eCollaboration a means to share knowledge and expertise

• IICD and Bellanet are sharing knowledge and experiences by building on their respective strengths: IICD's country partnerships and capacity development, Bellanet's collaboration tools and knowledge management approaches.
• The partnership spans 5 different activities:
  - www.itrainonline.org
  - LEAP;
  - ICT events calendar;
  - www.dgroups.org
• Both organisations bring complementary partner networks that help broaden the impact of each activity-as do the other participating organisations in www.itrainonline.org.

"Working together, we can make use of another characteristic of the Internet - that it can be used by several organisations, collectively, to improve the dissemination and use of knowledge and information for development. Working together, we can each save time and resources. Working together, our projects and impact can be scaled up to levels that would not be reachable working alone. Working together we practice international development cooperation in its truest sense." - www.itrainonline.org

The Partnership

Bellanet and IICD share similar missions. Bellanet helps the international development community to work together more effectively, especially using information and communication technologies (ICTs). IICD assists developing country partners to harness the power of ICTs for sustainable development. The effective use of ICTs is the goal for both organisations. The missions also differ. IICD focuses on the effective application of ICTs in development projects. Bellanet concentrates on learning and knowledge sharing to effectively use ICTs in the development cooperation process. The roles are naturally complementary. A partnership is a great way to bring each organisation's expertise together.

Building on Bellanet's strengths in sustainable information sharing, organisational learning and dialogue - together with IICD's developing country partner networks-our organisations are collaborating through the following initiatives:

itrainonline.org

itrainonline.org is a common space jointly supported by INASP, IISD, IICD, BELLANET, APC, ONEWORLD.NET - or what IICD would call, a training Thematic Network. The objective is to draw together relevant resources and expertise on ICT and information "training." By creating a public space where learners, trainees, and trainers can find and share useful information and ideas and where they can interact with others sharing the same interests, the collaborating partners will contribute to more effective capacity development through training.

To this effort, Bellanet brings its expertise on setting-up and maintaining common spaces as well as an on-line training resources base. IICD contributes training content and its network of local training partners. Visit www.itrainonline.org for more information.

LEAP

IICD and Bellanet are collaborating on the IMPACT side of the Learning and Evaluation Action Programme (LEAP). IMPACT aims to enhance institutional performance by improving monitoring and evaluation practice related to information services, information products and information projects. It is an evaluation Thematic Network or community of practice, open to all individuals and organisations interested in the evaluation of information. Besides IICD and Bellanet, the LEAP IMPACT project involves CTA, FAKT, GTZ, and KIT. For more information, take a look at www.bellanet.org/leap. In support of LEAP, IICD contributes its experiences with its own monitoring and evaluation framework and other experiences of partner networks. In addition to providing content and a discussion platform, Bellanet created and maintains the LEAP working space.

Alongside these two Thematic Networks, Bellanet has supported IICD in its strategic support to the Bridging the Digital Divide initiative and the DGIS ICT Action Planning process. Finally, IICD and Bellanet work together on a shared online events calendar for activities in ICTs for development.

More:

For more information about the collaboration with Bellanet, please direct your queries to IICD's Partnerships Manager at: partnering@iicd.org. If you would like to become better acquainted with IICD and its other activities in ICTs for development, check out the organisational website at www.iicd.org. Be sure to visit our partner's website at www.bellanet.org.