Learning and Knowledge Sharing at CIAT: Fostering CIAT as a living and adaptive organization of excellence
A strategy paper by Simone Staiger-Rivas, Sophie Alvarez and Katherine Tehelen, March 2010
I. CONTEXT
"Shared context is key for information flow and the purpose of knowledge management is to create shared context"David Snowden
Scientific knowledge has little or no prospect of widespread application and public benefit until it is systematically shared. In the last century, low adoption rates of research-based agricultural technologies led scientists and donors alike to seriously question the effectiveness of communication methods and knowledge exchanges with farmers and other clients and partners in developing countries as well as within the scientific community.[1]
Recent trends and realities, like the increasing complexities of research projects (the number of partners involved, their geographical spread and reach, the growing need for multi-disciplinary integration), the related information overload and the subsequent advances in ICTs to deal with this overload call for new opportunities to fundamentally change the way we communicate, share knowledge and solve problems.[2]
Although over 1000 researchers and professionals have benefited from training opportunities supported by CIAT[3], the center has lost its reputation of being a training hub, a reputation formerly held especially in the LAC region. The decline of core funding in the last decade and the subsequent need of transferring the training function almost exclusively to specificresearch projects has eroded capacity and fragmented impact.[4]The shift in strategic orientation towards eco-efficient agriculture and focus on LAC provides new opportunities for learning and knowledge sharing.
At this time of re-orientation, CIAT needs to strengthen its ‘evaluative culture’.An organization can be said to have an evaluative culture when it engages in self-reflection and self-examination, seeks evidence, makes time to learn and encourages experimentation and change[5]. CIAT canincreaseitscapacity as a ‘learning organization’ by helping its research projects adapt and respond to what experience is teaching them and their peers. Through better ex-ante evaluation capacity, and the better application of its results together with lessons learnt from ex-post evaluation, CIAT projects can be in a better position to identify opportunities and respond accordingly.
Many different but related phenomena point towards an attempt to provide new opportunities for a more effective way of doing business. Worthwhile mentioning here are the achievements of the ICT-KM Program in the area of Knowledge Sharing, and of the ILAC Initiative in the area of monitoring, evaluation and organizational learning, as well as the conceptualization of a capacity strengthening and knowledge sharing platform for the new CGIAR. The attention during GCARD on knowledge sharing, educational and learning issues demonstrate an overall agreement that those functions have to be strengthened.
The team members of the Learning and Knowledge Sharing team, Simone Staiger-Rivas, Sophie Alvarez, and Katherine Tehelen, have been instrumental in introducing learning and knowledge sharing into the CGIAR and among partners through tangible outputs, such as the Participatory Impact Pathways Approach (PIPA) and the availability of more than 80 knowledge sharing tools and methods to enhance face-to-face and virtual participation of stakeholders[6]. We also have extensively researched the areas of knowledge sharing and learning.[7]
II. DEFINITION
"The most important business process is enriching interaction”
Learning and knowledge sharing relate to interventions that strengthen both individual and organizational capacity and assure their ability to adaptto changing contexts. They comprise the areas of:
- Capacity strengthening:includes activities like participatory research, action learning, thesis research, mentoring, fellowships and internships, group training, production of learning materials and curriculum development.
- Monitoring and Evaluation: includes participatory ex-ante impact analysis, in combination with lessons learnt from ex-post IA, adaptive management, participatory priority setting, outcome and impact mapping, network analysis and management.
- Participatory communication:includes group processes and online or offline and the facilitation of those so that people can use them to interact with each other, face-to-face and virtually.
III. METHODOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES
Our strategic concept is based on a set of methodological principles derived from our and our partner’s experience and the evaluations of LKS projects.[8]
- LKS needs to be embedded in research. LKS interventions should increase the chances of research being put into use and support partnerships and stakeholder engagement.
- Work at the strategic and the practical levels: By incorporating LKS tools and methods into strategic planning and change processes, CIAT management can promote involvement, buy-in, and follow-up actions of both staff and stakeholders.[9] Those interventions will also help a great deal in raising CIAT's visibility. Activities at the practical level aim at recognizing and dealing with today’s complexities, while strengthening our skills and attitudes. They also support organizational learning and evaluation processes. The activities related to capacity strengtheningand training are in-between the practical and strategic interventions, as shown in Figure 1.
- Start with LAC and then expand: While CIAT is reengaging with key partners in LAC, we suggest developing and implementing a LKS strategy starting with the LAC region, and focusing on our roots and corebusiness, while learning from successful initiatives in the region. In a second loop we hope to be able to also contribute to LKS in Asia and Africa, by adapting lessons learnt here.
- Alignment with the new CGIAR: The LKS team has already been linking up with the CGIAR community of capacity strengthening officers. By leading very recently the coordination of a concept note[10]on the capacity strengthening platform,the group is well positioned to learn from and contribute to the development of the planned CGIAR capacity strengthening platform.All members of the LKS team are well placed in collaborative efforts with other CG Centers and Initiatives such as the Challenge Programs and ILAC. Through their work in the areas of KS and Monitoring and Evaluation, the group is also conversant in the dialogue with new CGIAR partners and external communities.
- Distribute our work into campaigns, pilot activities, and strengthening of the capacity building platformto covershort-, mid-, and long term goals: Through short-term campaigns we seek to raise awareness of LKS issues and change staff practices. We will undertake a set of pilot projects to gather evidence of LKS interventions with high impact potential and to sow the seeds for the Capacity strengthening platform offer. The capacity building platform will pursue mid and long terms goals in repositioning CIAT as a training and learning center of excellence.
- Do research on learning and knowledge sharing:Each activity (campaigns, pilot activities, and strengthening of the capacity building platform)will have its own monitoring and evaluation component, which will allow us to verify assumptions and deliver evidence. The sharing and publication of our findings should help a great deal in positioning CIAT as an important actor in this area of work.
III. LKS INTERVENTIONS
"If Facebook was a nation, with 350 million users it would be the world’s third most populous afterChina and India. Still wanna ignore it?"On Twitter, February 2010
The following chapter suggests LKS activities based on the above mentioned aspects of context, definition and methodological principles.
III. a. CAPACITY STRENGTHENING PLATFORM
While the Agrobiodiversity Research area is pursuing its project of building a LAC Biotechnology Platform, and is also considering an additional initiative on seed systems[11], we suggest complementing those efforts with an initiative to build partnerships torespond to specific additional scientific needs, train the next generation of LAC researchers and enhance LAC competitiveness. We suggest carrying out an analysis of current capacity building needs and demand and CIAT’scompetitive advantage and engage in consultations with our strategic partners in LAC. This would enable us to then develop an overarching concept and a portfolio of concept notes to raise funds. Some areas with existing demand mentioned in our recent conversations with CIAT staff were Participatory Research, Gender and Integrated Pest Management. We also suggest developing a pilot project on the idea of Intellectual Property Right capacity strengthening hub (please see details below).
The need to strengthen CIAT HQ and the re-engagement in Colombia and LAC suggests that the Platform should give priority to face-to-face activities[12]but aimingat incorporating ICT tools that allow for broader sharing and deepening of the content.[13]The development of specific distance learning programs could be a second step.
III. b. PILOT PROJECTS
“All knowledge is connected to all other knowledge. The fun is in making the connections” Arthur Aufderheide, University of Minnesota.
PRGA repositioning
As the demand for participatory methods rise[14], the PRGA Program engages in a repositioning process. LKS will provide facilitation and M&E of this
participatory strategic planning process. This pilot project will allow us to answer questions like (1) Will the PSP process contribute significantly to the successful repositioning of PRGA within LAC and (2) within the G&D platform? (3) Will the process significantly improve the commitment of key stakeholders towards the repositioning process?
Making more out of training materials
In the past CIAT has developed many resources that are still used by stakeholders but need an urgent lift.[15]The current PABRA effort to re-edit and update the Common Bean Atlas is a good exampleto follow[16]. Here the LKS objective will not only be to rescue materials and promote them among target groups but also to attempt to decline sub-products which should help the project reach different users with different needs through different media and/ or build new training materials. We are specifically interested inexamining the value that a combination of media (photo stories how-to guides, text, videos, online versions...) could add to project outputs. Our Research questions: Can we awaken interest in CIAT scientists to develop new/ alternative training materials? Can this be a basis to populate the CS platform with ideas? Can training materials be updated successfully? Can the visual materials produced as training materials and shared online help to promote the image of CIAT as an innovative knowledge sharer? So far we received anexpression of interest by Sourush Parsa (participatory documentation IPM) and Michael Peters (re-vamping of forages booklets).[17]
Smart communicators
In last year’s annual Knowledge Sharing Week 2009, CIAT's Director Ruben Echeverria mentioned that "many of us need to brush up our skills in this area. I would like to see concrete activities that equip staff to become ‘smarter’ communicators and sharers throughout the research cycle. We need to better understand the possibilities open to us, even if we continue to rely on expert colleagues for some help."[18]Following this idea, we intend to design a strategy to train and mentor a CIAT team in knowledge sharing and learning principles, tools and methods in order to produce evidence on the following: Does the use of LKS enhance a group’s network? Does LKS enhance the communication of research results? Do we reach more next and end users? Does LKS contribute to the empowerment of the research group?The Tropical Fruits project expressed interest in this pilot project.[19]
Intellectual Property Rights Hub
In our conversation with Partha Mudgil[20]the idea emerged to use the ambitions of CIAT to become a LAC“IP hub" as a pilot project. The objective would beto determine the vision, needs and feasibility of an IP hub and to help develop an impact pathway for this idea. We would analyze issuessuch as: What does CIAT being a regional IP hub entail? Is there demand/ need for this hub in the region (Colombia and LAC)? What could be possible intermediate steps? What training materials to develop for whom and how? To which extent can this pilot inform the ambitions of a CIAT CS platform? This pilot should contribute to the overall objective of building a capacity strengthening platform.
Science Updates
While CIAT has an updated Intranet and internal seminars it seems that we can do better in internally promoting CIAT's business, achievements, and research work. This activity could entail: integration of CIAT's blog with intranet and web site, systematic translations of the English news into Spanish, new features on web and intranet on scientific articles and "did-you-know-that..." pieces, as well as campaigns and contests among CIAT staff.By contributing to CIAT's Web and Intranet activities we would try to answer the following questions: Will this make CIAT staff more interested in providing their information to CIAT? Will this increase the knowledge of CIAT staff about CIAT’s mission, and vision?
III. c. EVENTS AND CAMPAIGNS
On a series of issues that need short-term outcomes we propose to organize awareness- raising campaigns. The campaigns would have the advantage of reaching out massively to all staff and allow quick feed back loops. Campaigns can also help us design abaseline for future M&E and follow up. Ideas for campaigns (so far)are Open access / IP issue and the Science update campaigns (see above). A campaign would consist of“action days”, use of existing communication channels, contests and seminars.
Other on- going activities of the team, such as the CGIAR/ICT-KM - FAO Knowledge Share Fair[21]to take place on May 25-27 and the 2-day meeting of the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) community that follows (May 27 and 28) should help a great deal in promoting Knowledge Sharing at CIAT HQ.
We suggest acting on the current need to engage in policy dialogue relevant to CIAT and to put the centeron the map as a “policy dialogue broker”[22]. In partnership with national key actors (Universities, governmental agencies) we should facilitate ongoing debate, in connection to our internal campaigns that would contribute to raise awareness and incorporate CIAT’s perspective into national Colombian policies.
III. d. Day-to-day work
In addition to the work on the capacity building platform, the pilot projects and campaigns the LKS team needs to be able to attend day-to-day demands from CIAT projects and staff related to participatory communications and learning principles, tools and methods such as participatory identification of priorities, research planning, M&E of research processes, documentation, use of social media, facilitation of workshops, design and analysis of surveys, social network analysis, to mention only a few. The teamshould also promote capacity strengthening programs and initiatives of partners (on the CIAT web) and start attending some key events.
IV. Distribution of LKS activities along the three levels of intervention
Figure 2 is a tentative breakdown of how the team (3 members) would distribute their times along the three levels of interventions, and the different proposed activities (campaigns, pilot activities, capacity building platform, day-to day flexible, un-planned time to adapt to demand). This breakdown is based on CIAT's 220 day year, and counts on the current time arrangements with the LKS team. (Simone: 132 days, Sophie: 88 days, Katherine: 90. Total days LKS team310)
ANNEXES
Notes from interviews
Name of Interviewee / NotesAlbin Hubscher / Interested in developing aggressive capacity strengthening (CS) strategy in form of face to facemodules, to revitalize campus and logistics. Dr. Hubscher sees it disconnected from projects but related to our research. We argued that CS interventions have to grow within research and become a "natural" end product. We agree that the CS culture has to be revitalized among scientists. Candidates: IP, Gender, IPM (Willie Graf SDC). Write capacity strengthening projects to raise funds. Focus on Colombia. Colombia would love to see CIAT become strong again in that area, says Dr. Hubscher. Develop a strong CS program within CIAT, define needs and develop modules in multidisciplinary teams.
Fill hotel which might be closed, if as currently happens only 20% of capacity is used.
Eduardo Figueroa / We suggest some more focus in internal communication on science, what staff is working on, article about scientific publications, "research cookies". Could be a feature in Intranet in English and Spanish.
Neil Palmer / Press relations and participatory communications outputs are different in nature and target different audiences. The discussion on the added value of both types of content is still ongoing. Neil is not a fan of unfinished materials, poorly written content, more internal information. LKS argues that there is a lot of information that should exist and co-habit. It's through categories and tags that we can filter content and give more visibility to some information over others depending on the target group.
Andrea Carvajal / Andrea sees two opportunities: 1) focus on LAC and work with Elcio Guimaraes on capacity building; 2) work with PRGA to support repositioning process.
Partha Mudgil / Partha can help us with IP support / Open access campaign. We see an opportunity in cap strengthening and CIAT would like to become an IP Hub. What does this entail? Is there demand? What could be Partha's Impact pathway? What could be possible intermediate steps? What training materials to develop for whom and how? Candidate for a pilot project that can inform the CS Platform strategy.
Carlos Meneses / 3 Opportunities
1) Support with smart communicators pilot. Give access. Measure and evaluate
2) Capacity Strengthening Platforms: f2f but also virtual access to courses. (different from e-learning modules) -> give a rationale for more bandwidth
3) Institutional memory: usefulness through metadata, analysis of open, closed access. Support staff on what is it that should go on an institutional memory.
Michael Peters / Open access: Need to clarify what is internal and what should go out. Risk of inaccurate information. Example Guinea pigs. Journals deformed some information but fortunately the official CIAT text was correct. LKS could offer a concept about public / internal info. Problem of free access: CIAT doesn't provide funds for making the product.-
Capacity building: 1) Re edit old modules, fresh focus, think about concept, and sub-products. LKS could accompany student and guide the process. 2) Power points with audio and comments for public use.
Stories that could be shared at least internally: Success of SOFT. Case studies Asia: short stories on different case and deployment strategy so that the product is in the news over a longer time...
Alonso Gonzales / Team communication. Partners use only mobiles, no emails. Lack of communication skills of his CIAT team, would like to have more effective not ad-hoc M&E, assure goodproject closure. Problem of time and human resources. Need more effectiveness in com, M&E and admin. Is proud of having been able to create productive linkages with almost all areas of CIAT.
1) Smart communicators: Training and mentoring in communication and collaborative tools. Do M&E of the process to conclude usefulness.
2) SNA to showcase good linkages of project within and outside CIAT
3) Internal communication: Use points above as a case
Joe Tohme / Platforms
- Biotech researchplatform, Joe
- Breeding and seed systems platform, Elcio Guimaraes
- Participatory IPM with Soroush Partha
- ICTs4D in seed systems with Louise Sperling and Andy Farrow
- Biosafety, Francisco Escobar
Patricia Biermayr / Strategy development to reposition PRGA: Do demand analysis, design workshop, facilitate workshop, report on demand analysis and final report. 10 days core - 15 days paid at 380 USD. Already contracted
Helena Pachón / Is in search for funding mode for a second phase of Agrosalud. Objective: develop biofortified crops and reach end-users. Privileged project communication and in Spanish but not donor communication in English. Now donor gives money to Harvest Plus.
1) In 2011 Virtual training on protocols to define nutritional impact.
2) Input LKS in proposal in terms of cap strength., participatory communication and M&E
3) Support efforts to get Biofortification into Colombian policies
Suroush Parsa / Interested in research that combines local and formal knowledge, as well as qualitative and quantitative knowledge. Similar to the idea of site specific agriculture. He calls it eco-informatics. Would like to do research in this area on IPM and Cassava. Convincedof power of visuals for KS: participatory video,
Photostories, how-to guides
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