Friends:

Do we really value information seeking skills? Do our organizations - academic, corporate, government, non-governmental - really encourage people to develop skills for searching and sharing information? Do we recognise gatekeepers and information evangelists? Here is something an outstanding development information specialist has said in another list. Read and I am sure he will set you thinking.

Arun
[Subbiah Arunachalam]
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Here is a URL for a paper I wrote on "The Practical Reality of Knowledge
Management within Development Initiatives" -
http://www.telecommons.com/reports.cfm?itemid=219 - click on the
Microsoft Word icon to download the paper.

The paper touches on some of the organizational requirements necessary
for staff - such as extension workers - to feel comfortable seeking,
sharing and using information/knowledge. 

The simple task of searching the Internet for information requires some
skill, but more importantly, staff require an organizational mandate and
clear support from management so that they can spend time accessing
information, and have management encouragement to use the tools they
need to do so. 

If an extension worker wants to spend two hours at a local cybercafe to
search for information on the carabao industry, for example, do their
managers actively encourage them to do so?  Do their job descriptions
include this task?  Has the organization developed simple procedures -
staff meetings, lunch seminars, internal and external newsletters, etc.
- to help staff share what they have learned?  Is there a performance
appraisal procedure that acknowledges and rewards time spent searching
for and sharing information?  Are their extension outreach mechanisms
that allow extension workers to help farmers make use of what the
extension worker has learned?  Does the organization spend time
developing staff skills to insure that information it produces is clear,
valuable to audiences, and of high quality?

Internal organizational structures and procedures are critically
important.  I find, however, that extension and research organizations
do not often spend a great deal of time planning how to integrate
knowledge management into day to day work so that concrete improvements
in agricultural systems can be realized.

Organizations that are serious about knowledge management, involve staff
members and managers in participatory planning exercises to design the
processes, policies and procedures to make it work.  And they set
measurable goals and objectives to monitor and improve processes,
policies and procedures as they move along.

Good, participatory planning leads can address some of the questions
Ajit asks:

- identification of skills that need improvement, and ways to improve
those skills
- identification of institutional and infrastructural constraints, and
ways to transcend those constraints, remove them, or create new
incentives
- identification of possible local, regional, national and international
communities of practice that managers and staff wish to associate with
for knowledge sharing - and practical ways to take advantage of those
communities of practice

Finally, staff incentives are critically important - perhaps the most
important component of knowledge management.  People tend to work on
tasks that are rewarding - personally, organizationally, financially,
etc.  This is also true for senior managers who seek to implement
knowledge management activities - they require high level organizational
mandates and incentives tied to knowledge management performance
outcomes for the staff they supervise.

All the best,
Don Richardson
Director
TeleCommons Development Group
ESG International
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Email: don@telecommons.com