Issue 27: June 2009
Knowledge management: Perspectives from the field
In this issue
In this issue
This issue of the newsletter on knowledge management (KM) focusses on initiatives happening in the Asia and the Pacific region by our partners in the country programmes and projects that IFAD finances.
Although we have been working since 1998 with the International Development Research Centre based in India – first on electronic networking and subsequently on the broader topic of knowledge networking – it was not until last year that KM began to take on a life of its own in the field.
The story of how KM was introduced in China and how it has evolved is told by Thomas Rath, IFAD Country Programme Manager for China. We can hear about how improving KM has been a learning and sharing process for country programme stakeholders in China.
Anura Herath, the IFAD Country Programme Management Facilitator from Sri Lanka explains the process of preparing the new Country Strategy Opportunities Programme (COSOP). He describes how knowledge was managed during the COSOP preparation, and the future KM activities in Sri Lanka that it provides for.
Our compliments to colleagues from the Philippines who set out to find ways to make sharing of knowledge practical, convenient, informative and pleasurable. In his article, Yolando Arban, Country Programme Management Facilitator and Knowledge Management Officer, presents a two-day event of sharing ideas, lessons learned, good practices and innovations undertaken by IFAD-supported projects and partners in the Philippines. Virginia Verora, Chief of Operations for the IFAD-financed project in the Philippines, describes how her project promotes a culture of learning.
Sucheta Rawat from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) recounts how writeshops are making a difference in behaviour and attitudes towards writing. As the KM culture takes hold, we are seeing stakeholders learning and sharing more among themselves at the country level. Country newsletters produced now in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines and Viet Nam facilitate this. Bangladesh and Viet Nam have taken the extra step to issue newsletters in their national language. Edward Mallorie recounts his experiences in working on the Bangladesh newsletter.
Many projects have websites that they use as KM tools. As projects began to work more closely together, they are finding that it helps to have a place to share knowledge in the form of information, tools, methods and reference materials that are easily accessed by all. China and Viet Nam, the first to develop country programme website infrastructure, have been followed by India, and a site in the Philippines is being finalized. Ankita Handoo, Knowledge Management Specialist from the India country office describes the India website. When you have finished reading, see it for yourself, just click!
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Knowledge in action – the IFAD country programme in China
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The China team attending the Annual Performance Review Workshop in Bangkok, 1-4 March 2009 |
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The IFAD Knowledge Management Strategy approved in April 2007 challenges each country programme to operationalize KM. At first, in China KM was an abstract term. We valued collecting and sharing information and knowledge amongst projects, between country programmes and with institutions and partners. But we wanted to give KM a prominent space in the country programme and to have a country-specific strategy. For this we sought a better understanding of current practice and what we needed to do for a coherent approach to KM.
The first step: a KM study
In China, we started by taking stock of the KM tools that the IFAD-supported projects in China use. We also wanted to know where there were gaps. A KM study was the first step. The study gathered background information and inputs from project management offices and beneficiaries of the Qinling Mountain Area Poverty Alleviation Project in Hubei Province. The objective was to understand the level of conscious knowledge, stakeholders’ tacit knowledge, and how they are managed.
Well-functioning monitoring and evaluation, a pre-condition for KM
The study confirmed that a functioning, results-focussed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system is essential for project management and is a pre-condition for good KM. Projects require an understanding of issues and essential tools such as the logframe, results-based Annual Work Plan and Budget and the progress report format. These tools are needed to capture, document and quantify results achieved.
Working in Chinese on the web
The Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia/Pacific (ENRAP) helped to create a sub-site in Chinese on its website. It offers operational knowledge (such as IFAD policies) and project-related regulations (such as M&E, procurement and audit guidelines) in Chinese. It also contains reports of recent workshops held in China and presents interesting case studies on good project practices.
Our KM study encouraged us to strengthen the site in Chinese. Translation of key documents from English to Mandarin is a must, especially for project staff at the county and township levels. But local language matters in China too. Important minority languages used in IFAD projects include Uygur, Kazack and Miao. Further translation into local language is highly recommended but requires additional resources.
ENRAP, implemented by the International Development Research Centre, continues to provide support to the website. However, dedicated staff from the Foreign Capital Project Management Centre of the National Poverty Alleviation Office coordinate it. Each project nominated an ENRAP network focal point to contribute to the site. The Ministry of Finance of People’s Republic of China – IFAD’s counterpart ministry – provides financial support. The Ministry’s continuing support will be critical for the website and other KM activities.
The Agricultural Information Network
In Hubei, the Prefecture Department of Agriculture launched an Agriculture Information Network website maintained by the Project Management Office (PMO). It covers agricultural news, agricultural investment, market information, policies, and research and studies. Each county PMO in Hubei has its own page to publish information. Articles are written by every level PMO and are rewarded with RMB 10 (US$ 1.5) per article. In its four years of operation, 477,666 have visited to website. |
Offering KM events and publications
Following the KM study and the ENRAP sub-site in Chinese, we initiated KM events and developed KM products. Momentum in KM grew thanks to inputs of many, including project staff, the Country Presence Officer, ENRAP, IFAD headquarters and KM facilitators from other IFAD country programmes in the Asia and the Pacific Region.
- The annual country programme workshop this year was a KM highlight. Directors and key staff from all ongoing and recently closed IFAD-supported projects met and had the opportunity to exchange ideas and discuss issues. This triggered a feeling of belonging to a ‘community of practice’ and resulted in more informal contacts, as well as subsequent exchange visits that have helped project staff to learn from each other about management and technical issues.
- The Ministry of Finance and other government partners have been active in capturing knowledge and bringing it up for policy discussion. They have conducted studies, and published and discussed findings at local and national conferences. Recent examples include the M&E workshop in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in August 2008 and the review of IFAD-supported microfinance approaches in 2007.
- A photo album on IFAD in China 1980–2006 was presented to a broad public in Beijing in 2007, and then to the IFAD Governing Council in 2008. The album reviews milestones of the partnership and highlights achievements made in the context of Chinese rural development policies. Drawing attention to achievements has opened the door for knowledge sharing.
- The Country Programme Officer and IFAD’s Communication Division developed a brochure for external partners about the country programme, its strategy and various projects. Projects have started sharing knowledge through newsletters. Furthermore, good experiences from countries such as Bangladesh have led to us to start thinking about issuing a regular country-level newsletter to share news and knowledge between projects.
Looking ahead: operationalizing KM from the outset
Looking ahead we have now startedto incorporate KM into project design. The design report for the recently approved Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme in Henan Province included a KM strategy. It outlines the scope of KM, during project implementation, as well as the KM roles and responsibilities of staff.
KM is being explained and promoted at start-up workshops for new projects. Ongoing projects have picked up KM, too. For example, the West Guangxi Poverty-Alleviation Project and the Modular Rural Development Project in Xinjiang Region have established online discussion groups. Stories and videos have been published in projects in Guangxi, Shaanxi and Hubei provinces.
KM has changed from an abstract appearance to a daily feature in our lives as project designers and implementers. We value capturing and sharing knowledge for our own learning and to assist like minded colleagues and institutions in developing effective poverty reduction tools.
Thomas Rath, Country Programme Manager, IFAD
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Preparing Sri Lanka’s Country Strategic Opportunity Programme: Embedding knowledge management
IFAD has been working in Sri Lanka since 1978. Still, there is a need to improve national awareness about the detailed elements of the Country Strategic Opportunity Programme (COSOP) process and its outcomes. There is also a need to consolidate the current knowledge that prevails in the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector in both preparation and outcomes of the COSOP. IFAD Country Presence Officer in consultation with the IFAD Country Programme Manager (CPM) for Sri Lanka designed a three-stage approach in preparing the COSOP to achieve these two needs. Knowledge management (KM) is embedded in the three stages.
Stage 1: Contracting the Center for Poverty Analysis (CEPA)
Through a bidding process, the CPM contracted CEPA to prepare research papers on six thematic areas: rural institutions, rural markets for factors of agricultural production, rural economic opportunities, environment and climate change, microfinance, and migration and remittances. The papers addressed the current situation regarding these themes and would provide the basis to formulate the strategic objectives and opportunities of the COSOP.
The research methodology included a consultative process between CEPA and the key stakeholders in the agriculture sector, including national and provincial government officials, the private sector and the NGOs, with the aim of:
- making central and provincial government stakeholders aware of the IFAD Strategic Framework and the opportunities for investment in each of these thematic areas
- capturing their development objectives and priorities.
The consultation process supported the findings of the thematic papers. The stakeholders agreed that the papers provided a sound basis to formulate the strategic objectives and opportunities for the COSOP.
Stage 2: Setting up the Country Programme Management Team (CPMT)
The CPMT was set up to support IFAD to jointly finalize the COSOP documentation. Following the request of the Country Presence Office, the Department of External Resources of the Ministry of Finance and Planning, the borrower, created a steering committee – the CPMT – comprised of top administrators of all ministries collaborating with IFAD. Many members of the CPMT were participants of the stakeholder consultation process. The team met in April 2009 to discuss the ongoing process and their responsibilities in finalizing the COSOP. The responsibilities include:
- ensuring that government priorities and needs are included in the COSOP
- designing the stakeholder workshop together with IFAD
- developing a results-based management framework
- endorsing COSOP documentations to ensure country ownership
- monitoring and steering the COSOP cycle.
The establishment of the CPMT was the starting point to formally engage the government’s top officials to formulate the COSOP wherein the KM strategy will be spelt out. Through this process, the members of the CPMT will become partners in building the KM strategy.
Stage 3: Increasing in-country participation in preparing the COSOP
To broaden in-country participation in the preparation of COSOP, in July 2009 IFAD and the CPMT will organize a stakeholder workshop for government institutions, NGOs and the private sector. This will ensure country ownership and policy alignment in the COSOP, and help in preparing the strategic objectives and the results-based management framework.
Embedding knowledge management
This participatory process will form the basis for making connections among IFAD-supported programmes and representatives of national and provincial level government, NGOs and the private sector.
At present, the IFAD-funded programmes in Sri Lanka have no KM strategy or KM plans at project level to contribute to the KM strategy at national level that will be formulated during the COSOP. The project-level KM strategy and KM plans will be formulated in June 2009. This process will be led by the Country Presence Office. ENRAP and KM facilitators from China and Philippines will support the process.
The Country Presence Office will hold a workshop in Sri Lanka to develop the overall KM plan for the ongoing programmes. Participants will include project KM focal points, project managers and representatives from lead ministries including the Ministry of Finance and Planning. The KM plan will address the processes of knowledge creation, collection, documentation and dissemination of knowledge products at the project level.
The KM plan at the project level will then be shared with the CPMT in July 2009, before the COSOP stakeholder workshop takes place. This will provide an opportunity to include the KM concerns at the national level into the KM plans at the project level.
The COSOP stakeholder workshop will present the KM plan (prepared through this process) and propose knowledge-sharing methods among the ongoing projects and at national-level institutions. This dialogue will open a window for KM at the national level which addresses both knowledge collecting and sharing dimensions.
The outcomes of project-level KM planning, national-level KM concerns and potential knowledge-sharing methods will be included in the KM section of the COSOP. Monitoring of the COSOP cycle will pay attention to the KM plans that are included in the COSOP. The COSOP process – with KM fully embedded – is expected to be finalized in October 2009.
Anura Herath, Country Programme Management Facilitator for Sri Lanka
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Country-level knowledge and learning market boosts rural development in the Philippines
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Participants in the Second KLM |
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“This two-day event can be seen in the context of knowledge management, knowledge sharing, and enriching our individual and collective efforts for the improvement of the livelihoods of the communities”, said then IFAD Vice President and now President Nwanze Kanayo during the Second IFAD-Philippines Knowledge and Learning Market (KLM) held in Manila, Philippines on 28-29 October 2008.
Since 2007, each October IFAD in the Philippines has conducted a gathering of more than 100 community leaders, staff from IFAD-assisted projects, local government representatives, civil society partners, academics, national government officials, and members of the donor community. It is a two-day event of sharing ideas, lessons learned, good practices and innovations undertaken by IFAD-supported projects and partners in the Philippines.
A farmer leader commented that by listening to the different strategies shared during the gathering, he would be able to tell his fellow farmers several options to secure food for their families. A civil society leader also noted that the event raised the farmers’ sense of expertise on par with the so called government and national ‘experts’. And a participant-observer from an IFAD-supported project in India said, “Knowledge sharing is one treasure or resource. The more you share, the more you gain.”
The first KLM, on 23-24 October 2007, was held in a commercial mall in Manila. The theme was Celebrating IFAD’s Presence in the Philippines: Supporting Community Initiatives to Overcome Poverty and Powerlessness. It highlighted the gains and endeavours of IFAD-assisted projects by showcasing through institutional booths, conferences and cultural presentations, the efforts of government agencies, NGOs and other partners in implementing the projects.
The second KLM, whose theme was Food Security: People’s Wealth, focused on two major issues: sustainability and soaring food prices. Discussions revolved around how to ensure that various project initiatives would bring the desired results for the communities, how community members could continue reaping the benefits, and how they could gain resiliency.
Community initiatives were also discussed, especially those that respond to soaring food prices and securing food, such as organic farming, diversified farming, propagation of community seed banks, micro enterprise development and micro financing.
After the event, IFAD-supported project participants explained the impact that KLM had on their work:
- A participating local government unit (LGU) from the northern part of the country visited the LGU in the southern part of the country to observe and learn its practice of governance in rural development.
- An LGU human resource officer established a school for indigenous knowledge, arts and traditions (SIKAT) for children of an indigenous peoples’ community.
- The knowledge products displayed during the KLM generated interest of some self-help group members of a project in the south, who then visited a community of entrepreneurs in the middle part of the country to learn more about their products.
At the closing of the Second KLM, Sana Jatta, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for the Philippines, said, “It is not enough that we have knowledge. We should make it available to those who can be able to improve the living conditions of the poor.”
Yolando C. Arban, Country Programme Management Facilitator and Knowledge Management Officer
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Writing can be fun! Training project staff in writing more effectively
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Participants in the writeshop concentrating on drafting their articles |
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A three-day writeshop organized jointly by ENRAP and IFAD in New Delhi, India from 10-12 December 2008 was an interesting experience for its participants. The training followed the first successful writeshop organized by ENRAP and IFAD in Bangladesh from 23-27 June 2008. As in Bangladesh, the writeshop in India created a learning environment that was as informative as it was enjoyable. “Only a liberated and free mind can write and express well,” said one of the trainers. Easier said than done! Yet, everyone did it in the end.
We generally concern ourselves with facts and figures when we write about field experiences. The writeshop encouraged the participants to think beyond the facts and figures. At the end of the writeshop, one of the participants said, “I can now think beyond the obvious while writing.”
Everyone has at least a bit of the writer inside, but is often not confident enough to express his/her thoughts in writing. The trainers were successful in bringing out that confidence in the participants. Dr Sudhirendar Sharma and Ms Martina Spisiakova from IFAD facilitated the training. Among other things, they stressed the importance of being imaginative and thinking from the readers’ perspective when writing.
What is ENRAP?
The Electronic Networking for Rural Asia/Pacific (ENRAP) is an IFAD-funded initiative to support Internet use among its rural development projects in the Asia and the Pacific region. Launched in 1998, ENRAP focuses on a ‘strategic’ application of information and communication technologies. The ultimate aim? To enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural sector in the pursuit of sustainable human development.
Read more about ENRAP |
The writeshop was not simply about improving writing skills. It was also a process for sharing information and knowledge in an effective and interesting manner.
The trainers covered many topics, including:
- Imagining communication as communicator matters
- Visualizing beyond pictures, reading beyond words
- Telling what wasn’t told, assessing the gaps: imagination, creativity and brevity.
Trainers also gave important tips to the participants on how to write clearly for newsletters, publications and website, such as:
- Putting the reader first
- The power of verbs
- Using active rather than passive tense
- Using “So What?” to test our writing
- Writing ‘standfirsts’ (introductory or summary information above an article)
- Making strong headlines
- Writing effective captions.
The training was a mix of theoretical and practical exercises. At one point in the training, the participants were asked to write a short piece about a project and their field experience. At the end of the writeshop, most of them expressed an interest in producing articles, case studies, and stories on regular basis.
All participants enjoyed the writeshop and recommended that additional training be organized in the future to further enhance their knowledge and skills.
Based on the successes of the writeshops in Bangladesh and India, IFAD and ENRAP are planning other workshops in 2009 in Nepal and Viet Nam.
Sucheta Rawat, IDRC-South Asia Regional Office, India, one of the participants in the writeshop in India
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