KSinR Synthesis workshop article in new ICT-KM newsletter

In November 2008 the Knowledge Sharing in Research project held its Synthesis Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A number of blog posts were written on this workshop and more information will be made available over the next few months.

The newest ICT-KM newsletter for 1st quarter of 2009 also features an article about the KSinR Synthesis workshop.

 

Check out photos from the KSinR synthesis workshop–available now on KS project’s Flickr site

FInd photos from the recently held Knowledge Sharing in Research project Synthesis Workshop on the KS project’s Flickr site.

Directly via:http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764209@N07/sets/72157609582118857/

Or click on the PHOTOS tab on the top of the KS website home page (www.ks-cgiar.org)–which will take you to the Flickr site page showing all the sets of KS Project photos available–and go to the KSinR Synthesis workshop Photo set–shown in image below.

 

Discussion on the most significant change stories done using the ‘fishbowl’ method at the KSinR Synthesis Workshop

In the Most Significant Change story approach it is usual for the participants as a whole to listen to the stories and make a selection of that story or those stories which they consider to be most significant for the group or the program.

In the recently held Knowledge Sharing in Research Synthesis workshop, the review and selection of stories was done in a different way. Instead of the participants judging the stories themselves as a group, two people, somewhat outside of the direct KSinR project, were asked to listen to the stories and make comments and selections. These were:

• Meredith Giordano (IWMI)-Senior Researcher involved in Impact work at IWMI and supervising the Project Leader of KSinR
• Debbie Bossio (IWMI)- Senior Researcher and Theme Leader of Productive Water Use Theme–not involved in the KSinR Project at all

And instead of them making their comments and selection just between the two of them (in private), the workshop used a fishbowl technique which involved Meredith and Debbie sitting in the middle of a circle made up up of all the other participants of the workshop.

Meredith and Debbie then commented on all the stories, indicating things they liked about stories, important points, key elements of packaging stories and their thoughts on the importance of particular changes indicated. They also talked about how well these could be ‘sold’ to their research Centres and projects. Everyone was asked to listen to them without interrupting first–and only after they finished their ‘internal’ discussion was it opened up to the wider group.

Some key points made in the fishbowl were:

• Need to focus on ONE significant change–not tell everything about the project
• To show significant change would be good to indicate what was done before/how things were done before–so that a difference can be seen–as Alessandra did in her story
• Give evidence of or demonstrate with an example the change you are talking about–like in Phillip’s story
• Interesting to indicate change in one’s own knowledge, skills, experience as the most significant change–this is very real and important–as shown in Natasja’s story
• Ben’s story showed the importance of finding common interest
• Liked how some stories showed the implications and consequences–what would happen next as a result
• Use of numbers is appealing for scientists–Tonya’s story gave some numbers of farmers and percentage of adoption which made the change seem more concrete
• Debbie pointed out that she couldn’t take anything in particular that she heard to the donors–need to consider target groups when developing stories
• Should indicate what the impact has been or could be due to the change–Alexandra indicated this in her story
• Need to feel free to tell ‘negative’ stories as alot cna be learned from these as well
• Should consider the language we use in our stories
• …and much more!

 

Sharing the ‘Most Significant Change’ in using knowledge sharing in research at the KSinR Synthesis Workshop

In the Knowledge Sharing in Research(KSinR) project, the 6 Pilot Projects have been piloting a range of knowledge sharing approaches in particular research projects, programs or domains. Their experiences have proven to be as diverse and interesting as their initially proposed approaches. Many of the Pilots have carried out a wide range of activities and experienced many things in using knowledge sharing in research.

In the previous exercises of the KSinR Synthesis Workshop the participants had been asked to describe and evaluate the whole host of activities, outputs and outcomes of their Projects.

In this session the Pilot projects were asked to present the most significant change that they think has/had happened in using knowledge sharing in their research projects or domains. This was to be done through the use of the ‘Most Significant Change story approach’. Participants had been informed of this prior to arriving at the workshop and an explanation had been given on Day 1 to allow them to prepare their stories.

The question asked was:

” Looking back over time of implementing knowledge sharing philosophies and approaches in your research project, what do you think was the most significant change in the research project?”

On Day 2 the workshop moved out into the ILRI Campus gardens to present and listen to stories of most significant change from using knowledge sharing approaches in research.

The ‘most significant change’ stories consisted of:

1. From the IWMI Pilot Project ‘ Learning Alliances for Wastewater Agriculture and Sanitation for Poverty Alleviation (LA WASPA)’ the story presented by Alexandra Evans was about–

• improved links between hygiene and wastewater use in agriculture
• all research and actions that took place were known about and understood by all stakeholders involved
• can work much easier with the various stakeholders after this experience

2. From the IRRI Pilot Project ‘ Knowledge Management harmonising research output” the story presented by Ben Samson was about—

• the initial workshop bringing together stakeholders brought about increased awareness and change in attitude of the various actors involved
• the workshop provided a meeting point for people who needed something and those who could meet that need.

3. From the WorldFish Pilot Project ‘ Applying KS tools to Impact Monitoring and Project M&E” the story presented by Natasja Sheriff was about—

• the way we (usually) do M&E in our projects is not very responsive
• this Pilot Project provided an opportunity for Natasja to try something new out for her project and created a space for her to increase her own learning which she could then apply to other projects, share with others, and hope to influence how M&E is carried out in her institute

4. From the IWMI Pilot Project ‘ A Knowledge Sharing Approach to Safe Food”

—–a story presented by Tonya Schuetz was about—

• a key thing that was done through this project focused on knowledge sharing was to increase and improve interactions with user groups
• we sought feedback from stakeholders at many stages in the research process
• through talking to potential users of the research results about the results and how messages could be effectively formulated helped the project to develop effective messages which lead to the achievement of early adoption of project recommended practices
• took advantage of key opportunities such as the revision of the city by-laws and irrigation policy which only happens every ten years
• important to implement knowledge sharing throughout the research process

—–a story presented by Phillip Amoah was about—

• we learned that it was necessary to work on a (national) policy level as well in order to support local action messages that we were trying to promote amongst farmers and caterers on the ground
• it was important to work closely with the relevant ministries–in this case Ministry of Agriculture

5. From the CIFOR Pilot Project ‘Shared Learning to Enhance Research Priority Assessment Practices’ the story presented by David Raitzer was about—

• ex-ante has not previously had any systematic support
• this was the first attempt to pull together methods and experiences and to find ways to give them visibility
• there has been as a result of this work of this Pilot to share knowledge on this subject matter, been more attention to ex-ante and priority setting amongst those doing impact assessment

6. From the ICARDA Pilot Project ‘International Farmers Conference’ the story presented by Alessandra Galie was about—

• There was empowerment of women farmers through this process. For example Ruqeia a young female farmer was at first nervous to present her story but after she did she was congratulated by many participants of her good agricultural knowledge and skills. She then took the initiative to approach an FAO representative to ask for help on Integrated Pest Management which he had presented on.
• The knowledge of women farmers was more appreciated and a greater recognition was gained in the institute that more efforts need to be made to include this in the Participatory Plant Breeding Program
• The implementers became more aware of the fact that knowledge sharing approaches may need to be tailored to work with marginalised groups-thus it is necessary to refine approaches to be appropriate to varying types, uses, needs etc of knowledge by different groups.

For what happened next..stay tuned for the next blog post!

 

KSinR Synthesis Workshop Day 2: a day of learning

Day 2 of the Synthesis Workshop (17-19 November 2008) of the Knowledge Sharing in Research project was heavily focused on learning. Building on the previous day of review and reflection, Day 2 was aimed at a much more defined and in-depth evaluation process of the Pilot projects and other KSinR activities towards learning.

The first exercise in the agenda was to look at the projects in terms of what happened, what didn’t, what went well, and what didn’t go well in terms of the changes planned and the strategies (KS approaches) used.

The participants all prepared answers to these questions to be presented back to the group. Time was given after each presentation for questions, comments and discussion.

Other activities held in Day 2 included:

• Report-back by synthesizers
• Most Significant Change(MSC) stories presented by each project
• Fishbowl exercise with two ‘outsiders’ discussing the MSC stories and criteria for selecting ‘best’ ones
• Matrix exercise to look at the bigger ‘Why’ question and meaning around using KSinR

Further posts will be made on these activities, and results of all Synthesis workshop exercises will be available soon on the KS website.

 

Looking for changes in research from using knowledge sharing through using an ‘Outcomes Logic Model’ in the KSinR Synthesis Workshop

In the Inception workshop for the Knowledge Sharing in Research project, the Project Leader and Pilot projects all used the Impact Pathways approach to look at the actors who were considered necessary in the network around the particular project with whom relationships should be changed, strengthened or made in order to achieve success in the project. Changes in the particular actors were made explicit as well as the particular strategy which would be employed to bring this about.

In the recently held Synthesis workshop fo the project, all Pilot Projects were asked to revisit this concept by filling out an Outcome Logic Model table.

The Outcomes Logic Model asked participants to consider:

• what actors were involved/influenced in the project
• what changes occurred in them
• what strategy was used to bring about such change
• percentage completed or next steps to continue working on a particular actor’s change

Each participant filled in the table and presented it either as a flip chart, on their computers or by speaking about it.

 

Learning about Project activities, outputs and outcomes through a ‘River of Life’ exercise at the KSinR Synthesis Workshop

In the Knowledge Sharing in Research project’s Synthesis Workshop, held 17-19 November 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a ‘River of Life’ exercise was used to facilitate the reviewing of all the KSinR Pilot Projects and KSinR project.

In the River of Life exercise, all participants were asked to visualise their projects using a river metaphor. Using flip chart sheets stuck together, the projects were asked to draw a ‘river’ depicting the ‘life’ of their project including:

• activities
• outputs
• outcomes

This exercise was meant to facilitate the remembering, showing and documenting of all that has happened in the projects, which is often difficult, through drawing rather than listing.

The ‘river’ metaphor also helped people to consider the logical flow along the project, showing the source, where there may have been some turbulence (rapids), certain branches which did not pan out, parallel streams of activities…and more.

While drawing the River of Life by each project, Sophie Alvarez and Boru Douthwaithe provided some suggestions and motivations to the projects in depicting their projects.

Once the drawing were finished these were mounted on the walls and pinboards around the room.

Each Project was then asked to present their ‘River of Life’ to the group, explaining what had happened, what outputs were produced and what outcomes they thought had occurred.

 

KSinR Synthesis workshop-Expectations

One of the first exercises at the recently held Knowledge Sharing in Research(KSinR) project’s Synthesis Workshop was to ask the participants what their expectations of the workshop were.

The participants were asked to write these on cards.

The cards were then read out and Nadia Manning-Thomas, Project Leader of the KSinR project was asked to say whether the particular expectation:

* Will be Achieved

* Maybe achieved

* Will NOT be achieved

The cards were then arranged on a pin board under the 3 categories-see photo to the right.

None of the expectations were considered to be not achievable in the workshop.

This board was referred to throughout the workshop to make sure the workshop was on track with meeting the needs and priorities of all involved.

 

KSinR Synthesis Workshop roadmap, objectives, and approaches used

The Knowledge Sharing in Research project’s Synthesis Workshop, held 17-19th November 2008 on ILRI Campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was designed to bring together the Pilot Projects (6) and those working on the umbrella project (KSinR) to carry out a number of activities to look back over the project activities to better understand them and to capture lessons.

The workshop followed the roadmap seen in the picture to the left over the three days of the workshop to enable the achievement of a number of objectives–listed in photo to the right.

The workshop used a number of key approaches to help facilitate review, discussions, evaluation and documentation including:

• Participatory Impact Pathway Analysis
• River of Life exercise
• Most Significant Change
• Peer Assist
• Card sorting exercises
• Matrix approach

…and how the workshop roadmap intended to achieve the objectives is shown below.

 

KSinR Synthesis workshop starts on Monday 17th November 2008

After more than one year since the Inception workshop for the ICT-KM Knowledge Sharing Project, many of the 6 KSinR Pilot Projects have carried out and completed their activities and piloting periods within the KSinR project. On Monday 17th November 2008 a Synthesis workshop for the Knowledeg Sharing in Research Project will take place. The aim of the workshop is to bring all the Pilot Projects together to discuss their activities and capture lessons from their piloting activities.

The Workshop will take place over three days (17th, 18th, 19th) on ILRI Campus in Addis ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop will include:

• Review of project activities, outputs and outcomes–using Rive of Life Activity
• Evaluation of Knowledge Sharing strategies employed in the research project–through using and revisiting the Impact pathways approach
• Most Significnat Change exercise
• Discussions on Communication and outreach of Project knowledge and lessons
• …and more!

We look forward to some fruitful discussions and exercises and being able to share more information derived from the project through this space and others.

Stay tuned…