Digital Town Square (DTS)

A private, community-moderated, multilingual global community space for survivor leaders.

Digital Town Square (DTS) is Survivor Alliance’s private, self-moderated, multilingual global community space for survivor leaders. It was created to support sustained connection, collaboration, and the collective movement among survivor leaders across regions.

As survivor leadership continues to grow globally, many leaders remain geographically dispersed and professionally isolated. Conferences, webinars, and social calls create important moments of connection, but they are time-bound. DTS exists to extend those moments into an ongoing community.

This space was intentionally designed to serve as infrastructure for relationship-building, knowledge exchange, and shared leadership.

Why We Built DTS

Survivor leaders are building programs, shaping policy, advising institutions, and supporting communities worldwide. Yet many continue to navigate this work without a consistent peer space.

Over time, members expressed a need for:

• A place to continue conversations beyond scheduled calls

• A structured environment for brainstorming

• A trusted space to share opportunities and resources

• A way to collaborate across borders and time zones

• A community designed specifically for survivor-centered engagement

DTS was created to address those needs. We believe movements grow through sustained connection and shared leadership, not just occasional  gatherings. When people with lived experience remain connected over time, they can build collective power, develop shared strategy, and move together toward lasting systems change.

What Happens in DTS

DTS is a space for active engagement and shared growth. Within the community, members can participate in region-based discussions, issue-based conversations, and peer-led strategy spaces, or just participate in like-minded community.

Members use DTS to:

• Share funding opportunities, job postings, and resources

• Ask complex or nuanced questions within a trusted network

• Build or collaborate on social change initiatives

• Exchange tools, frameworks, trainings and research

• Connect across countries and cultural contexts

• Sustain ongoing dialogue between formal events

Participation is voluntary and flexible. Members engage in ways that align with their capacity, interests, and leadership goals.

SAFEGUARDING AND STRUCTURE

Digital Town Square is hosted on Discord, a platform selected intentionally for its global infrastructure, accessibility features, and community-centered design.

As a global organization operating across regions and time zones, Survivor Alliance requires a platform that can reliably support members worldwide without significant cost barriers. Discord’s server infrastructure enables stable international access while remaining financially sustainable in constrained funding environments. This enables us to invest more directly in programming, interpretation, and community support rather than in custom-built technology.

Discord also offers structural features that align with DTS’s purpose. It allows for organized channels by region, topic, or working group; role-based access; and layered permissions that support privacy and moderation. These functions enable the creation of intentional spaces within the larger community while maintaining safeguarding standards.

In addition, Discord supports accessibility enhancements through built-in and third-party tools, including translation integrations, screen reader compatibility, adjustable display settings, and flexible participation formats (text, voice, asynchronous conversation). This flexibility helps accommodate members with different communication preferences and access needs.

While DTS is hosted on Discord, it is not a public server. Access is limited to verified Survivor Alliance members, and participation is guided by community agreements and moderation.

All participants are verified Survivor Alliance members. Access is role-based and structured to support appropriate visibility and engagement. Community agreements guide interactions, and community moderators ensure that discussions remain respectful, ethical, and aligned with Survivor Alliance values.

Clear pathways exist for raising concerns, addressing conflicts, and maintaining accountability within the space, with ongoing engagement from community facilitators and Survivor Alliance staff. This is a space built by its members and driven largely by the community’s needs and interests. We hope you’ll come and add your own unique qualities to the space! 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)