Upcoming Changes to DME for Peace

DME for Peace was established to provide practitioners around the world with access to information, resources, and tools to allow them to better design, monitor, evaluate, and learn from their programming. Our ultimate goals were to establish a culture of shared learning, make DME accessible, and improve the effectiveness of programmatic interventions in conflict-affected contexts. 285,000 unique users later, evaluative thinking, learning, and providing access to resources remain the foundation of our approach, and we hope to utilize this foundation to make learning more integrated and accessible while promoting better coordination among civic actors.
A New Future & Rebrand
In the next few weeks, we are going to be announcing some pretty significant changes to DME for Peace. We are going to merge DME for Peace with our sister platform, ConnexUs. ConnexUs will provide a dynamic space for cross-sectoral learning, coordination, and connection among civic actors in conflict-affected contexts; a global network that creates local impact.
We want to make peacebuilding a central part of a community of fields and sectors that are trying to make a positive impact on the world. Through ConnexUs, we will integrate and expand the DME for Peace resource library, continue to host events like the Thursday Talks, create a more sustainable structure for digital communities of practice such as Peace Exchange and The Human Rights Hub, showcase more local actors, create organic connection opportunities, expand our ability to facilitate discussions, and improve shared learning and coordination among people like you, members of our community.
Can you collaborate with ConnexUs to help spread the word about the rebrand and launch? Click here to get in touch with our team.
Why we are rebranding
Over the last few years we have conducted a number of DME for Peace community surveys, consultations, and interviews, to better understand user behavior and utilization of the site. It has become clear that “DME” is a limiting acronym that narrows our reach and community. In order for us to reach an expanded audience, we need to make learning more accessible and integrated. We also need to move “beyond peace” by more directly engaging all actors in conflict-affected contexts to improve coordination, increasing the effectiveness of responses to shared problems (such as violent conflict, climate change, and Covid-19), and creating a space to showcase the impact of local actors. 
Integrated Learning/Approaches, Shared Solutions, & Cross-Sectoral Coordination
The last few years have demonstrated the importance of collaboration and integrated approaches to addressing the world’s most pressing problems. When identifying the future pathway for the platform, we wanted to create shared learning and connection opportunities for civic actors in conflict as the central tenet of ConnexUs. We asked the question, how can we facilitate conflict integrated thinking across issues like technology and climate change? Responding to this challenge, the new platform will create spaces for conversations between fields, across sectors, and within contexts. 
What this means for you
We will be sharing more information on the upcoming launch of the new platform in the coming weeks. We’re really excited for you to be a part of our future, to build on the success of the last decade on DME for Peace, and to take your community’s impact to the next level. 
If you have any questions about the rebrand or the DME for Peace/ConnexUs platforms, please click here to email me directly.
Looking forward to finding out what ConnexUs in the future.