In total, 12 participants representing 9 Dgroups partners joined the virtual meeting.

The agenda of the meeting was organized following the 9 work areas of the Dgroups work plan. For each work area, progress made in 2014 was presented by the relevant Board members – followed by discussion and conversation on priorities for 2015.

Amongst others, priorities for next year include:

• Continue to support Dgroups platform developments following a user driven, transparent process, carried out via the [redesign] community;
• Identify, through [redesign] on how Dgroups can benefit from the API to keep growing and meeting the needs of partners;
• Seek feedback through [redesign] on what the key needs are for easily accessible statistics – and how to be less reliant on stats provided by WA Research
• Re-launch the online peer exchange sessions, after conducting an informal needs analysis amongst partners to understand how they can benefit for a peer-exchange programme and to make these sessions more relevant for Dgroups partners and users;
• Launch a pilot webinar series (with ECDPM) that will help users understand how to setup, facilitate and grow an online community;
• Continue to recruit new members, after the new organizations that have joined Dgroups in 2014.

The full report of the meeting is available for current partners on the Dgroups wiki [login required]

The good representation from across the partnership has made a real difference in this online meeting. It was very encouraging to see the renewed commitment of several Dgroups members and their active participation in the discussion. On the basis of the members’ recommendations from the meeting, the Board will elaborate the 2015 Dgroups work plan and share it with members early in January.

There are many successful stories that can be sourced and discovered about the role that Dgroups has been playing to facilitate better development outcomes.

Earlier this year, 15 participants from the Dgroups membership and board met in Utrecht at ICCO premises for the Annual Partners Meeting. Most of the meeting was also made available online using AT&T Connect, to allow interested participants that could not travel to Utrecht to attend via virtual conferencing.

The Dgroups Board presented a review of 2013 activities and 2012 finances. Further, 3 high level priorities have been identified for 2014 and presented in a draft work plan for the year:

In the last Board meeting, the Board of the Dgroups Foundation has set the date for the next Annual Partners Meeting, to take place in Utrecht (ICCO premises) on 16 January 2014, from 11 am to 4.30 pm.

The programme of the day includes:

• Share Fair for exchange of news and experience among Dgroups Partners
• Review of Dgroups Activities during 2013
• Presentation and discussion of Dgroups Action Plan for 2014
• Looking ahead for the way forward for growth and development of Dgroups over the coming years

We encourage interested participants to join the meeting in Utrecht. Alternatively, you can join on line two of the meeting sessions. 

An informal networking event will be organised at the end of the meeting, inviting Dutch based development professionals from the KM4Dev community. You are invited to register if you wish to join for this informal gathering.

The draft agenda for the meeting is available on the Dgroups workspace.

Please register to attend (free) the meeting in person or on line on the event registration page.

Everyone with an interest in Dgroups is welcome to participate!