Rural knowledge networking in Asia - the ENRAP experience

ENRAP Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia-Pacific Region was a network formed as a partnership between IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) and IDRC (International Development Research Centre) to support knowledge sharing amongst the poverty alleviation projects and partners of IFAD located in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over the past ten years, ENRAP fostered links between communities, IFAD project and partner staff, policy makers, research institutions and innovators. In the process, it pioneered a number of methodologies and innovations to create a vibrant network of relationships and explored direct links between knowledge access and rural livelihoods.

ENRAP's work in motivating isolated communities and helping them to build capacity for knowledge sharing has important lessons for all those engaged in the development sector. A full account of the evolution of this network, and the challenges of bringing together remote communities across barriers of language, poor connectivity and resource constraints, is available on the ENRAP web site.

Download the report: Strengthening rural livelihoods : the impact of information and communication technologies in Asia

CIAT's new Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management Initiative

News from Simone Staiger at CIAT:

I am writing to you to share with you the launch of CIAT’s Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management Initiative. The focus of the Initiative will be on four areas:

1. Facilitate and cultivate knowledge exchange through a Regional Training Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean
2. Support the CIAT-Corpoica-Colombian Ministry of Agriculture initiative for Climate Change and the Ornioquía through interventions in capacity building and knowledge management
3. Carry out research on knowledge management and promoting organizational change
4. Strengthen training activities in CIAT

Read more at: http://ciatcapacity.cgiar.org/en

The KM impact challenge - last chance to contribute your story

The USAID-supported 'Knowledge Management Impact Challenge" is looking for stories that illustrate ways to "effectively measure and demonstrate the results of our investments in knowledge and learning." The deadline to submit is less than a week away.

There are already several stimulating stories submitted from the agriculture sector (see them all):

Connecting Arid Lands Communities With Knowledge - shares how ALIN in Kanya assesses the work of its rural knowledge centers.

Agricultural Value chain development - describes how KIVA in Uganda assesses the impacts of its short messaging service linking farmers to markets.

Documenting the documentation processes - from ILEIA explains ways to monitor and asses the participation of rural communities in describing and sharing their own knowledge.

Check out these and other stories and submit yours!

Addis Ababa knowledge fair theme of New Agriculturist special issue

In October 2010, Addis Ababa hosted the first 'AgKnowledge Africa' share fair to showcase how agricultural information and knowledge is created, shared and communicated across the continent.

The January 2011 issue of New Agriculturist highlights stories from the event:

• Shujaaz FM - inspiring Kenya's young entrepreneurs
• An ALIN approach to learning
• ICTs improve access to livestock markets
• Sharing on air - Malawi's farming forum
• Towards an African commons of agricultural research
• Learning from sharing knowledge - TECA exchange group in Uganda
• African science speaks many languages

‘AgKnowledge Africa’ Share Fair

Join us in Addis Ababa from October 18-21, 2010 to showcase the ways agricultural and rural knowledge in and of Africa is created, shared, communicated, and put to use.

Like the 2009 edition in Rome, this event will be a ‘fair’ that brings together the diverse knowledge of the continent and the multiple innovative ways it is created, shared, communicated, and applied. We will be sharing the experiences of a wide range of people and organizations: Farmer organizations, extensionists, researchers, students, academia, policy shapers, information and communication specialists, private sector actors, international and regional organizations, and governments.

We will cover a wide range of knowledge types and modes of sharing – oral, visual, drama, music, video, radio, documentary, publishing, storytelling, web-based, geospatial, networked, mobile, computer-based, SMS, or journalistic.

The heart of the fair is a series of thematic ‘learning pathways’ in a process of mapping, sharing and connecting people and activities. These pathways will showcase how African ‘talents’ are creating, sharing and using rural knowledge - at the grassroots, in research and policy, and through intermediaries. The pathways will focus on agriculture and climate change, land, livestock, and water.

The Share Fair also comprises:

● SKILLS & TOOLS: A learning day at the start where participants can share practical tools and approaches that enhance their own knowledge sharing and use in agriculture.

● FOCUS GROUPS: Self-organized spaces where participants get together to explore experiences in specific issues and topics. Examples are:
○ Africa’s knowledge sharing traditions – storytelling, traditional wisdom, etc
○ Making knowledge mobile
○ Relief, research, development – connecting along the continuum
○ Indigenous knowledge – listening to the roots
○ Telecenters – emerging roles in knowledge creation and sharing
○ Radio
○ Extension and advisory services across phones
○ Participatory GIS and spatial data
○ Lost in Translation - Traducture
○ Knowledge and communication along and in support of value chains

● FOCUS ON ETHIOPIA: A forum for knowledge-sharing initiatives and actors in Ethiopia to showcase their activities and results.

● MARKETPLACE: An alternative to the usual exhibition, we aim to create (traditional) interactive spaces where goods and knowledge are transacted.

● FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Much traditional knowledge is ‘captured’ and passed on through food – the recipes and the ways it is prepared and presented. We aim to highlight and showcase the links between food and knowledge sharing.

● BUNNA: A traditional Ethiopian meeting space with coffee, wireless and conversation zone.

Why Attend?

● You will take back insights and lessons learned on how knowledge is being created, exchanged and put to use within and across organizations and with rural communities.

● You will be able to attend training sessions and get to know possibilities to implement various knowledge sharing tools and methods in your own daily work.

● You will get an opportunity to share what you do and make connections with others working on similar projects!


Find out more about the event, how to participate, how to register!

CIAT dives into social media and blogging

In May 2009, CIAT Director General Ruben Echeverría set out some information accessibility directions for CIAT - on the the 15 CGIAR-supported research centers.

He argued that CIAT "can gain a lot from social media like blogs and video that can increase our ‘social footprint’ – beyond words and text!" ...

It looks like our CIAT colleagues have been busy being 'social' ...

CIAT blogs, in Englsh and Spanish, are used to report on projects and developments at CIAT.

CIAT's new Decision and Policy Analysis Program (DAPA) website runs on a wordpress blogging platform and links to series of sub-blogs.

A recent CIAT blog post reports that the CIAT Flickr photo-sharing site has reached 100,000 visits, in under a year.

The CIAT and DAPA blogs also link to videos on Blip TV as well as posters and presentations on Slideshare.

Note: CIAT will host a regional knowledge share fair in Colombia, late in May 2010.

Powering web-based knowledge sharing in agriculture

Simone Staiger-Rivas and colleagues just published an article entitled Learning to share knowledge for global agricultural progress in the International Journal of Web Based Communities.

The paper describes CGIAR and FAO web-based knowledge sharing and learning across the web (from 2008 - the timelag between action and dissemination is due to this being a peer-reviewed closed access journal).

Thye authors draw out 5 main lessons concerning 'web-based learning' on agricultural knowledge sharing:

• The power of the young to convert senior staff
• The power of face-to-face encounters in web-based learning
• The power of diversity
• The power of facilitation to cement ties
• The power of shared resources

The article is closed access but, as the CIARD manifesto calls for, Simone has made sure that the final author version of the paper is available to us all.

Knowledge sharing in Ethiopian extension

The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project in Ethiopia employs ICTs and rural information centers to support extension.

A recent article in ICT Update reports on progress and approaches; see also the recent poster prepared for a UNECA exhibition:

Tacit knowledge and innovation capacity: Evidence from the Indian livestock sector

To cope and compete in this rapidly-changing world, organisations need to access and apply new knowledge. While explicit knowledge is important, what is often critical is an organisation’s ability to create, access, share and apply the tacit or un-codified knowledge that exists among its members, its network and the wider innovation system of which it is a part.

This UNU-MERIT discussion paper explores the role of tacit knowledge in livestock sector innovation capacity though the case of Visakha Dairy, one of the most progressive producer-owned milk marketing companies in India. Analysis of two episodes in Visakha’s evolution clearly illustrates how it used tacit knowledge to innovate around challenges.

The paper concludes that while tacit knowledge is clearly a major resource that organisations rely on to cope with change, it does not follow that knowledge management approaches that rely on codifying this knowledge are the way forward.
Instead, what it does suggest is that better management of the learning processes, through which tacit knowledge is generated, would be a more useful contribution to innovation and innovation capacity — in other words, a shift from knowledge management to learning management.

Download the report

More on innovation in rural development

REDSAN: FAO lanza una Red de Intercambio de Conocimiento en Seguridad Alimentaria

La REDSAN es una red de intercambio de conocimiento, integrada por científicos y profesionales de diferentes disciplinas relacionadas a la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional. Se trata de un iniciativa promovida por FAO, que lanzó su portal web el pasado 10 de noviembre: www.redsan.org.

En dicho portal, los integrantes pueden participar de las discusiones del blog y de los foros, y postular al concurso de investigación. Además, pueden publicar sus investigaciones en la base de artículos, informarse sobre fondos concursables de investigación y enterarse de conferencias, seminarios y eventos.

Además, a partir del jueves 19 de noviembre se dio inicio el foro de discusión virtual de la REDSAN, cuyo tema es la versión corta de la Escala Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Seguridad Alimentaria (ELCSA).

Addressing animal health knowledge gaps in Southern countries

Livestock are a key asset for the global poor. However, access to relevant information is a critical issue for both livestock development practitioners and the poor themselves. This paper (in the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries) details the creation of an on-line Animal Health Resource Room.

The Animal Health Resource Room was created to deliver learning media i.e. videos and pamphlets to practitioners working with poor communities in Bolivia and India. Prior to developing the resource room, a study was undertaken to explore the priority animal health constraints identified by poor farmers in India and Bolivia.

Weaving forest knowledge into development

A special issue of Unasylva from 2007 looks back at 60 years of information and knowledge sharing in forestry.

Articles in this issue include:

An editorial from 1952 on “Spreading knowledge” indicates that the philosophy behind today’s “knowledge organization” was already in place more than half a century ago.

Articles from the 1960s'on “The electronic digital computer in forestry” and “The promise of technology” reflect an optimistic period of history.

In the 1990's, political changes in the 1990s also created new needs and concepts on how to make forestry extension effective were shifting away from one-way offering of solutions. In 1997, the Internet was a new tool for spreading information. All of these themes are represented in this issue.

What is the influence of knowledge sharing? An article from 2000 examines the extent to which seminal publications influence international or national forest policies by influencing conventional wisdom.

ICT-KM of CGIAR "heading in the right direction"

The ICT-KM Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was recently subjected to an external review.

The review team findings include:

The ICT-KM Program remains relevant and vital.

Looking forward, the Program has important ongoing relevance to the CGIAR mission and direction.

A new ICT-KM strategy should be collaboratively developed and aligned with CGIAR reform and business needs.

The research community needs to be more actively engaged in the Program and its future plans and activities.

The Program has important accomplishments that have: Opened access to research results; Expanded knowledge sharing in the CGIAR through tools, workshops and events; Supported researchers at the project level, fostered sharing of lessons learned; Facilitated cross-Center collaboration; Supported cost savings through system-wide purchases of software and services; Built and leveraged partnerships in knowledge management.

The ICT-KM Program should better communicate the value of ICT-KM. More targeted strategic communications are key.

The Program should strengthen efforts to support a continuous learning culture in the CGIAR.

The ICT-KM project portfolio is generally well managed but the Program could improve its approach to quality control, and monitoring and evaluation.

The ICT-KM governance arrangement has served the Program adequately but should be changed in alignment with CGIAR reform.

The CIO has accomplished much despite major challenges, including the need for a more focused role.

The Program’s effective decentralized approach can provide the basis for its future organization.

Download the report.

Gates pledges millions to African, Indian farming

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will unveil grants totaling 120 million dollars to promote dynamic, home-grown, sustainable agriculture in Africa and India.

Innovation brokers and agriculture in developing countries

A UNU-MERIT working paper "concludes that innovation brokerage roles are likely to become relevant in emerging economies and that public or donor investment in innovation brokerage may be needed to overcome inherent tensions regarding the neutrality and funding of such players in the innovation system. The Dutch experience suggests that innovation brokers need to be contextually embedded, and are unlikely to become effective through a centrally-imposed design."

The authors note that "innovation brokers tend to play intangible roles that are not easily captured through conventional indicators."

Combining Twitter with a live discussion on agricultural knowledge sharing

This week, a group of KM4Dev participants in Brussels gathered in an ‘AgHuddle’ to explore knowledge sharing approaches and experiences in agriculture. On the afternoon of the second day, the group was asked to use social media to share out and discuss their findings.

Since the group contained various Twitter users, we decided to set up a time-bound twitter chat where the group of people in the room could quickly share experiences and insights ‘live’ with colleagues elsewhere. We called this process a ‘twiddle’ – that merged the use of TWItter with the face to face huDDLE.

Time from the initial idea to action was short, so the twitter users quickly called on their followers to join a discussion in 60 minutes time, and proceeded to help 4 new twitter users sign up and get ready to twiddle.

For some 45 minutes on 7 October, the twitter users in Brussels shared the face to face AgHuddle findings with colleagues from Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cali, Rome, and Washington DC.

As the flow of messages (retweets removed) shows, it was a lively discussion that added value to the face to face discussions, helped get the main ideas documented, and provided a chance to hear views and reactions from beyond the room. It was also a lot of fun.

A side effect from the face to face element in Brussels was the way the Twitter newcomers and oldtimers shared practical Twitter tips.

More on the AgHuddle: addictomatic or socialmention; a wordle picture

The Twits: @gaurisalokhe; @peterballantyne; @charlesdhewa; @rsamii; @ednahkaramagi; @sna_km; @ekekondo; @asabajf; @stefdeprez; @simonestaiger; @Bajan_Nads; @cdn; @mongkolroek; @pbrolley; @agchat; @jschunter

Twiddle - Use of Twitter with an AgHuddle

On 7 October 2009, a face to face 'AgHuddle' of KM4Dev participants discussed knowledge sharing approaches and experiences in agriculture. The issues raised were discussed through a 'twiddle' session that engaged colleagues beyond the physical meeting in Brussels - via twitter. See the story.

Below are the twitter messages (retweets excluded) exchanged among the participants (latest message first).

CDN As far as I can see, the Twitter chat was a success & not suffering from too much latency. 5:35 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe gr8 1st Twiddle! 4:36 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @gaurisalokhe It was fab. to feel / get actively involved! 4:31 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe rocks!!! Thanks all for your feedback. 4:28 PM October 7th
mongkolroek @gaurisalokhe is the Twiddle over? I was just getting started... 4:27 PM October 7th
mongkolroek @peterballantyne KM/KS for agri has unique issues, but we shouldn't expand them to exclude collab/coop in broader 4:23 PM October 7th
stefdeprez embedding institutional learning as a programme approach to 'capture' local knowledge4:20 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @jschunter: Orgs need 2 support individuals who work on networks (FSN/e-agriculture R g8 ex). Orgs need 2 facilitate! 4:20 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @cdn: great point. Farmer field schools R great examples of this.They promote sharing/learning betn farmers & researchers. 4:15 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @mongkolroek just invented the word twiddle = twitter + huddle :) 4:14 PM October 7th
mongkolroek will someone tell me what a Twiddle is? 4:11 PM October 7th
mongkolroek I agree RT @jschunter: From KM view, it's not fruitful to get orgs engaged in networking, we need to start with individual 4:10 PM October 7th
rsamii @CDN you are absolutely right! Need to create conducive environment 4:10 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe Agree!!!! RT @mongkolroek: networks work when everyone gets something out of it, not cuz project, etc creates it 4:09 PM October 7th
peterballantyne @gaurisalokhe Last thoughts on #aghuddle: was a rich set of discussions, from #brosdi to #ifad; KS incentives, multidirectional flows, ....4:06 PM October 7th
CDN @rsamii Don't capture the farmers' knowledge but create an environment where they can share/exchange and nurture that! 4:05 PM October 7th
jschunter From KM's view, I don't think its fruitful to try get orgs engaged in networking, but we need to start with individuals 4:05 PM October 7th
mongkolroek @peterballantyne @ednahkaramagi networks work when everyone gets something out of it, not cuz project, etc creates it 4:05 PM October 7th
charlesdhewa: Policymakers should also become twitterers in agri knowledge sharing techniques. 4:02 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe just about closing the *twiddle* on at! Any last thoughts?4:01 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @simonestaiger agree with networking. need to facilitate networking between development/donor agencies as well. 4:00 PM October 7th
rsamii Thank you everyone for contributing to this great twiddle! It was an absolutely a rich and unique experience 4:00 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi the best is to capture the knowledge from the farmers and make it accessible by others @Ekekondo 3:57 PM October 7th
sna_km @peterballantyne and also the farmers have knowledge that other dev agencies - donors, researchers, NGOs want3:56 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi i love the choosing of the right tool ... love that 3:55 PM October 7th
sna_km @rsamii formats is also an issue - how can we use audio +/or visual formats to reach farmers3:55 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @pbrolley Agree. Examples of impact need to be collated & emphasized. Indicators are @rsamii's *pet project*! 3:55 PM October 7th
rsamii Another challenge is to choose the right tool for different target groups 3:53 PM October 7th
charlesdhewa: uniqueness of Ag KS is: Farmer knowledge is mainly practical and tacit 3:53 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi i think we need to look at the reasons why people arent sharing 3:53 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @peterballantyne Well are there other sectors that are so much depending on multi-stakeholder engagement? 3:52 PM October 7th
rsamii For farmers language is an issue and can hinder knowledge sharing 3:52 PM October 7th
pbrolley @rsamii in order to get donors and gov's to invest in KM/KS for collab across org's, we need to demonstrate impact w/i orgs 3:52 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @rsamii what we really haven't achieved is to scale up all the good experiences that have been working on the ground 3:51 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi donors?? isnt there a faster way?? i think this can easily take forever ... 3:50 PM October 7th
peterballantyne How unique is KM or KS in agriculture? 3:50 PM October 7th
sna_km Just had my first retweet from @agchat hoorah, our KS is working 3:49 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi How can we share more knowledge without creating more information overload? thought bse when u start, its hard to stop 3:48 PM October 7th
rsamii Donors and government need to included KM/KS in their respective policies, strategies and development projects 3:48 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @ednahkaramagi its donors but also national governments who need to give KS/learning the importance it needs! 3:47 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi on the negative incentive, lets add civil wars which can lead to getting no meaningful information from people @Ekekondo 3:47 PM October 7th
sna_km How can we share more knowledge without creating more information overload?3:46 PM October 7th
charlesdhewa: Agree with Simone. Amazing amount of research has not been asking the right questions 3:46 PM October 7th
Bajan_Nads Need a good mix of people, skills, ideas, programs and funding dedicated to making k flow in ag -- doesn't flow on its own! 3:45 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe one idea was to facilitate the discussion between the donor agencies funding similar projects. Learning should B promoted.3:45 PM October 7th
rsamii @simonestaiger absolutely!!! Networks need to be built with involvement of farmers! 3:44 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi ... on the negative incentives, i add CORRUPTION!!!! 3:44 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @Bajan_Nads:Need to know if we ask the right questions, generating the right knowledge that people want&need. 3:43 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi will donor agencies agree to dedicate resources to knowledge sharing?? i think this is alot and will donors allow this? 3:43 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi hey? let me rephrase it ... how do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture in a sustainable manner? 3:42 PM October 7th
charlesdhewa: We could all benefit from stimulating feedback from farmers and rural communities 3:42 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe RT @Bajan_Nads Need 2 know if we are asking the right questions, generating right k that people want & need. 3:41 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi yeah i love the idea of inclusion in national donor agencies in development programs 3:41 PM October 7th
asabajf Need to dedicate resources to knowledge sharing 3:40 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi ah ok i understand the incentive suggestion .... but how can we sustain this in that manner? 3:39 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @simonestaiger we talked about the problems with the way science is set up (publishing & copyright) 3:39 PM October 7th
Bajan_Nads Need to know if we are asking the right questions, generating the right knowledge that people want and need. 3:39 PM October 7th
Bajan_Nads Need to explore and open the channels of knowledge flow with our stakeholders-at all stages of research to development 3:38 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi the desire and will is important for a sustained more system 3:38 PM October 7th
rsamii @simonestaiger Wow that is such as great story.. . 3:37 PM October 7th
peterballantyne In the #aghuddle. Documenting and capturing main issues and challenges via this 'twiddle'... 8 of us all at once 3:37 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe @simonestaiger incentives is great point! we did a peer assist on that this morning. Outputs to come out in next few days! 3:37 PM October 7th
asabajf We need to include knowledge sharing in national and donor development strategies 3:37 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi in my view, networks work if and only if there is the desire to share otherwise the idea wont be sustainable 3:37 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @rsamii In the GFAR e-cons I loved the idea of detecting successful farmers to become mentors and key k sharers: 3:36 PM October 7th
asabajf Need to provide incentives 4 sharing knowledge and demonstrate benefits 3:36 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @gaurisalokhe We need to push and push open source philosophy and create incentives 3:35 PM October 7th
rsamii A priority is 2 harvest local content + build capacity at grassroot levels 2 systematically capture + share ag knowledge 3:35 PM October 7th
simonestaiger @peterballantyne We need to do a better job in extending networks and involving stakeholders of all kinds 3:35 PM October 7th
gaurisalokhe How do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture? Any thoughts? 3:33 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi incentives? i dont understand 3:33 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi we can do this by including the methods that our target groups are using to share information 3:32 PM October 7th
sna_km talking about incentives at the aghuddle 3:32 PM October 7th
sna_km sna_km How do we improve the flow of K in agriculture 3:31 PM October 7th
peterballantyne How do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture? - let us know... 3:31 PM October 7th
asabajf How do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture? 3:30 PM October 7th
rsamii How do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture? 3:30 PM October 7th
ednahkaramagi How do we improve the flow of knowledge in agriculture 3:29 PM October 7th
sna_km stocked up with coffee and biccies ready for the #twiddle 3:29 PM October 7th

Knowledge sharing and innovation among African pastoralists

A recent report by the Future Agricultures Consortium provides some very interesting insights into knowledge creation and sharing in the innovation systems of pastoralists in Ethiopia and Kenya.

The authors report on discussions that were held at the ‘University of the Bush’ - under some trees next to a tented camp.

Some 'striking features' and challenges that emerged form the discussions include:

• There is a huge amount of innovation going on, but it is not recorded and often not shared.
  
• Sharing can be limited by the restrictive practices of certain holders
  of specialised knowledge – especially traditional healers of livestock.
  
• There are gaps between ‘the community’ – and organised groups within local communities –and the formal veterinary service ... There is a need for an intermediary, someone who can help bridge the formal and informal knowledge systems and make links between them, facilitating access to services and expertise.
  
• Formal research is very distant from the local setting. While NGOs, extension workers and other project staff are present, they are not connected to research. As a result, they often do not know up-to-date information.
  
• Formal innovation through the government and aid system and informal innovation through elders and the local community are often very separate, and sometimes are in conflict.
  
• Informal innovation can often be hidden from view, and is rarely recognised by outsiders.
  

Knowledge sharing as enabler of rural change

The KM4Dev workshop in Brussels (6-8 October 2009) includes a thematic 'AgHuddle' for people interested in knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge management (KM) in the agriculture sector.

The second area of discussion will be on enabling processes of rural change.

Beyond our rather structured organizations and their particular concerns, we can see an explosion of interest in the use of ICTs to facilitate different aspects of knowledge sharing and application in and with rural communities - and among the people who interact with them.

While the attention is often focused on the technologies, we can also see many 'knowledge'and 'information' strands: So-called 'innovation systems approaches' explicitly recognize that innovation needs the involvement of different types of organizations and actors - and effective KS, communication and learning among them; there are some efforts to document local content and farmer/community knowledge, catalyzing its exchange among farmers and with others; providers of mobile devices and services seek ways to tap into existing knowledge systems and so offer added value services; various 'question and answer' services have been set up to connect farming communities with expert knowledge and advice; content creators - in research or academia - are looking for ways to translate their knowledge so it will be taken up by rural communities; and we are seeing the emergence of diverse 'infomediaries' offering a range of knowledge access, connecting and brokerage services across different media - radio, video, web, phones, etc.

Some of the questions we will discuss include:

• How do we effectively work with multiple producers and consumers of knowledge, across cultures and languages and embedded in development processes?
• How, and how well, do we share knowledge in a fast-moving technical environment where some types of mobile connectivity are growing rapidly, even among the poorest?
• How do we effectively work in partnerships with diverse actors that have the potential to translate knowledge to action?

We plan to document and share our discussions across the web - and on this blog: Share your ideas and experiences by commenting on this blog.

See also the first area of discussion: 'KS and KM in changing organizations.'

Knowledge sharing in changing agricultural organizations

The KM4Dev workshop in Brussels (6-8 October 2009) includes a thematic 'AgHuddle' for people interested in knowledge sharing (KS) and knowledge management (KM) in the agriculture sector.

The first area of discussion will be on KS and KM in changing organizations:

All across the agricultural sector, knowledge, learning and innovation are emerging as key points where organizations need to invest and make a difference. Capturing, mobilizing, and sharing different types of knowledge and information - and putting them to good use - has moved up organizational agendas.

This attracts attention from different domains - managers, researchers, IT, web, communication, intranet people, publishing, libraries, learning, and KS/KM.

We can see increased attention to strategies in this area; many experiments with different social media and toolkits; continuing efforts to build and sustain different types of learning networks and sharing communities; more attention to knowledge 'systems' and 'products' and their presentation/visualization across different platforms; diverse ways to organize and deliver and report on face to face meetings; an interest in 'open' knowledge and its accessibility; and increasing conversations among the KS/KM champions across organizations.

Some of the questions we will discuss are:

• How do we best work with multiple knowledge producers, uses, users, communities and types of knowledge?
• How do we work with multiple approaches and tools, and with content that is increasingly mobile and accessible across many increasingly mobile platforms and devices?
• How do we with partners who can extend the reach of the knowledge?
• How do we track and demonstrate progress and impact of KS/KM activities, making the case that these approaches and tools are not 'add ons' - that they can make any activity more efficient and effective. Are there ways we can demonstrate this?

We plan to document and share our discussions across the web - and on this blog: Share your ideas and experiences by commenting on this blog.

See also the second area of discussion: 'KS and KM enabling processes of rural change.'