Dgroups platform reaches 100,000 users

The Dgroups Platform was set up in 2003 by seven development organisations to serve as an online communication tool for the international development community and local people and organisations in the developing world. In 2008, it reached the 100,000 users mark. Today, around 100,000 users divided over 2,424 groups exchange approximately 12,000 e-mails each month to share information and resources on development related topics.

The Dgroups Platform is an initiative that was developed out of necessity by seven development organisations: Bellanet, the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA), IICD, OneWorld, the UNAIDS programme and UNECA. In 2002, they were all looking for an online communication tool that would make it possible to share knowledge between and among their target groups in developing countries as well as between other development practitioners worldwide. None of the platforms that existed at that time met their needs: they were either too complex, too commercial, offered too little privacy or could not be used by low-bandwidth users in the South. Therefore, all seven decided to join forces and build a whole new platform; one that was specifically designed to cater for the needs of all those active in the development sector and the developing world.

The Dgroups platform (www.dgroups.org) was launched in 2003 and hosted and managed by Bellanet on behalf of the partnership which currently consists of 21 organisations. In Dgroups, one can find the online tools and services needed to support the activities of a team, a group, a network, a partnership or a community.

How Dgroups work

In order to create a discussion group (dgroup) and start mailing list-based discussions, organisations first need to become a member of Dgroups and pay a small membership fee. Not all Dgroups are open to public: it is up to the administrator of each dgroup to decide whether anyone can sign up for their mailing list or whether it should be limited to a select number of invited members. People who want to participate in the discussion will then need to ask permission to join. To fully support discussions among group members people can not only share text emails, but also personal profiles, events, links and documents of interest with each other. This combination of a mailing list and simple functionalities allows users with low bandwidth - often people in developing countries – to fully participate in discussions.

Over 2,000 Dgroups created

So far, 2,424 groups have been created on topics ranging from education, to civil rights and agriculture. Users include farmers, community development workers, secondary school pupils and teachers, researchers, university students, academics, development practitioners, politicians, policy-makers, and staff members of donor organisations and governments from over 100 countries. Some 1,000 files or links to files are shared each month (around 35,000 files since Dgroups began). In 2007, the Dgroups platform received over 10 million hits, around 180,000 unique visitors and 670,000 visitor sessions.

What does the future hold for the Dgroups platform?

Currently, research is being undertaken to expand the platform to include more Web 2.0 functionalities. Options are also being explored to expand functionalities for users mirrored on other social networking platforms such as MySpace [www.myspace.org]. The consequences of such a change could be enormous, allowing for greater interaction and knowledge sharing amongst the group of 100,000 users in the Dgroups platform.  

The future of Dgroups certainly looks promising!

Further reading:
T. Akinsamni, A. Aranguran, M. Chatani, N. Kruiderink and T. Stanton (2007). ‘Development through Dialogue. A showcase of Dgroups from three perspectives: institutional, project and capacity development level.’ Knowledge Management for Development Journal 3(1), 49-67. See www.km4dev.org/journal or download the showcase right away (189 KB).