Creating Change: Impacts of ENDA's Web Site

By Maggie Ibrahim
February 2001

About ENDA

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

Established:1972

Objective: 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

Introduction

NGOs around the world are taking advantage the Web. Web sites open doors to new possibilities, expanding the reach and ability of NGOs to create change. Voices of those previously unheard are given a stage. Have NGOs been able to successfully implement the Web into their work style? In the case of ENDA, the impacts of having a web site differ greatly among the various teams. The impact has depended on how each team has incorporated the tool into their work style and how much time and effort has gone into making their web site work for them.

Background

The creation of ENDA's Web site in 1995–1996 was seen as a way to create social change provide a voice to grassroots groups that strive towards sustainable development. A major catalyst in advancing the ENDA Web site has been the creation of the Sustainable Livelihoods Module (SLM) through partnership with IISD. The Sustainable Livelihoods Module was created in 1999 by several ENDA teams. The main teams involved work in health, environment, popular economy, agriculture and habitat. The teams have insisted since the start that the module be a result of a participative approach and have a long-term focus. Due to the approach, the effects of the SLM have been far-reaching. It has been through the creation of the SLM that a synergy between teams and grassroots groups has been further developed. It has also provided the opportunity for capacity-building of ENDA teams as well as grassroots groups on information technology. The capacity-building workshops have allowed actors to be content creators, and have thus encouraged the valorization of the work. Although the SLM has been an essential aspect of the progression and development of the ENDA web site as a whole, ENDA teams are still discovering how their Web site can facilitate their work.

Major Impacts

Increases Communication:
For ENDA, the greatest impact of having a Web site has been an increased flow of information. It has become easier for teams to share their sustainable development work with a greater audience. The Web site enables them to efficiently share how they achieve sustainable development. This is done by putting publications online and by providing project details. As a result, Internet users have access to knowledge that was previously unavailable. Thus, resources for users have increased making it possible for them to gain the necessary knowledge on how to create sustainable development programs.

Save Time:
The Web site allows workers to classify information and make it readily accessible. Before the Web site, ENDA workers would have to sift through their documentation centre to find information. Now it is at their fingertips in moments. In addition, teams spent time sending out requested information to partners, funders, contacts and other ENDA teams. Now they can easily refer contacts to specific pages of their Web site. Furthermore, the Web site provides a wealth of information on what ENDA does and enables the user to focus their requests. Before, information requests were quite broad and general, but now ENDA teams find that their audience is being more precise on the kind of information is needed.

Guides Content and Provides a Focus:
This dynamic interaction between Internet users and the organization is an exciting impact. The Web site has created a synergy between the user and the producer of information, thus allowing both to build on each other's information and knowledge. Emmanuel Seck, from ENDA Energy, sees this as new development. Because of the feedback and requests from users, he can guide his content to meet their needs in order to promote sustainable development. The feedback has allowed him to reorganize the way he communicates sustainable development information, making it more effective for users. Thus, his work methodology has been altered to maximize the use of his team's information and knowledge.

Maximizes Output:
There is now an easy means of publication. The expensive manufacturing of publications can be minimized or avoided by simply putting reports online. Most ENDA teams acknowledge that the Web site has allowed them to capitalize on their existing resources.

Increases the Number of Contacts, Partners and Funders:
The dream of every NGO is that their web site will draw interest to their work and bring in more partners and funders. Gerome Gérard, from Ecopop, has had such a dream come true. Although only several contacts made through ENDA's Web site have resulted in new funders and partners, ENDA is now invited to more seminars and workshops.

Challenges

It has been a challenge for ENDA to implement this new tool into their work style. Some teams have taken great interest to this new resource while other teams still lag behind, not finding the time to update their sites.

The main challenge of democratizing the use of the Web site so that grassroots workers can become contributors, is the technological limitation that they face. Most grassroots groups have no computer access and cannot consult the site. Grassroots groups would like to be able to use the Web site as a means of sharing knowledge with other grassroots groups. They feel, though, that the structure of the content production is still too "top-down":

They envision a structure that will allow them to communicate actively with each other and provide them with a louder voice. They would like to build a structure that allows them to guide the project through content production, training and allocation of resources:

This case study is based on interviews with workers from several ENDA teams. It has been an opportunity for ENDA workers to evaluate how they have incorporated the Web, the advances made and the work remaining. It has been as much of a learning experience for ENDA as I hope it will be for the reader. The key is to step back and assess a Web site's impact.

Contact:

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