The Conceptual Structure of ENDA's Website

By Maggie Ibrahim
November 2000

Case study from ENDA-TM

About ENDA

Organization: Environmental Development Action (ENDA) http://www.enda.sn

Established: 1972

Objectives: To eradicate poverty by creating social change and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

Key Actors: Taoufik Ben Abdallah, Coordinator
Moussa Fall, Technician
David Riboud, Web Consultant

Partners:

• SDCN Sustainable Development Communications Network
• APC Association for Progressive Communications
• Sustainability Web Ring
• OneWorld
• The International Consultative Forum on Education for All
• AIF Programme Vigidoc

Background

The overall goal of ENDA's Web site:

• Use the Internet as a tool for social change
• Democratise its use so that users can become contributors

The Conceptual Structure of the Web site

The existing conceptual structure of ENDA's Web site is based on an organizational metaphor. The Web site replicates ENDA's organizational structure into teams. Out of the 15 teams, 12 currently have their own Web sites:

1. Jeunesse Action
2. Programme Energie
3. PRONAT
4. PPU
5. RUP
6. SYNFEV Famfrique
7. Documentation Central
8. Edition
9. Vivre Autrement
10. Actions Casamance
11. GRAF
12. Ecopole Cyberpop

The conceptual structure of the site is as follows

Why was this conceptual structure chosen?

ENDA's Web site structure replicates how ENDA works. The structure was chosen as it responds to the means in which information gathering exists within ENDA. Each ENDA team works independently, it gathers its own information and undertakes its own projects. Thus, it was believed that through this structure each team would be able to disseminate its own information directly through their individual Web page.

Objective achieved

Many teams have raised the desire to improve ENDA's Web site structure. They describe a site which globally represents the activities achieved by ENDA. A site structured through themes would convey a coherent image of ENDA and create a synergy between teams. It would also create a dynamic working space for ENDA teams. The new structure will clearly identify the work undertaken by ENDA and will provide the user with a clear image of ENDA as whole while also allowing the user to search through the team Web pages.
The suggested themes are:

• Popular Economy
• Urban Cities
• Active Citizenship
• Basic Needs
• Communications
• Solidarity, South to South
• Rural Politics
• Community Development
• Environmental Development

New structure

Challenges

• Each ENDA team has different capacity levels in terms of internet use and Web design. At the time of creating the ENDA Web site, 1995–1996, not all the workers had a firm grasp on the role of the Internet. Thus, each teams readiness and ability to adopt the internet as a tool, as well as build Web pages differed greatly. This difference can be seen in the Web site in terms of usability and updates.
• The autonomy of each team has made it difficult for all 15 teams to find a common interest and focus.
• The task of maintaining the Web site is among many of the other responsibilities to be met. There is little time, or resources available for each team to be active in the development of the site. Furthermore, there is little incentive for a worker to continuously update their page as this means extra hours of work without any financial reward.
• There is now an effort to create a concrete system which will encourage an ongoing development of ENDA's Web site.

Contact:

ENDA
73 Rue Carnot
Dakar, Senegal
Tel: (221-8) 22.42.29 / 21.60.27
Fax: (221-8) 22.26.95
email: spro2@enda.sn