DERSHA: Promoting CSO Pluralism, Networking, and Visibility Virtually
The French Development Agency's (AFD) Civil Society Innovation Fund (CSIF) has been supporting new and emerging civil society organizations (CSOs) across Ethiopia since 2022. The goal of this programme has been to support a more innovative, diverse, and pluralistic Ethiopian civil society.
One of the supported CSOs is Digital Rogue Society Experiment Group (DRSE.G). DRSE.G is a CSO based in Addis Ababa, whose mission is to create a peaceful civil society with accountable businesses and government in both digital and physical spaces.
Over the last three years, DRSE.G has developed and delivered Digital Activism Trainings that are designed to enhance the skills of CSOs using digital platforms for advocacy. In addition, DRSE.G has created its own digital platform called DERSHA (https://dersha.net) which was launched in December 2024. DERSHA is a safe online directory where CSOs, government organisations, and private companies can boost their visibility, and connect with others to expand their portfolios and improve accountability and transparency in their operations. The platform also promotes access to finance and supports CSOs’ fundraising efforts.
Action for Resilience (AfR) is one of the CSOs who have registered on the platform. According to Kaleab Tadesse, the Executive Director of AfR, the DERSHA platform has already shown to be beneficial, despite its infancy. Several emails with funding opportunities have been forwarded to his organization from the platform. They were also able to find out easily who is doing what in the thematic areas similar to their own engagement. For these reasons, they have suggested to other organizations to join the platform: “We sincerely hope that this platform will grow, include more organizations, and adopt interactive as well as educational features. In order to meet the expectations of its members, more promotion efforts should be made to spread awareness of the platform. Nevertheless, each member must do more than just publish their profiles and hope for the best. For example, we publish blogs and articles. Additionally, we recommend that information be reviewed by pertinent experts before publication. Since we work on peace issues, we are aware that some topics are delicate and could undermine peaceful coexistence if they are not thoroughly reviewed before being uploaded.”
Another local CSO on the platform, the Environment and Development Society of Ethiopia (LEM), has been working on sustainable development and environmental preservation for almost thirty years. However, the organization's work has mostly remained unpopular on digital spheres, according to general manager Aynalem Getie Gismie. She said, “We want to promote our work, we want to be visible and establish networks with stakeholders in the digital spaces in the areas of our engagement. That’s why we decided to join the DERSHA platform anticipating it would grow and help our needs in the future. For instance, we have entered into collaborative relations on areas of training with one organization we met during a training organised by DRSE.G. This is a kind of networking we would like to create virtually in the future with the DERSHA platform.”
Tsehaye Gashaye, director of Bright Future, another DERSHA signee, states that there are numerous expectations from the platform, including sharing details on networking, finance, and cooperation prospects. He recommends increasing the platform’s visibility and adding new organizations. Likewise, Endale Assefa, Executive Director of Love for Children and Family Development Organization, highlighted the strong expectation for increased networking and visibility from the platform.
DERSHA is currently hosting around 49 CSOs and provides comprehensive information about their locations and activities on its virtual platform. These CSOs fall into three broad groups based on their legal position as foundations, social enterprises, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). They are further separated into thematic areas of involvement and geographic intervention regions. For Alexander Melesse, Director of DRSE.G, it is only a matter of time before DERSHA is able to fully cater for the needs of its clients and become what it truly stands for. However, as Kaleab Tadesse highlighted above, its success will also depend on CSOs using it and contributing content to widen its reach and popularity.