We are very proud to have helped The United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Centre improve their online presence with a new website. UNDDR is an organization committed to helping secure post-conflict areas around the world. By funding programs to help ex-combatants transition out of military-type structures to a post-conflict society, UNDDR seeks to lay the groundwork for long-term peace and security. Helping ex-combatants find jobs and live their lives after the conflict in the region has ended helps procure this long-term security. When UNDDR needed a higher functioning website to meet their needs, the organization turned to Webmaster Studio.
Building UNDDR’s online presence came with a unique set of challenges, but our designers quickly formulated a plan of action. The organization wanted to use their website as a tool to encourage more global support for their initiatives. They also wanted to have a website that facilitated internal communication among its employees. Additionally, the website needed to have both French and English versions to that it could be read by a wider audience. Finally, the client asked us to create a user-friendly platform that would make it simple to update the site with news and details about the organization’s various initiatives.
We decided that initially, the most important task was to focus on a creating a user-friendly website that could be updated with ease. To this end, we designed the website using modular development, meaning that each element of the site was built entirely independent of one another. To build this complex architecture, our designers used the ASP.NET framework, which works well with JavaScript, CSS, and MS SQL elements. The result was a website that displayed information in an intuitive way with an easy-to-navigate structure.
We designed the library section of the website to allow multiple levels of users to access media related to UNDDR and their initiatives across the globe. The library permits the general public to look at documents including project time lines, budgeted costs, funds received and key outputs. We created a separate level of access for registered users. Once logged in, registered users can use the database section to find out even more information about the projects. Registered users are also able to leave messages for each other via a message board built for the site.
We built the website so that it many pages of the site were capable of containing dynamic information controlled by the client admins via the content management system. The CMS provides admin access to several different admins, with some restrictions. This made it simple for admins within the organization to update pages without sacrificing security.
In the end, the UNDDR was very pleased with their new website. They even reported an increase in participation in their programs requiring additional team members. The message board increased communication among staff members and the ability to download documents from the database helped projects move along more efficiently. The final result was a website that was simple to navigate for people looking for more information about the organization while providing secure admin access to staff members, allowing them to update that information more frequently.