Big news – we’re moving our online SIDA Member Hub to a new platform, and we’d love to catch you up!
One of our key priorities at SIDA is to facilitate collaboration and connection between our wide range of members – in a sector that is increasingly embracing a hybrid approach, this has been a challenge! It’s involved a lot of trial and error, and to be fully transparent, it’s something that we are still trying to work out.
In 2022, we launched our new SIDA Member Hub as an online space for members to network, share updates, and connect. We used the membership platform Mighty Networks, and moved a lot of our member exclusive content into this new space, alongside hosting online events and hybrid networking at our conferences through the Hub. We have used the Hub as a way to communicate directly with our members, asking for your input, expertise and opinions on our offerings as we always strive to be more member-led. When IDEAS joined SIDA in 2024, we invited members of the Global Citizenship Education community to use the Hub as a base for their online activity, as well as the Diaspora Group for Global Citizenship.
Over the last four years, we’ve amassed over 400 users and shared exciting resources and opportunities, but found that the platform didn’t lend itself to user interaction as much as we’d hoped for. To build an online community, the ability to connect with other users is of the utmost importance, so we’ve decided to make a change.
When the Scottish Government international development team approached us in 2025 asking for help establishing a new online space for their implementing partners, we took a good look into what was out there in terms of membership platforms, revisiting options we had considered in 2022. We found Circle to be the best fit, setting up the Scottish Government Implementing Partners Hub that launched after our Spring Conference at the Scottish Government’s Partners Day in March 2026.
This project with the Scottish Government has been successful, so we will be moving our own membership hub across to Circle as well. Circle offers a cleaner, more simplified user experience with designated spaces for our member exclusive resources, as well as ample opportunities for members to interact with each other.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll send all SIDA members an invite to join the new hub, with a simple setup guide to get you started, and we really hope you’ll join us on this next step. We really believe that the Member Hub can be a valuable asset to our membership, but we need your help – the more you put in, the more you’ll get out! As always, we welcome your feedback and input so please reach out to us at kat@intdevalliance.scot with any thoughts!
