)*
The edge of network started as a consulting project back in 2001 to build a web site for UNAIDS Geneva for "staff to share files and have discussions with people around the world." Ever since the demand repeated in more or less the same words in other international organizations. We tried many things, we improved, re-improved, until finally we could verbalize the rules of success now known as Collaboration on the Edge of Network. Many people from these organizations contributed to the success of the edge and funded it for their own needs, yet had the vision to share the results with the rest of the international development community.
You too can contribute to Edge of Network if you have a need to satisfy. It's all about ownership: the edge of network benefits the most from people wanting to solve their own problems.
Damir Simunic is the product manager for the ECS platform and the coordinator for the shared ownership initiative. Damir is an ex-consultant working in the Internet sector since 1991, and has spent past seven years working for organizations in international public health and development sectors.
All actors in international development are entitled to use the principles of Edge of Network, and can obtain the ECS platform for their own needs through a Shared Ownership program. Shared ownership is a loosely based association of platform users, established through memoranda of understanding and coordinated by the initiative coordinator. Through shared ownership, one invests in an incremental platform customization or improvement, and all parties have the choice to benefit from this investment through the update of their own copy.
* Reach beyond the edge. 
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