SNRD Africa Goes Digital

We are making big strides with our use of state-of-the-art technology. We recently launched a modern website, started a Youtube channel, introduced an appealing new newsletter format and livestreamed the plenary sessions from the meeting in Pretoria.

SNRD Conference being recorded for Youtube audience

The concept

To facilitate an efficient and strategic flow of information, we now make all contents available in an integrated fashion. Meaning all materials are initially posted on the website as soon as members make them available to the secretariat and editing is finished. In the other media, we then display shorter teaser versions linking back to the complete contents on the website, using Read More buttons.

Basically, all content display follows the categorisation of information on the website: Collaboration, Working Groups & CoPs, Projects, Events, Training and Who We Are — the latter concerning the dealings of the steering group for example. This approach allows for more efficiency in the posting workflow and a clearer structure of information for visitors. It also defines the frame of the information that is disseminated via SNRD, therefore sharpening the public profile of SNRD Africa.

The new SNRD Africa speaker Michaela Braun aims to enhance the accessibility of information for francophone members during her term. Main parts of the website have been translated into French. The web designers are working on the technical implementation of its display.

What does that mean for you as an active SNRD Africa member?

  • Don’t wait for the community manager Sophie Koch to chase you up with a request for new content for the newsletter! Send it to her while you have it at hand. The secretariat posts it to the website and keeps it in the compilation box for the next upcoming newsletter.

  • When you submit materials, please help the secretariat by indicating which workgroup etc. they refer to. Double categorisations are possible but should be the exception rather than the rule.

  • If you possibly can, provide links to sites or downloads, don’t attach the documents. It not only makes the workflow smoother, links are better for technical and legal reasons.

  • Kindly take a minute to formulate an accompanying one-liner explaining how the submitted materials connect to your SNRD work. The materials become easier accessible for others and it also ensures that postings have a relatively straight-forward connection to our operations.

  • Send the secretariat brief updates from your projects. It’ll post them the projects page where the map is, adding substantial value to that page.

  • Send the secretariat Youtube videos from your projects or your partners. Our channel has playlists along with the mentioned categories where the secretariat can install them. Only needed are the video links to insert them in the respective playlist. It will be a great public retainer of moving picture content from your and especially your partners’ actions along with that of others.

  • Make sure you subscribe to the SNRD Africa Youtube Channel. You’ll never miss a new video the secretariat posts!

Collaboration via SharePoint forthcoming

You might have noticed, all website pages in the Collaboration section show access points for SharePoint — or to be more specific, access points to the specific workgroups sections of the SNRD community on the IDA platform. The system is managed by the SNRD Africa secretariat with the support of an external communications expert.

GIZ IT is currently busy setting up the system and providing user licenses. We will send you more information on how the SharePoint works once it is functionally operational. So please bear with us until September. We wanted to be ahead of time and inserted the access points into the site already.

Let’s work together

In certain ways, digital formats of collaboration are no different than in-person interaction. They only live if they the people who they set up for, make good use of them. So this is an emphatic call to members to put the functionality to test.

The secretariat is open for feedback and makes sure that keep the information flowing!