Online communities and e-discussions [Dgroups]

RWSN is about connecting people and to do this online we use a platform called Dgroups, which is run by the non-for-profit Dgroups Foundation, based in the Netherlands. The Dgroups vision is:

A world where every person is able to contribute constructively to dialogue and decision-making for international development and social justice

Skat Foundation, on behalf of RWSN, is a member of Dgroups, which gives us a stake in how the platform is run and developed. Dgroups was chosen because it has been designed specifically for development professionals and can be used through email and through a low-bandwidth website, thus making it ideal for communicating with members who have limited internet connectivity.

Our area of Dgroups has a main community of nearly 8,000 members which we use as our membership database. It is tightly controlled and only used for sending out quarterly newsletters and major announcements.

Discussion areas have been set up around the four RWSN themes, and cross-cutting topics and special interests. We consider setting up sub-communities if there is a champion to lead and moderate the group and enough interest from members. 

How to Join

Follow the links below to go the web page for each community and to appy to join, if you are not already a member. Please note that being a member of one community (or the overall network) does not automatically give you access to the sub-communities. Please apply through the web page for each community and the moderator for that community will let you in. Some communities are more active that anothers. Some sub-communities are nested within others that are related, so you will receive emails from and can contribute to both.

E-discussions

The communities are generally there for open discussion and question and answer on the topic of that community (and are moderated to keep them on track). However, usually once a year we have a structrued e-discussion, which typically lasts four weeks and uses weekly questions and summaries to stimate debate on a particular topic. At the bottom of the page you will find links to summaries and syntheses of recent e-discussions.

These are very powerful and effective events at generating knowledge exchange across the world and building up a valuable aggregation of knowledge. In some cases they have helped drive the strategy of the network and our partners.

The RWSN Dgroups directory

Overall RWSN Community

• RWSN

Theme sub-communities

• Accelerating Self Supply
• Equality, Non-Discrimination and Inclusion
• Sustainable Groundwater Development
• Sustainable Services

Topic sub-communities

• Complex Systems and Rural Water Supply - moderated by Deakin University, Australia
• Mapping and Monitoring
• Multiple Use Services (MUS) - moderated by MUS Group
• Rainwater Harvesting - moderated by RAIN Foundation, Netherlands
• Sustainable Groundwater Development > Handpump Services
• Sustainable Groundwater Development > Manual Drilling
• Sustainable Groundwater Development > Solar Pumps
• Sustainable Groundwater Development > Hydrogeology - moderated by Hydrogeologists without Borders, UK

Geographic/Language sub-communities

• Liberia National WASH
• Rwanda WASH Media Net
• Rwanda WASH Working Group
• RWSN Bulletin - Francais (not a discussion group but for members wishing to receive the French language version of the newsletter, plus other important announcement)
• RWSSI (not a discussion group but for members wishing to receive the RWSSI newsletter from the African Development Bank)

How to use Dgroups

Download our quick guide, available in [English] and [French]