Call for articles and papers for KM4Dev journal on learning, collaboration and KM in the water sector

Find the full call for articles and papers for the December 2009 issue of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal at km4dj_call_for_papers-december-20093

Volume 5, Issue 3, to be published in December 2009, will focus on the effective (and potential) contribution of approaches to learning, collaboration and knowledge management (KM) to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, and the integrated water resource management (IWRM) sector. The issue will introduce various academic and practitioner perspectives, thought pieces and case studies on the possibilities and concrete applications of learning, collaboration and knowledge management strategies, activities, processes and systems to address the critical issues of the water sector in a context-specific way.

The contributions are highly encouraged to explore the following questions:

• ·How can knowledge management, collaboration and learning contribute to addressing the challenges of the water sub-sector, to achieving sectoral goals, to innovating and to reducing fragmentation?
• What thinking / concepts guide the KM frameworks, approaches and tools in the water sub-sectors?
• Where is the current thinking on learning headed in the water sub-sector?
• Which frameworks, strategies, approaches and tools are being used in the water sub-sector?
• Which promising learning, collaboration and knowledge management-related developments could have a significant effect on the way water sector actors operate and co-operate?
• How does the call for increased networking and knowledge management materialise on a personal, organisational and institutional context?
• Is there a need for a more systemic ‘sub-sector learning’ initiative in the countries and, if so, how could it shape up?

We invite practitioners and academics to submit, in the first instance, an abstract of a full paper, case study, story and or opinion piece by 11 May 2009.

As this is an English language journal, we would, if possible, like potential authors to submit proposals and contributions in English.

Submissions deadlines

Submission deadline for the title and abstract    11 May 2009

Acceptance of paper proposal                                   29 May 2009

Submission of paper                                                       26 June 2009

Peer-review completed                                                17 July 2009

Final version of paper submitted                              14 August 2009

Publication date                                                               31 December 2009

If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively involved in this initiative in any other way, please send your abstract (minimum one paragraph – maximum one page) or your message by e-mail to km4dj-editors@dgroups.org

With best wishes,

Ewen Le Borgne and the guest editorial team (Jaap Pels, Russell Kerkhoven, Nadia Manning)

 

KM4Dev Journal calls for papers on ‘Collaborative learning: the role of organisational knowledge management strategies’

A key assumption underlying this issue’s rationale is that mutual learning between Northern and Southern stakeholders is an important success factor, not only for knowledge strategies, but also for development processes overall. Therefore strategies aimed at facilitating mutual learning need to be woven into the very fabric of the development organisation. However, it is not clear how knowledge strategies have so far contributed to mutual learning and, if they have, what indicators they have used to account for this.

This issue of the journal aims to showcase studies of knowledge management for development strategies, and how these facilitate and catalyse reciprocal learning among different types of development organisations — NGOs, bilateral and multilateral organisations, community-based organisations, etc — in different locations, both North and South.

The submission deadline for the title and abstract is 15 September 2008.

If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively involved in this initiative in any other way, please send your abstract (minimum one paragraph — maximum one page) or your message by email to km4dj-editors@dgroups.org

See document– km4d-j_call_for_papers_vol4_2

Guidelines for authors are available on the journal website:
http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj/about

 

CGIAR Participation at KM4Dev Meeting 2008

This year we were 4 CG participants at the annual meeting of the Km4Dev Community:

• Andrea Pape-Christiansen from ICARDA. Her participation was sponsored by the Institutional KS project as a means to further foster the KM capacity of a KS workshop participant. Andrea was very interested in the KM strategy discussions that the International Labour Organization (ILO), FAO and Care have been initiating as Open Space topics.
• Eva Schiffer who just left IFPRI, but will be working with the CG as a consultant. Eva volunteered to lead a session on Day 0, an attempt to map the KM4Dev network and make us realize that we are all linked at some point! (see earlier post) The exercise raised some controversial and rich discussions, and led also to the project of one Open Space working group: Map out our sister and brother communities.
• Pete Shelton from IFPRI was another participant invited by the Institutional KS project. Pete has proven to be an important resource person for many people in the CG and other agricultural organizations because of his knowledge in ICTs and information management.  Not surprising then that Pete went to the techie sessions, like the one on “speading up the Km4Dev Web site”, or the one on “Personal Learning through social networking” or “Using Mobile Phones for KS”.
• Finally myself. It was my fourth participation in a Km4Dev meeting and every year it proves to be inspirational and energizing. I attended amongst others sessions on KM and the private sector, the future of KM4dev, and I led a session on the KS Workshop and toolkit as a means to encourage developemnt organizations to re-use the materials produced for their capacity building efforts. I also presented a poster on the KS project. More on that in a seperate post….

See the Km4Dev wiki for the Open Space session reports: http://www.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/Open_Space_Discussion_Reports

 

KM4Dev Core Group Meeting

On Saturday morning the KM4Dev core group was joined by all those participants who were interested in KM4dev community “business”. The morning was divided in two sessions: One that was looking at the history, context, purpose, challenges and opportunities of the Km4Dev core group, and a second session where we explored in groups issues, and ideas related to our community.
The first session was handled in a Fishbowl format and generated quite a lot of interest, the second session was again an Open Space and participants came up with the following topics / ideas for discussions:

• Technology issues in relation to Dgroups and the Re-structuring of our KM4Dev Tech Infrastructure
• What are possible Criteria & KM4Dev quality standards of joint projects?
• Writing a  proposal to fund a Km4Dev incubator
• Create KM4Dev Regional chapters
• What are the expectations from KM4Dev for sponsored participants?
• How can we finance our meetings?
• Lets organize a Community Action Day
• Ways to move forward the Network of Networks work

You can find already some details about each idea and the notes from the reporting back session at the Km4Dev wiki:
http://www.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/KM4Dev_Workshop_-_Lisbon_(Almada),_June_2008:_information_for_participants#Core_Team_Meeting

Some points that pooped up very strongly in the discussions:

• The need to coordinate funding efforts
• The need to crystallize some principles for the community with respect to governance and finances if we go the path of fundraising
• The strong feeling that it is time to open regional chapters and that there is lots of energy out there to go ahead. Yeah!
• The wonderful idea of the community day: straightforward, easy, and energizing!

 

KM4Dev Meeting – Day 0: Mapping our Community

The KM4Dev workshop started with a Day 0, a day for newcomers to discover the community, it’s core group of people, it’s history, it’s communication channels, and the context and challenges that community members are involved in.

“This first day was much about identity issues”, said Ewen Leborgne from IRC.
After a first icebreaker (would you define yourself as a Northern versus Southern, Newbie versus oldie, KM versus Development orientated member, techie versus process focusing?), we had a chance to discover the history of KM4Dev commented by Lucie, the “oldest and wisest “ community member present at the event, accompanied by a live and visual illustration done by Nancy White and Allison Hewlitt. A chat show hosted by Nancy White gave us the opportunity to discover different contexts in which KM4Dev members are developing their activities: rural development, development communication, international research…

When we reconvened in the afternoon we already have had a chance to talk to many participants, but the real first in-depth interaction took place around a network mapping exercise led by Eva Schiffer. Eva is passionate about SNA and she was brave enough to use us as guinea pigs for a first attempt to make “individuals map individuals”. We were 8 at a table and as a first step we shared among us sister networks we are involved with. The result was a huge and impressing list that we put together in plenary. We then started to draw individual network maps and to link them at our tables of 8. Things got a bit complicated when we were asked to identify content and community drivers within these network maps and give them a number between 1 and 5 as an expression of importance. At our table people felt reluctant to put numbers on people’s names and rate them. Other’s had a problem with the exercise as a whole: what is this useful for? Here are three of the many reactions that were shared afterwards:

• We could have done the mapping exercise around the sister communities to highlight their importance and relevance
• It seems that some people here are very into the community and enjoy mapping it whereas other participants are users of KM4Dev resources and don’t feel the need to map relationships.
• It was incredibly brave that Eva took the lead on the exercise and showcased the value of experimentation with Km tools.

All the reactions and workshop notes are documented on the KM4Dev wiki.
If you want to know more about Social Network Analysis, go to the KS toolkit
Follow the KM4Dev workshop blog.

 

Instututional KS Supports Participation of KS Champions of Two Centers in the Upcoming KM4Dev Meeting

The Institutional KS Project is proud to announce supporting the participation of two CGIAR staff to attend the upcoming annual KM4Dev gathering.

Andrea Pape-Christiansen, in charge of knowledge management at ICARDA, participated in phase 1 of the KS workshop and applied for sponsorship, an offer that was expressed to workshop participants as a means to support further capacity building of “KS champions” in CGIAR centers.

“Past interactions with the ICT-KM Program have been viewed as stimulating and beneficial to ICARDA’s work, and I would like to widen this interaction on the KS front by becoming an active member of KM4Dev. Reaching out to this community can help me bridge some knowledge gaps so I can serve the Center better,” says Andrea.

Peter Shelton is an Information and Knowledge Management Specialist at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI has been engaging effectively with KS tools for its internal and external communication and has been a key contributor to the ICT-KM Program through the CGVLibrary project. From the Library and Knowledge Management Unit at IFPRI, Pete acts as an important resource person for many people in the CG and other agricultural organizations by providing pragmatic examples and implementations of web tools to give more visibility and access to CGIAR research. Furthermore, Peter has been contributing to promote KS thinking beyond IFPRI through training, blogs and social networking.

“We at IFPRI are looking forward to share knowledge and best practices with KM4Dev, and contribute with our recent experiences. We are specifically interested in the discussion around KM and impact, and to understand the roles of production of knowledge and the roles of practitioners, academics and policy makers and the best ways to reach them.”, says Luz Marina Alvaré who leads IFPRI’s Library and KM initiatives.

The KS project is looking forward to their active engagement in the meeting and for Pete and Andrea to feed back their learnings to their Centers, the ICT-KM Program and colleagues CG-wide.

 

 

A Discussion around KM and Impact at the Upfront of the KM4Dev Meeting

This pre-workshop discussion was launched as a follow-up of the KM4Dev workshop survey, and as an attempt to involve all members prior to the workshop.

The initial questions were:

• W hat are your big questions re. impact or measurement of KM initiatives?
• Alternatively, what have you been trying to do to find out how well your KM initiative is doing?
• How have you been able to “prove” that it has born fruit?

The 50 contributions reflect the following 5 interlinked areas:

1. Complexity: Impact of KM and KM as a complex, long-term process. Many examples, tools and methods have been shared that can help, like participatory approaches, storytelling, Social Return on Investment, process documentation etc.
2. KM efficiency and effectiveness: Versus the attempt to embrace complexity: cost effectiveness, demystification, looking at interventions, concrete obstacles. Quantitative requirements are coming from our organizations and donors. Within this topic a discussion thread is about oprganizational and donor requirements and how to meet their mostly quantitative data requirements.
3. Empowerment, KM and behavioral change. Is behavioral change our goal or is it a means or a condition for KM? KM consolidates new thinking…
4. Power: “Knowledge is power”. In the era of information overload K can be power. Collective/corporate versus individual power. K to empower people…
5. Importance of Knowledge Sharing: Share or perish, open source attitude, KS is our contribution to development.

The full summary is available at the community knowledge wiki: http://www.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/Impact_and_M%26E_of_KM

The following is an attempt of a visual summary of this discussion:

 

 

KM4D Journal: Sharing and Knowledge Management in Latin America and the Caribbean, Part 2

The second part of the KM4D Journal on the subject of ‘Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management in Latin America and the Caribbean’ is now available for download. This issue has been produced by the team of Guest Editors comprising: Margarita Salas, Kemly Camacho, Simone Staiger-Rivas and Camilo Villa, working with Julie Ferguson and Sarah Cummings as chief editor of this edition. This issue offers 6 contributions, exploring recent approaches, case studies, practices, tools, concepts and methodologies applied in knowledge management in Latin America and the Caribbean is now avaialble. Part I of this Special Issue was published in December 2007.

The issue contains two CIAT-led publications:

• Knowledge management and communication to address information access and power asymmetries for resource-poor producers in value chains.  
  Reinhild Bode, Dora P. Arevalo Valencia, Paola Andrea Victoria Muñoz 
• Forming a community of practice to strengthen the capacities of learning and knowledge sharing centres in Latin America and the Caribbean: a Dgroup case study Abstract PDF 
  Andrea Carvajal, Odilia Mayorga, Boru Douthwaite 

To enjoy this issue, please click on: 
http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj/issue/current

 

KM4Dev Meets in June in Portugal

The annual KM4Dev meeting will be held this year from 18-21 June at the Pousada de Juventude Hostel in Almada, Portugal (just outside Lisbon).

As with previous meetings, KM4Dev wants to use the opportunity of KM4Dev participants – new and old – getting together to discuss real issues with which we are dealing in our ongoing work. In other words, KM4Dev 2008 is meant to bring us together for collective thinking about a range of key challenges, solutions, experiments, and ideas with a view to helping each of us go back to our individual work contexts with renewed energy and new thoughts about how to do what we do – and how to help others with whom we work do what they do – better!

The 3-day meeting will be held in Open Space Format.

More at the KM4Dev Wiki.

 

Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management in Latin America and the Caribbean

The new KM4Dev journal edition entitled “Knowledge sharing and knowledge management in Latin America and the Caribbean (Part I)” is now on-line at www.km4dev.org/journal (click on CURRENT on the top of the page).

This is the first part of a double-back issue focused on experiences in Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Management from Latin America and The Caribbean.
The two parts contain three contributions from CGIAR Centers and many articles related to the agricultural sector.

Look out for the second part which will be coming out soon!

Guest Editors: Margarita Salas, Kemly Camacho, Simone Staiger-Rivas, Camilo Villa, Julie Ferguson and Sarah Cummings

 

Community Knowledge at KM4Dev

The Knowledge Management for Development community KM4Dev runs a listserv, and a Web site, among others. The threads and contributions are frequently summarized by their originators and put on a wiki space called community knowledge. It’s a fabulous resource for all “knowledge workers”. And it’s a great example of collective action.

Most recently Ewen Leborgne from IRC summarized a topic on the role and rationale of a knowledge manager. Motivated by such a successful inquiry, I posted a request for information on event blogs, an activity that the Knowledeg Sharing Project was looking at in the context of the Annual General Meeting of the CGIAR.

The mail to the listserv generated first some side traffic with very insightful responses from Peter Ballantyne, Chris Addison, and Joitske Hulsebosch. Joitske took the initiative to summarize the contributions and offer them to the entire KM4Dev list, which in turn generated further reactions.  The summary –a work in progress– can be found at: http://www.km4dev.org/wiki/index.php/Blogs.