Dgroups is a partnership of international development organisations working together towards a common vision: A world where every person is able to contribute to dialogue and decision-making for international development and social justice. The platform is administered by the Partner Members of the Dgroups Foundation (below).
Brief history
Dgroups - Development through dialogue - was set up in 2002 as an online platform offering tools and services that bring individuals and organisations together in the international development community.
Dgroups started as a joint initiative of seven development organisations: Bellanet/
IDRC, the
Department for International Development (DFID) (DFID), th
Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) the
International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD)OneWorld the
Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the
UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). These organisations were looking for an online communication tool that would suit their needs for target groups in the developing world, as well as other development practitioners worldwide. As none of the existing knowledge sharing applications were considered suitable, they decided to join forces and build their own system starting from an existing Bellanet platform.
[Cummings 2008, p.15] Dgroups is online since 2003.
After having grown and matured in Bellanet/
IDRC as a project, in March 2009 Dgroups members decided that an independent legal entity was needed at the heart of the partnership and the Dgroups Foundation was established in the Netherlands. The Dgroups Foundation now governs the development and running of the platform and related online services.
Dgroups platform
The Dgroups platform is designed and developed keeping in mind low-bandwidth users. Thus exchanges occur mainly via email, using
electronic mailing lists
A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...
. The Dgroups platform offers online tools and services needed to support the activities of a team, a group, a network, a partnership or a community.
Dgroups supports more than 800 active communities of practice, with more than 270,000 registered users. It delivers around 500.000 email messages each day, half of which are exchanged with and within African countries.
Dgroups Foundation
As of February 2017 the Dgroups Foundation comprises 16 Full Partners and 7 Associate Partners.
Full Partners:
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CIDSE
CIDSE, which is short for "Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité" (French for "International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity"), is an umbrella organization for Catholic development agencies from Europe an ...
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CTA - Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU
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DFID - Department for International Development
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ECDPM - European Centre for Development Policy Management
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FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)
FARA - Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa#
Hivos - Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries
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IDS - Institute of Development Studies
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INASP - International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications
Rural Water Supply Network#
SNV - Netherlands Development Organisation
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SDC - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
THET - Tropical Health & Education Trust#
UNCDF - United Nations Capital Development Fund
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UNECA - United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
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UNISDR - United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Associate Partners:
Access AgricultureAlfa Redicinfo
Euforic ServicesRicardo Wilson-Grau Consultoria em Gestão Empresarial LtdaSavana SignatureThe Broker Online
References
{{reflist
;Notes
*Sarah Cummings. 2008
Development through dialogue: report of a research initiative KIT Working Paper I1
*Andrea Carvajal, Odilia Mayorga, and Boru Douthwaite. 200
Forming a community of practice to strengthen the capacities of learning and knowledge sharing centres in Latin America and the Caribbean: a Dgroup case study.Knowledge Management for Development Journal, Vol 4, No 1
*Giacomo Rambaldi. 2007
Using a dgroup with third party online applications for a cause Knowledge Management for Development Journal, Vol 3, No 1
*Titi Akinsamni, Andrea Aranguren, Manju Chatani, Nynke Kruiderink and Theresa Stanton. 2007
Development through Dialogue. A showcase of Dgroups from three perspectives; institutional, project and capacity development level.Knowledge Management for Development Journal, Vol 3, No 1
External links
DGroups websiteDGroups discussion platformDGroups Help pagesDGroups Blog
Internet forums
Collaboration
Knowledge markets
Social information processing
Social networks for social change