The session was co-hosted by Dgroups Foundation Associates Jessica Ball and Pier Andrea Pirani, with contributions from Rocío Sanz, Davide Piga, Simon Hearn, and Ivan Piseta, alongside participants joining from a wide range of organisations and regions.

The exchange was structured around four themes:

• Knowledge retention;
• The role of AI in knowledge management and collaboration; 
• How to understand and assess success in online collaboration and knowledge exchange; and 
• What it takes to sustain and grow engagement over time. 

These themes provided a shared frame for the conversation.

Why knowledge retention still matters

Rocío opened by emphasising that knowledge retention goes beyond documents and databases. While reports and systems capture part of what organisations know, much of the most valuable knowledge remains tacit, shaped by experience, context, and relationships.

Participants reflected on how short contracts, staff turnover, and fragmented ways of working often lead to the quiet loss of institutional memory. Knowing where organisations and communities come from is not about repeating the past, but being better equipped to respond to the future, informed by what has already been tried, learned, and adapted.

Simon added that communities of practice offer an important space for this kind of learning, bringing together participation (conversation and interaction) and reification (documents, tools, and artefacts) in ways that allow knowledge to be interpreted and reused, not just stored.

AI as a support, not a substitute

A second focus was on the roles of artificial intelligence in knowledge management and collaboration.

Davide shared practical examples from the recent relaunch of the KM4Dev Knowledge Sharing Toolkit, where AI is used to reduce barriers to contribution. Instead of asking contributors to produce polished written content, the toolkit allows people to talk through a method or experience, with AI helping to structure this into a first draft that follows agreed templates and style.

AI is also being used to support reflection, helping practitioners surface lessons learned from experience and link those insights to existing methods. This approach aimed to keep people at the centre while making contributions easier.

At the same time, speakers and participants were clear about limitations. AI produces fluent language without understanding context or truth, and can introduce unnecessary complexity if not used carefully. Several contributors stressed that AI should support thinking and reflection – not replace them – and that tacit knowledge still depends on human interaction.

Ivan added that, from a platform perspective, one promising direction is using AI to improve discoverability, helping users find relevant content more easily, rather than asking AI to generate new conclusions or advice.

Collaboration and knowledge exchange are not projects

The third theme was how to understand and assess “success” in online collaboration and knowledge exchange, particularly in settings where participation is voluntary, and outcomes are not easily reduced to metrics.

Simon offered a framing that resonated strongly: online collaboration spaces and communities cannot be treated in the same way as projects or programmes. Participants join for different reasons, and conveners, host organisations, and funders often bring their own expectations.

Simon distinguished between internal outcomes, such as changes in participation and collaboration practices, and external outcomes, where learning influences work beyond the collaboration space itself. He also noted that conventional evaluation tools, such as surveys, often struggle to gain traction in voluntary contexts.

Reflection and learning, he suggested, are more effective when embedded into activities that already matter to participants, supporting learning rather than accountability alone.

Onboarding, trust, and sustaining engagement

The final theme focused on sustaining and growing engagement over time, bringing the discussion back to fundamentals that cut across all four areas.

Rocío highlighted how the shift to online work has reduced informal spaces for connection and sense-making. Well-designed collaboration spaces can help recreate some of this, but only if people feel welcomed and safe to contribute.

Davide emphasised that onboarding is not a technical step but a relational one.

Clear expectations, shared values, and explicit norms help participants engage without fear of judgment or reputational risk. Several speakers noted that small, intentional practices (e.g., welcome messages, community charters, etc.) often have a decisive impact on engagement.

Simon offered a reminder that most participants will never post actively, and that this is not necessarily a problem.

By supporting a small group of active contributors, collaboration spaces can sustain energy while still creating value for quieter participants.

Shared value and looking ahead

Looking across the discussion threads, people highlighted the importance of shared value, not only among participants, but also between collaboration spaces and the organisations that support them. For engagement to be sustainable, participation needs to be meaningful for individuals and aligned with organisational priorities.

Despite different roles and contexts, participants described similar challenges and lessons. Technologies will continue to evolve, and funding environments will remain uncertain. Yet many fundamentals remain constant:

If you have feedback on the Exchange, or ideas for future Knowledge & Learning Exchanges, we’d be glad to hear from you – drop a comment below or get in touch with us

This 90-minute interactive session will bring together online facilitators, knowledge managers, and practitioners from across international development, humanitarian, and social justice networks to explore how online collaboration can become more effective and engaging.

Under the theme “Collaboration Futures: Strengthening online communities and practices,” this year’s Exchange will draw on experiences and lessons from Dgroups partners and collaborators. Through short conversations, breakout discussions, and shared reflections, we will explore:

• Using AI in knowledge management and sharing – Lessons from the KS Toolkit
  
• Measuring online collaboration and knowledge exchange
  
• Knowledge retention and continuity – why it matters and how to do it
  
• Sustaining, growing and enhancing online engagement

Join us and guest speakers Davide Piga, Rocio Sanz and Simon Hearn.

The session is open to anyone interested in strengthening online communities, facilitating knowledge exchange, or improving collaboration across projects and organisations. It offers a chance to connect with peers, hear practical examples, and take away ideas that can be applied in everyday work.

📅 Date: Thursday 20 November 2025
🕒 Time: 14:00–15:30 CET (13:00–14:30 UTC)
💻 Format: Online (Zoom)
🔗 Register here: Link 

Please feel free to share the invitation with colleagues who might be interested.

We look forward to connecting with you in November!

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.

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.

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.

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.

The experience-sharing session on 24 February 2023 drew from our diverse partner network and their sector involvement to discuss and share practical strategies of different online communities. To do this, we used a typology of uses – or use cases – that we observe our partners to work with. We thought these would provide a useful framework to interact and learn while recognizing that most such communities have several objectives.

After an icebreaker session, Peter Ballantyne very briefly introduced the Dgroups Foundation and its journey since 2002. He summarized the typology comprising seven typical uses cases that we observe among partners:

1. around events – helping to prepare, plan, report, and follow up face-to-face, virtual or hybrid meet-ups;
   
2. across initiatives or projects – supporting collaboration and information exchange among participants in a defined project;
   
3. on an issue – sharing ideas and connecting people with shared interests in a topic;
   
4. for a knowledge product – reinforcing co-development of proposals, articles, or other joint outputs among a group of individuals;
   
5. for learning and capacity development – sharing information and lessons to complement training, mentoring, or other educational efforts;
   
6. for purposeful engagement and dialogue – holding guided conversation and interaction to improve practice on an issue or challenge;
   
7. for advocacy towards a goal – helping people share and align ideas and actions around a shared vision.

While recognizing that online groups typically support multiple purposes, we thought it would be useful to explore the similarities and differences around different uses and how these shape the support and facilitation an online group needs.

The rest of the event dived deeper into different cases to identify insights for success.

The first element was a ‘peer assist’ where Jessica Ball sought lessons and feedback on how an online group could support event preparation, delivery, and follow-up.

Pier Andrea Pirani was her ‘peer assistant’ and he illustrated some ideas from an earlier engagement where a three-day face-to-face workshop used online groups before, during, and after the event. In that case, participants in the face-to-face meeting were invited to join a facilitated pre-event group where they introduced themselves, mapped interests and expertise, and pointed to additional resources. Material from this was used in the physical meeting. The group was also used during and after the workshop to start synthesizing insights and to support the follow up actions.

Next, Saskia Harmsen hosted a talk show where other use cases were the primary focus:

1. Gladys Morales from the IFAD innovation network talked about her online group as an example of an issue-driven community of interest.
   
2. Vivan Atakos from the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform talked about her group as an example of a project or initiative-supporting mechanism.
   
3. Sarah Cummings from the KM4Dev community explained how several online groups are used internally to manage this community of individuals.
   
4. John Ede from the C4C coalition explained how this group of organizations use their online groups to support advocacy initiatives towards specific goals.
   
5. Giacomo Rambaldi shared how the Digital Agri Hub ran an online, facilitated dialogue to mobilise ideas across its online community.

Discussions revolved around technical issues and platform-related features, as well as facilitation and user-side concerns. Ideas and suggestions were floated to better support users and moderators in utilizing such platforms to their full potential.

Overall, the dialogue underscored the relevance of the Dgroups Foundation’s mission to support and enhance Partners’ online groups and communities through learning, peer-sharing, and experimentation to optimize platform functionality and facilitation processes.

This is the first 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 use cases in depth – the talk show

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

“UN-REDD is the flagship UN knowledge and advisory partnership on forests and climate to reduce forest emissions and enhance forest carbon stocks. It is the largest international provider of REDD+ assistance, supporting its 65 partner countries to protect their forests and achieve their climate and sustainable development goals.”

Specifically, the Foundation provided the setup, coaching and ongoing support for the UN-REDD Finance group – a managed community of practice, providing space for discussion on financing forest climate solutions. The launch of this community of practice coincided with the UN-REDD country dialogue: Strategic finance pathways for forest solutions (Rome, 28-29 November). This community is open to REDD+ country government representatives and REDD+ practitioners with specific knowledge and professional roles on REDD+ finance pathways. 

In 2023, the project will continue with the creation, initial onboarding and support of two additional communities, as well as moderators group coaching and backstopping, and user briefing sessions.

Talk to us if you look for advice, coaching and support in your work with online Communities of Practice

Since then, the discussion space grew steadily – with a 40% increase in messages being posted on the group between 2020 and 2021. 

Given the success of the group, and the need to scale up the work of the platform also by creating additional, separate, discussion spaces, in 2022 the platform agreed a project with the Dgroups Foundation to set up a wider ‘gender’ space that provides more flexibility to establish different related subgroups.

The Dgroups Foundation will continue to support the GENDER platform by creating and promoting new groups as required; providing coaching and guidance to group moderators; and ensuring that users understand and make effective use of the platform.

Do you work on gender-related issues and are considering setting up an online group/community to support your work? Talk to us to see how we could collaborate!

The Dgroups Foundation is working with the Fair Digital Finance Accelerator to help establish an online community of consumer associations in Low- and Middle-Income countries and a platform for collaborative action, learning and collective influence on digital finance to shape the future for consumers.

Talk to us if you look for advice, coaching, and support in your work with online Communities of Practice