The Dutch COS centers form a network of regional organisations, aiming to strengthen support for a sustainable and just world, by involving citizens in international cooperation activities. This is, for instance, done by supporting local initiatives and organisations in their work.

As part of this work, COS Gelderland asked us to help with an inventory of the organisations and activities in the province of Gelderland, to get a detailed picture of the focus and type of work they do.

Of course, gathering such a wealth of information is just one step. It would be even better to make it available to citizens who want to become active, or are looking for groups doing specific work or focusing on particular themes. And to promote COS as a center that can help in setting up or running a local group.

This lead to the birth of the "Gelderse Wereld Atlas" (World Atlas of Gelderland), both in print and as a website, showing how local initiatives connect citizens around the province to the rest of the world.

The report presents an overview of all the various types of activities and organisations in the province. The website allows visitors to actively search for information, starting from either the local county or town, or from a country or region in the world. It is also possible to browse based on the themes an organisations focuses on.

The information about mission and types of activities of all local groups are presented, and if the group has given permission, includes contact details and a form to get in touch through email. Moreover, the contact person of a group can easily update their information, and new groups can submit their information for inclusion.

The continuous updating and addition of information creates a new channel for the COS center to gather the information needed for their strategy and plans.

To make it all possible, we have extended the survey tool WebEnq with additional "front-end" options to search the available information, and with options for COS to present additional information and links.

Only part of the information is presented to the visitor, but when applying for inclusion, organisations are requested to provide more information about themselves, that will help COS do their work.

Also, COS has access to all of WebEnq's management features, and can easily adapt the questionnaire.

Since the launch of the Gelderse Wereld Atlas, more regional COS centers have followed. We now have the following sites:

• Gelderse Wereld Atlas
• Friese Wereld Atlas
• Wereldatlas Zuid-Holland Zuid
• Oost-Brabantse Wereld Atlas
• Overijsselse Wereld Atlas