SDC & Dgroups

Dgroups at SDC

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFASwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC

Carmen Eckert (Learning and Networking Processes, Dgroups coordinator)

Carsten Schulz (Agridea International, Administrator/facilitator of Dgroup « e+i network, Private Sector Development discussion group »)

16.04.2013

2dGroups at SDC | Carmen Eckert/ Carsten Schulz

Dgroups in the organization

When and how is Dgroups used?

(Institutionalized) thematic networks communication

Preparation of F2F events (Logistics and Contents)

Thematic discussions and exchange about common practices

Intra network communication and exchange among network facilitators

Institutional informations

Creation of ad-hoc discussion groups of two networks


Dgroups in the organization

Trends and highlights

Established tool

A high satisfaction by dgroups users (before next.dgroups rather negative feedbacks)

Trend to shorter and more spontaneaus messages -> work in progress; process orientation within networks

Structured e-discussions as main use case -> Search for complementary instruments/innovations

Example - SDC Employment and Income Network I

SDC e+i network with 2 sub-groups: Private Sector Development discussion group + Vocational Skills Development discussion group

4dGroups at SDC| Carmen Eckert/ Carsten Schulz

SDC e+i network, PSD discussion group

Screenshot – dgroups SDC e+i network, PSD discussion group, 15.04.2013

Structure of a thematic network at SDC

dGroups at SDC | Carmen Eckert/ Carsten Schulz

Example - SDC Employment and Income Network II

Purpose info-channel (newsletter; messages) thematic exchange and discussion

Membership SDC collaborators + practitioners; academia, consultants

& think tanks Development goal learning improvement of development interventions sharing of good practices

7dGroups at SDC| Carmen Eckert/ Carsten Schulz

Useful functionalities in Dgroups

Mailing list function

Overview of discussion group members

Member profiles! Email directory!

Archive of discussion posts

Upload of relevant documents (send by users)

Statistics


What’s unique about e+i network Dgroups? Mixture of internal SDC collaborators and external

specialists from implementing partners, academia, think tanks and other NGOs

Quite a big number of members (compared with other SDC Dgroups)

Compliance by its members

Trust by network focal point; focal point is not facilitating -> outsourcing to backstopping mandate

A good team of online facilitators (backstopping mandate)


How is the group managed?

Moderated/non moderated? not censored -> Dgroups slang: non moderated - but

facilitated ;-)

Are messages curated/translated/re-purposed? 100% authentic; not censored mixed experiences with translated discussions discussion is synthesised not summarised

Does the discussion group work in combination with other online/offline services? shared website of the e+i network other network website outside SDC (M4P hub, etc.)



Reflections

Challenges

More efficient use of the profile function

The IT environment at SDC and cooperation offices as such

The future change on the IT environment at SDC and cooperation offices

Suspicious thinking - Dgroups as tool: it's from outside the federal admin system

From multi-channel communication to a more focused communciation with maybe only 1 platform


Take Away Message

Usability for organizers/facilitators is key (and next.dgroups has improved)

Outsorced resources for facilitation


Questions for our Peers

How do other groups practically use Dgroups? (e.g. online profiles; archive)

How do you use Dgroups as community website?

SDC & Dgroups

Technology

Transcript of SDC & Dgroups