community.

eConversations: Building dialogue and partnerships

Since 2022, D4Ag moderators have revitalized their approach to community activities, starting with an e-dialogue to identify training needs and opportunities, conducted in partnership with the Dgroups Foundation. This was followed by a series of eConversations, where topics of interest were identified through small surveys and polls, and partnerships were formed with development agencies and institutions that share similar interests.

Each eConversation typically spans a week, running from Monday to Friday, with secondary questions sometimes introduced the following week to deepen discussions. This flexible format ensures meaningful engagement while accommodating the varying schedules of participants.

Turning dialogue into knowledge: Summarizing and sharing insights

After each eConversation, moderators compile and share detailed summaries, including:

• Responses to individual questions.
• An overall summary with 3-5 sub-summaries.
• A compilation of resources cited during the discussion.

These summaries are published as wikis within the community group, with downloadable PDF versions made available on the Digital AgriHub website. Content is shared under a Creative Commons license, allowing others to reuse and build upon it, provided the source is acknowledged.

Community surveys show that a significant number of members actively read and share these summaries, underscoring their value in supporting participants and a wider audience interested in digital agriculture.

D4Ag’s top tips for community development and engagement

1. Leverage platform features to understand your members

Make full use of the features offered by platforms like Groups.io. Set up fields to capture relevant member data during the sign-up process. Recently, D4Ag began collecting metadata such as gender and geographic location, enabling a deeper understanding of its newer members compared to when the community first launched.

2. Proactively recruit new members and organizations

Continuously expand your network by reaching out to new members and organizations. For example, D4Ag recently connected with the Pan-African Farmers Organization (PAFO) and other regional farmers’ organizations to promote the community within their constituencies.

3. Collaborate with like-minded organizations

Build partnerships with organizations that share an interest in your topics. D4Ag has found success in partnering with various groups to co-facilitate eConversations, enhancing both the depth and reach of discussions.

4. Seek subject-matter experts

Actively invite specialists to contribute to your community. Platforms like LinkedIn can be leveraged to identify experts in specific areas and encourage them to join the conversation.

5. Prepare thoroughly for discussions

Don’t underestimate the groundwork required before launching an eConversation. At D4Ag, preparing for a conversation can take at least a month and 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.

This preparation ensures the conversation is structured and engaging.

6. Address member concerns to foster participation

Understand and address barriers to participation. Some members may hesitate to post due to language concerns or a perceived lack of expertise. D4Ag’s perception survey revealed that such fears are common, not individual weaknesses. Sharing these insights encouraged more members to contribute, creating a more inclusive and supportive environment.

7. Build a core group of champions

A thriving community needs a core group of committed individuals who maintain momentum and drive discussions. These individuals should believe in the community’s mission and focus on delivering value to its members.

8. Learn and grow with others

Collaborate with experienced partners to develop your skills. D4Ag’s partnership with the Dgroups Foundation helped the team improve their ability to plan and facilitate online discussions, providing a replicable structure for future conversations.

9. Cultivate a strong online presence

For young professionals, a strong online presence is essential for career development. As Giacomo advises, it’s not just about being visible but about the quality and content of your presence. Engaging as an administrator, facilitator, or active member of a community platform can enhance your professional reputation, build meaningful connections, and showcase your expertise.

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

These events shared two objectives:

• Investigate and discuss the state, potential, and challenges of digitalisation for agriculture (D4AG) in the regions; and 
• Introduce the work of the Digital Agri Hub in collecting, curating, visualising, and disseminating information on digital solution providers in the three regions.

The first two events – for LAC and the Francophone regions – were designed in the form of a virtual trade show: in each event, 12 solution providers pitched their solutions, and participants were invited to discover more in breakout rooms. 

Both sessions also had either opening, scene-setting presentations or a closing, interactive chat show with invited guests.

Participants in both events appreciated the level of the speakers, the relevance of the solutions provided, the networking and information exchange, as well as the design and facilitation of the event. Possible improvements for future, similar sessions include having fewer solution providers presenting, and/or a slightly longer meeting time.

The Asia launch event was designed as a Policy Dialogue on Regional and Country Policies and Pathways. It focused on D4Ag policy and regulatory frameworks; technical and human capital; and the infrastructure and business environment for digital agriculture transformation. 

Because of the format of a policy dialogue requiring a more ‘formal’ and ‘managed’ setting, we opted to host this event as a Zoom webinar, designed around two facilitated panels with guest speakers. Audience interaction was achieved through the public webinar chat; the Q&A module; and Menti. 

One advantage of the webinar mode over meetings (besides the more detailed meeting reports generated by Zoom) is the Q&A module. If well managed and used in a coordinated manner between meeting facilitators, session moderators, and speakers, it can help harvest, answer, archive, or bring offline a large number of questions. 

We supported these events with:

• Overall session planning and design;
• Facilitation – in Spanish for the LAC event, with Rocio Sanz as the lead facilitator; French for the Francophone event, with Ewen Le Borgne as the lead facilitator; and English for the Asia event, facilitated by Jessica Ball;
• Sourcing and coordination with session interpreters – with Agostina Sueldo coordinating live interpretation Spanish/English and and Serge Dalli coordinating live interpretation French/English;
• Liaising with speakers and participants – for guidance on platform and process;
• Technical hosting – on Zoom;
• Post production – follow up messages to participants; Zoom reports; session recordings, materials etc.

Talk to us if you look for facilitation support and advice for your events, meetings, and conferences

Register now!

The event will explore the status and potential for scaling digitalization for agriculture (D4Ag) solutions in low and middle-income countries where the market is relatively weak compared to the role of public actors.

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.

The objectives of the dialogue were to:

• Fill gaps in knowledge on current capacity building products on D4Ag
• Identify capacity building needs, gaps and priorities for different stakeholders
• Shape the possible contribution of the Digital Agri Hub for new capacity building products and partnerships with existing actors
• Networking and community building as by-product

The dialogue was conducted on the D4Ag discussion group. This space, hosted by the Digital Agri Hub, brings together a very diverse set of stakeholders, such as digital entrepreneurs; agricultural entrepreneurs; individuals and institutions investing in digital agriculture; international development organisations integrating digital solutions into their activities; farmers and agribusinesses deploying digital solutions; and research, policy and decision making bodies who need to understand and keep pace with the development of the sector.

The Dgroups Foundation and associates brought their knowledge and experience of designing and facilitating online events and dialogues.

The dialogue was organised with a mix of ‘live’ online events (a kickoff and closing webinar) and a facilitated and moderated email-based discussion.

The webinars were attended by 126 and 59 participants respectively, the overall feedback was very positive, and appreciative of the participatory design of the events. For the kickoff webinar, 98% of respondents to the session evaluation found the facilitation of the event effective or very effective. 80% found the topics addressed and the exercises conducted during the event relevant to understanding the purpose of the online dialogue.  

The email-based discussion ran for three weeks, with a discussion question posted each week. An important feature to keep the discussion active was the weekly discussion summary, shared at the end of each week. It provided a summary of the emerging discussion topics and issues, in order to document the discussion as it unfolded. The summaries were posted back into the discussion group, and also published on the group wiki pages. As these pages are public they could be shared outside the community members.

An initial database of available D4Ag training products was also produced. The database uses the database feature available on the D4ag community space. It is accessible to community members after logging onto the platform and it has around 100 entries. Entries included were sourced from a survey that the Hub had administered earlier in 2021.

Overall, between the webinars and the e-discussion, the dialogue involved 194 unique participants from 58 different countries and territories. Specifically, the e-discussion recorded 74 contributions over 13 separate discussion threads.