[UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam |Strategy

Tue Jul 14 08:02:21 GMT 2009

Dear All,

What a great contribution from Pete - he brings to AKN his lessons of
the past as a leader at OKN (UK). I didn't expect any less from his
contribution.

How points out pitfalls at;

#1. Intended impact "Transform into knowledge hub" and it's measurability
#2. Target groups (intended users and content aggregators)

But on the positive end he joins earlier voice to note

#1. Despite greater successes and lessons of different telecentre
interventions there is no shortage of work that still needs to be done
to increase impact.
#2. He will dig reports on the lessons of OKN and shares them to the
benefit of AKN

Additionally, Pete points out areas that need keen improvement;

#1. AKN idea thinking and presentation - using hubs is a great mind
but given the global focus of the project, it will like trying to
localize international knowledge which can not work for community
targeted initiatives [save for specialists]
#2. The strategy's relationship with; content vs knowledge, local vs
global knowledge, target users vs target compilers and result vs
process

The biggest challenge he points out is that of localizing global
information and knowledge especially if the project is targeting
community and if it doesn't intend to do it through intermediaries.
And indeed it was the weak end of OKN.

Unanswered questions ----

#1. Whose knowledge
#2.  Are they information hubs or knowledge hubs
#3. but either way how will knowledge be packaged; or can knowledge be packaged

I guess friends at UNECA and members of the list would love to give
some feed back and questions to Pete's issues - Abebe...

Best regards,
---
Sulah

On 7/13/09, Meddie Mayanja <mmayanja at idrc.ca> wrote:
> I am trying to get to speed on this initiative. It has not been easy since I
> am just recovering from poor health - lots to catchup with.
>
> Pete: provides a great analysis especially linking what we we have learned
> in the past from similar initiatives. I am sure the programming team will
> take a close look at these issues raised here - if not done already.
>
> Understanding the target group and when one can confirm ICT centres have
> been turned into knowledge hubs are key data points for me too.
>
> Best, Meddie
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
> [ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Pete Cranston
> [pete.cranston at btinternet.com]
> Sent: July 13, 2009 5:58 AM
> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam
>    |Strategy
>
> Hi
>
> Thanks everyone for this rich and interesting exchange. I have been reading
> the Project Document and want to comment for two reasons:
>
> 1. Learning: people have suggested AKN could benfit from the learning from
> our experience with OKN that could be useful. I have promised to dig out
> learning reports, which I will do. Some of our work on content for
> telecentre.org might also be useful. Specifically here I try and share some
> learning about global vs. local
>
> 2. Local Content: as I announced on this list some time ago Peter Ballantyne
> and I are doing some research into what is happening with Local Content in
> Eastern (and, to some extent Southern) Africa since we both worked in the
> area with OKN, IICD and telecentre.org. We are planning a small workshop
> later this year, probably in Brussels in October, to try and bring together
> people working in the area, international NGOs and funders to discuss how to
> promote and extend the work since it is still a crucial part of development.
> I am contacting people who have replied to our first call about how we can
> organise that workshop and who is interested in taking the work further. We
> are sharing information using the low bandwidth blogging platform, Maneno -
> http://communitycontent.maneno.org. It is about content that I have some
> questions.
>
> First, though, I hope the programme is a success. Any new investment in the
> ICT4D in general and telecentres in particular has to be a good thing and
> $1m isn't a small amount of money, even spread across the ECA, ECE, ECLAC,
> and ESCAP region over three years. From the names that I recognise at the
> Africa planning meeting I think there is as much wisdom within that group
> about these issues as in any other group on the planet. Certainly there is
> little I could add to that collection of brains and experience, a great
> resource for the project managers. It's true that a lot of the language of
> the project seems very familiar from similar projects over the years, but
> then the world hasn't changed all that much either: people face the same
> problems - in some cases worse - and although projects like telecentre.org
> have done wonderful work there is no shortage of work that still needs to be
> done. I've cooked lots of meals for my family but I still learn from new
> recipes.
>
> Personally, I found it hard to understand what the project document is
> saying about content and knowledge management. 'Knowledge' is in headlines,
> but how people in communities will get involved in learning new things, or
> in sharing what they know isn't exactly clear. One of the core building
> blocks in the problem tree says, "Low capabilities of disadvantaged
> communities in accessing, adapting and utilizing knowledge". It doesn't
> specify whose knowledge is being talked about but a lot of the language, as
> Polly says, is about global knowledge networking which was *by far* the
> least successful part of OKN.
>
> MOre promisingly the document says, " Knowledge hubs will act as
> intermediary stations between the local communities and the global knowledge
> networks. Knowledge hubs will be localizing knowledge gained from peer ICT
> access points, including those in other regions fitting the specificity of
> the localities they are serving, while they will also contribute to creating
> knowledge by providing experiences gained from the local community to the
> benefit of the global networks at large."
>
> But then, " The project is mainly concerned with identifying and
> implementing solutions that aggregate fragmented knowledge that is useful to
> different disadvantaged  communities, and providing solutions that increase
> utilization of this aggregated knowledge." As Polly says, we found that
> external knowledge, especially from other parts of the globe, or even region
> - doesn't translate easily - in terms of language, format, context and
> relevance - to specific communities.  The document suggests there is a "a
> common (global) pool of knowledge for each priority area" but our experience
> was this may be true at a specialist level - doctors and nurses, academics
> and agricultural specialist, physics teachers - but not at a village, or
> community level. Is this a network to connect specialists, who can be
> intermediaries? That would be useful, but it's not clear to me if that is
> the target group since 'communities' are mentioned a lot.
>
> A problem is for me that the process relating to knowledge, content and
> learning is simply captured in an arrow called, "Transformation Process". A
> possible source of the confusion is that the document sometimes treats
> knowledge as if it is something that can be packaged and shared like
> pictures or music. This was one of our *fundamental errrors* in OKN (by
> 'our' I mean the global team, not the people in African partner
> organisations). In fact our experience reinforced what we should have
> remembered, that learning is a social process. Making information accessible
> is only the first step in that process. Further, in terms of knowledge
> transfer - which to me means learning - from outside a community, a trusted
> intermediary is vital. Our resources were spread too thin - we were also a
> project that was sold as global - to focus enough on this area.
>
> It has been very interesting to talk again to Peter Balaba in Nakeseke and
> Joseph Sekiku in FADECO about the way that they, like many others, use all
> their media channels (radio, internet, print) to circulate local knowledge
> through their community audiences. It is that process of engaging with
> people, capturing what they know and do, sharing that with people who are
> close enough to trust the sources - and sometimes passing on to the outside
> especially useful ideas  - that I think is at the core of learning and
> knowledge. But it is an expensive, long-term, people-based process so hard
> to persuade funders to resource and even harder to finance through business
> models built on providing information and entertainment services to paying
> customers.
>
> I think it's an ambitious project which raises some questions, especially
> the AKN aim of "Transforming selected ICT access points into knowledge hubs
> of the global knowledge platform, providing, developing, organizing, sharing
> and disseminating knowledge pertinent to these communities". and especially
> what will be measured in the indicator, "Number of transformed ICT access
> points into knowledge hubs" at evaluation time. I'd love to learn more:
>
> * What does the team understand by knowledge, and what role do they see for
> local content?
> * Will the project support the people-based social processes that make up
> knowledge transfer, or learning, and if so how?
> * How will the project identify the point at which an access point becomes a
> knowledge hub? Will it be through having physical and electronic resources
> in place - which a lot of places already have - or will it be more ambitious
> and try to assess how effectively the hub supports the learning processes -
> and if so, how?
> * Finally, who is the project targetting?
>
> I think the proposal confirms, if it still needed confirming, that shared
> access to digital resources through telecentres of one kind or another is
> seen as a key tool in development. I wish everyone in the project all the
> luck in the world and look forward to learning from your experiences.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Pete
>
>
> Pete Cranston
> skype: petecranston
> mobile: +44 (0)7917 390133
>
>
>
> Pete Cranston
> skype: petecranston
> mobile: +44 (0)7917 390133
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
> [mailto:ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of NKURUNZIZA Jean
> Paul
> Sent: 10 July 2009 11:26
> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam
> |Strategy
>
> Hello all !
> The discussions going on about the AKN is really interesting !
> My suggestion is that online discussion throught a mailing list is conducted
> before physical meetings for next events related to AKN.
>
> I just want to emphasize on one aspect of the project strategy  :"
> Avoiding overlap and duplication". I can read this statement on the point
> 6 entitled :" Implementing the Regional Knowledge Network", in the second
> subpoint entitled : "6.2. Partnerships". This is found in the draft of the
> regional strategy document.
>
> So yes, this  project from UNECA will learn from other simular projects, and
> will partner with other organizations involved in the same area.
> I even remember that one participant raised the OKN experience to be taken
> into consideration in addition to others like telecentre.org.
>
> I hope final documents will be shared soon by the UNECA team .
> Meanwhile, there I can see there is an interesting document about the
> projecton this link :
> http://knowledgenets.net/images/Documents/project%20document.pdf
>
> Sincerely
>
>> Hi Sulah,
>> Just a mixer of Rosaline SATNET Zimbabwe. It should read SATNET, Zambia.
>> Rosaline comes from SAFIRE, Zimbabwe,
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> Dean Mulozi,
>> ZAA-ICT/SATNET Regional Facilitator,
>> Private Bag 195x Ridgeway,
>> Lusaka,
>> Zambia.
>>
>> Mobile:                  260 978 034196
>>
>>
>> --- On Thu, 7/9/09, Polly Gaster <polly.gaster at uem.mz> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Polly Gaster <polly.gaster at uem.mz>
>> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es
>> salaam
>> |Strategy
>> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
>> Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009, 4:58 AM
>>
>>
>> Dear Paul
>>
>> Thanks for the info. And Sulah also helped to clarify some questions.
>>
>> Just one clarification from my point of view - my initial fear was
>> that in the first place this new project would NOT reap important
>> lessons from previous experiences such as OKN, which is already closed
>> down as an international project but left some seeds behind, as
>> Gladman knows. And not a fear of "competition" as such but yes, a
>> concern about possible failure to benefit from and collaborate with
>> and strengthen what little already exists on the ground. I have seen
>> this very often, as Kiringai mentioned - too often institutions want
>> their own "branding" and visibility in preference to synergies, and
>> doing things in parallel (duplicating) means higher costs, and creates
>> confusion at local level, where (in Mozambique at least) the human
>> resources are not so many and it tends to be the same people doing
>> everything anyway. Hence my initial short question, which has provoked
>> such an interesting exchange of views.
>>
>> But in general, of course, the more things that are happening the
>> better, and any organisation should feel free to work directly with
>> any community initiative on the ground so long as it is bringing
>> strength in some way and not exploiting. I don't think anyone who has
>> commented so far has been worried about duplicating networks as such,
>> which will live or die according to how useful they are, it's the
>> local impact that matters.
>>
>> I guess the general concern emerging from the list is precisely
>> wanting to be sure that the AKN has been thought through and has
>> learned from so much that has already been done or attempted in this
>> area. I find that institutions, even governments, when something isn't
>> working often just abandon it and set up something else, without ever
>> sitting down and learning the hard lessons.
>>
>>>From our own small OKN experience I wd point out 3 things:
>> a) we used existing telecentres/CMCs/community radios as a base for
>> OKN activities rather than setting up something separate, hoping that
>> this strategy wd be mutually beneficial and good for the community,
>> which I think it was. And also gave a better chance of sustainability,
>> and continuation "post-project".
>> b) the language issue drastically reduced the possibilities of sharing
>> locally produced content - in our case not only the fact of having
>> many national languages, but even our official language of Portuguese
>> doesn't exactly help!
>> c) we found on a study visit to India, as well as experiences with
>> Latin America, that it's impossible to generalise strategies from
>> continent to continent, as the contexts are so very different.
>>
>> Hope this is a helpful contribution. But I would still like the AKN
>> strategy to be shared more widely, to see if there is anything that we
>> can learn or benefit from. I am always curious!
>>
>> Polly
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----
>>
>> Polly Gaster
>> TICs para Desenvolvimento/ICT4D
>> Centro de Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CIUEM) Campus
>> Universitario, Maputo, Mozambique
>> e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
>> cel:
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
>> http://lists.ugabytes.org/mailman/listinfo/ugabytes_lists.ugabytes.org
>>
>
>
> --
> NKURUNZIZA Jean Paul
> Président du Réseau des Télécentres Communautaires  du Burundi Secrétaire
> Général de BYTC B.P 7031 BUJUMBURA BURUNDI
> Tél: 00257 22 21 96 45
> Tél Mob : 00257 76 60 49 46/00257 79 981 459 Fax : 00257 212485 ou 00257
> 222147 E.Mail : nkurunziza at bytc.bi ou
>          jnkurunz at hotmail.com
> Site web : http://www.bytc.bi
>
>
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-- 
Executive Director
UgaBYTES Initiative
Tel: +256414370163
Mob: +256712314969
Skype: sulah.ndaula
Yahoo: ndaulasula
Email: ndaulasula@
(ugabytes.org,yahoo.co.uk or gmail)