!!! Welcome to the KM4Dev African community day page !!! This page will be used during the event on Thursday 28 March from 1-4pm (EAT) to document the conversation as well as to help people to follow the conversation, should their internet connection fail on the day itself. Event outline: * (15’) Introduction: Who is who? & who is around? * (60’) Main insights along with interactive discussion from the buddying process (about the field of KM for development) * (45’) Main insights about recommendations for making KM4Dev a more useful community of practice * (30’) Commitments and actions: what could we do to contribute to making KM4Dev a more useful place and to build up on this African community week: Individually, Organizationally, as a network * (15’) Reflections about the experience: lessons learned and final reflections + next steps (including reflecting upon this in respective African networks). =================================================================== Notes Participants Sonia Sinanan - I'm Sonia and I work at web gathering Marc Lepage - hi all - Marc here. Knowledge Management team leader for UNDP in West Africa, based in Dakar. I initiated the KM4Dev Dakar chapter Meti - Here from Addis Meti, Elias, Ewen, Seble, Miki, Hermela, Gashaw and chris Tony Roberts - My name is Tony Roberts and I am part of the Web Gathering team. I am in Lusaka at http://www.bongohive.com/ Davide - Davide Piga from Italy, now living in Nairobi, work in UNEP as a KM specialist, I also admin the KM4Dev wiki. Ewen Le Borgne - Ewen Le Borgne from ILRI in Ethiopia, knowledge sharing and communication specialist and facilitator of this meeting Gwen - Hi all, I'm Gwen from South Africa. I am a km and development consultant. Previously I have worked for USAID and local and international orgs as a km practitioner. I have a keen interest in making km more practical and implementable in the field. Getachew:Hi am Getachew from Ethiopia..working as a KM manager for GOAL Ethiopia Vic Klabbers - I am working with km and e-learning for 15 years but not affiliated to any UN body Mikhael Tekalign, ICT and MIS Manager for LMD-AGP, USAID's Ethiopia Elias, Seyum Buddying process - Seble (Buddying with Bruce and Ben): We've discussed KM challenges. * KM seen as generating power to hoard information. * Some platforms are not allowed for access in Africa or they are not user-friendly * When someone is joining the KM4Dev platform, there's a fear about having nothing to say on the platform - not being aware of some information that is available in Europe --> Can we cope with that? Do we have the capacity to engage on it? Perhaps coaching could help. * The platforms are not so user-friendly or interactive (physically). * Ben mentioned that people shared experiences at events by inspiring people. - Gashaw (buddying with ??) * We talked with 2 other members but it didn't go as planned. One was based in South Africa (but he didn't receive my email) and * We focused on communities of practice, how feasible, practical etc. these are as a means to share knowledge among KM4Dev members across Africa and to promote KM4Dev in Africa. * This was as far as we went. We were supposed to discuss this together because he's done his research in Africa and has a lot to share with us. * I hope the conversation will continue beyond this event anyhow. - Hermella (buddying with Addis) * I buddied up with Addis and we discussed challenges of KM4Dev in Africa. We didn't discuss in details as I'm waiting for his last response. * The main challenge: lack of awareness among dev professionals that KM4D professionals work with. * We (KM4Dev) should work on expanding awareness on how KM can be applied for development. - Elias (buddying with Gwen) * I buddied up with Gwen to think about how to make KM4Dev a more vibrant community. * One of the challenges of the KM4Dev community is the practical use of platforms. Most knowledge workers at grassroots level haven't got access to the ICT tools. More has to be done on the development of very simple and easy tools to address the needs of those without access to technology etc. * Quite a few members are working at more academic / conceptual level but most knowledge that could be used practically is rather embedded in processes and practices of individuals and/or organisations. * Most members and knowledge workers and interested professionals could be joining events as knowledge sharing... ? - Marc / Davide (see presentation http:// j.mp/YG51xw) * Looking at KM4Dev group in Dakar (the group is francophone, where there is a strong oral tradition. No comfort in running discussions in English, writing things up, documenting and reusing. * Proposed solution: using a multi-lingual oral storytelling events using online conferencing software, recording them and organising them on the KM4Dev wiki. * We went for Blackboard Collaborate as it performs well under low bandwidth, doesn't require installing a software, has an interactive whiteboard (to show e.g. presentations etc.), has a contextual chat tool etc. * The idea is to run these discussion events in a multi-lingual fashion with interpreters. * The KM4Dev discussions are interesting but disconnected from the reality of community-level KM or other levels where e.g. UNDP regional office is working. * There are also some very internal KM4Dev conversations on tools, approaches, platforms that are not related to the considerations of some African KM4Dev African members * In the Dakar group, there is a core group of 5 people that are really active and there usually are 15-20 people joining. - Vic (buddying with Meti): * We focused on major challenges for KM professionals in Africa. * We got lost in using technology to connect. * There is no organised information related to different sectors - it's a challenge for KM professionals to organise. * Africa has a lot of countries and different connectivity issues. I find it hard to talk about Africa. The local conditions are very different in all aspects. * When talking about the softwares, they are developed for the US and Europe. How about combining other tools that are more easily accessible? * Access to information is an issue and that determines how much information can be accessed and spread. Other questions: * Is there a KM4Dev Uganda community? --> Yes, but it's not very active. * Elluminate, the perfect solution? Not sure but relatively it's been working with fewer problems than other softwares. (F2F discussion) Challenges * Lack of awareness of KM potential for development * Lack of awareness about what is KM 4 D? * Translation of knowledge (illiteracy, connectivity, access to tools) * Attitude: knowledge is power * Platforms: problems of interactivity and user friendliness (use of language) * Measurment of achivement by organizations or funders * People don't like reading Possible solutions * Organise a face-to-face event in Africa * Cooordinate an overview of platforms (what works where) * Communicate the value of KM as case studies (using evidence-based messages), perhaps videos etc. * Bring in more professionals from different disciplines * Impersonate the individual attitude change: contribute to KM4Dev rather than just consume information from it * Have more web gatherings like this Suggestions * Inviting professionals from other deciplines as well * Attatude chaning: with one self in chaning more to being contrubuter than just being a reciver * Lack of fundings * Organise a KM4Dev journal (starting with a single issue) focused on Africa. * Communicating with other KM4Dev groups * What to do: Make a list of the other groups (e.g. on the Facebook group) * Invite others to join our web platforms (e.g. our KM4Dev Ethiopia platforms) * Start a Facebook page for all KM4Dev Africa members (or whatever platform that works for most). Reflection: Good first try but we might have to try other platforms. * What worked: * Elluminate chat box * What didn't / what could have started differently: * Connection was an issue to buddy up * Time differences were an issue * Response time to receive emails - synchronous discussion would have helped * Some people didn't have Skype so we relied on email * Was working between 2 people the best option? Perhaps have more than one or two people around * The documentation of the conversation didn't really work (the chat window) * Having the BB facilitator and the conversation facilitator was not very helpful (too many cooks) with slightly different comments... * Continue in a smaller group with a shorter time frame Thank you all for contributing!