KMAfrica2005 opening speech 1st March, 2005

Address by Deputy President Jacob Zuma at the Conference of Knowledge Management Africa, Caesars Palace, Johannesburg 1 March 2005

Mr Mandla Gantsho, CEO of the Development Bank of SA, Members of the Knowledge Management Africa Committee, The Honourable Raila Odinga, Minister of Roads & Public Works, Kenya, Vice-Chancellors of institutions of higher learning, Representatives of the Business Community, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Distinguished Guests,

It is an honour and a privilege for me to be part of this important conference that deals with such a crucial issue of Knowledge Management in our country and the continent.

The deliberations and discussions that you will have in the next three days, under the theme, "Knowledge Management to Address Africa's Development Challenges," are an important contribution to help our country and our continent to deal with the challenges that face us on the issues of enhancing service delivery and governance.

We believe that since the inception of democracy in our country in 1994, a lot of ground has already been covered at the level of knowledge management. However, the most critical aspect remains that of ensuring that such knowledge is accessible to the majority of stakeholders, and also to co-ordinate the efforts that have been made.

I am pleased to see representation from academia and the business community from the African continent, to this conference. We need all key sectors to be part of this process of renewal. The challenges that face Africa cannot be solved by African governments on their own, without the participation of all stakeholders in the African continent.

As you are aware, there are many challenges that face the continent. At the dawn of the 21st century we declared this century as the African Century.

We have every intention of living up to that declaration and need the support of other sectors to make the renewal objectives a reality.

In declaring this an African century, we were informed by an experience of many decades of hardships. Due to slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism apartheid and other forms of oppression, our continent had gone through systematic underdevelopment which sowed the seeds for conflict, poverty, instability and suffering over many decades.

When Africa gained its independence from colonial powers after decades of struggle, the instruments of control by the colonising powers had been entrenched. A particular culture of public service and governance, which did not put the interests of the indigenous people first, had taken root, which many countries still have to address to this day.

We are aware that we cannot blame colonial powers alone for the predicament we found ourselves in, given that after the decolonisation period, some African elites used the opportunity of being in power to plunder resources, and disregarded democratic norms and traditions.

The challenge now is how do we work together as all sectors to reverse the socio-economic challenges facing the continent, and to entrench a culture of democracy, good governance and peace.

I must reiterate that we view it as the responsibility of every sector within the broader African society in the continent, to work towards the regeneration of Africa and the reversal of stereotypes. Your conference is therefore an important step towards that direction, where we pool our intellectual resources for the betterment of the continent.

Ladies and gentlemen, your conference takes place during the season of hope, not only in our country but the continent at large. This is largely due to the enormous amount of work that is being done to rebuild our continent and place it on the path of sustainable development.

The various organs and programmes of the African Union are being operationalised, and are geared towards helping the continent achieve the objectives of renewal. On the socio-economic front, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, is being implemented at various levels in various regions in the continent. The NEPAD office will be in a position to provide details and opportunities that are available.

The establishment of NEPAD holds the key to solving some of Africa's problems with its goals of eradicating poverty, enabling sustainable growth and development in the continent and working to end the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process.

To boost the NEPAD process, the agenda of our engagement with the developed partners in the North also includes the call for the restructuring of international economic and financial institutions, to create a more just and equitable environment for the developing world.

We are saying to the developed world we have heard their declarations of intent, we now seek concrete action plans, with regards to the opening up of markets for our products and other interventions such as the cancellation of debt.

Another new way of doing things in Africa, towards the renewal, is the promotion of democratic principles and good governance. We are seeing more and more African countries holding democratic elections and promoting a constitutional and democratic way of taking over power. Successful free and fair elections were held in the continent in the past few months, for example in Mozambique, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Ghana and Niger.

We also welcome the increasing intolerance of the unconstitutional entry into office through coups and other mechanisms within the continent.

The African Union objective of ensuring that democratic principles are respected in the whole of Africa has been given a major boost over the weekend, on the issue of Togo, when Faure Gnassingbe vacated office as the self-elected president of Togo.

The Constitution of Togo will now give direction on the issue of succession.

We are generally encouraged by the progress being made in peacemaking and peacekeeping efforts in various regions. South Africa has played a role in peacemaking and peacekeeping in various parts of the continent. We do this as we realise that we cannot achieve the socio-economic objectives we have set for the continent if there is continuing conflict.

You would be aware that a major breakthrough took place yesterday when the people of Burundi voted during the referendum on their Constitution. The referendum will pave the way for the holding of local, parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for April this year.

We congratulate the Burundians on reaching this milestone, and wish them all the best in the implementation of the rest of the transitional programme, especially the coming democratic elections.

Other important developments that have taken place in the continent have been in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Liberia is ready to hold democratic elections later this year in October, while Sierra Leone has restored its democratically elected leader President Kabbah back to his seat.

In Sudan a ceasefire has been signed, thus ending one of the longest conflicts in the continent. The step taken by the Sudanese government to resume talks with Darfur rebels is another positive development.

We are also confident that peace will finally be achieved in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we will continue to assist the Congolese people towards holding democratic elections which are scheduled for June this year.

The positive developments on peacemaking make us optimistic that indeed a new Africa is in the process of being born, free of conflicts, wars, poverty and hunger.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me reiterate that we view the restructuring of international institutions as an important part of our strategy of rebuilding our continent, and of ensuring an equitable world political and economic order.

We believe that some of the problems that we face as a continent are also due to the fact that we are under-represented on international bodies such as the United Nations, which make and determine policy on crucial international issues such as international peace and security.

The draft African Common Position on the UN Security Council reform includes the following:

• Africa's goal is to be fully represented in all the decision-making organs of the UN, particularly in the Security Council. * Full representation of Africa in the Security Council means not less than two permanent seats, and as a matter of common justice, with all the prerogatives and privileges of permanent membership, including the right of veto, as well as five non-permanent seats.

• Even though Africa is opposed in principle to the veto, as long as it exists, it should be made available to all permanent members of the Security Council.
• The African Union should be responsible for the selection of Africa's representatives in the Security Council. The question of the criteria for the selection of African members of the Security Council should be a matter for the AU to determine, taking into consideration the representative nature and capacity of those chosen.

We hope to take our intelligentsia, business community and civil along as we fight this struggle of representation at the UN. We believe our time has come.

I wish you well in your deliberations, and hope that this conference will be a success. We look forward to receiving your resolutions.

I thank you

Issued by: The Presidency 1 March 2005

Declaration of Dakar 2007

THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AFRICAN SCIENCE ACADEMY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE
(ASADI III) DAKAR – SENEGAL, 12-14 NOVEMBRE 2007 DECLARATION OF DAKAR ASADI III

WE,

Members of the science Academies of Africa and the UN National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, Scientists from
different corners, Policy Markers, Representatives of Development Partners and the Civil Society, Parliamentarians and Local
Communities’ representatives meeting in Dakar, from 12th to 14th November 2007, for the Third Annual International Conference of the
African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI) on the theme: Water and Health;

Aware of the prominent role of access to drinking water,

1. sanitation, management of water related disasters and catastrophes in the areas of health and economic and social development of our countries, particularly those of Africa; Aware of the accompanying role Science Academies play in identifying, developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating governments’ development policies and programs;

2. Aware of the role Science Academies play as an inter face between Science and the various components of the Society;
3. Acknowledging African countries’ willingness and efforts to attain the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), and the International Community’s endeavour to address these issues; Rewarding the eminent role played by ASADI to build
4. capacities of African Science Academies and to strengthen their effective collaboration;

RECOMMEND

1. The continuation of African Science Academy capacity building program.

2. Supporting the creation and operation of new African Science Academies
3. Advising public and private authorities for the development and implementation of Science and research policies.
4. Enhancing the capacities in the area of training for African officials and scientists in water resources in collaboration with african agencies as is the case with the African Ministerial Council on Water.
5. Greater water resource management (inventory, access, protection and use) through an increased mobilization and more efficiency in the utilization of scientific, technical, institutional and financial resources,
6. More collaborative work and dialogue among stakeholders in shared water resource management
7. Prevention and management of water related disasters planning, programming and budget allocation mechamisms as one the development priority areas.
8. Better management of water borne diseases
9. Development of a communications strategy adapted to the promotion of the role of science in development.
10. Creation of a monitoring mechanism on ASADI III outputs.

Done in Dakar, on 14th November, 2007
Read by H.E. Mrs Jennifer NAMYANGU BYAKATONDA
Senior Minister in Charge of Water Resources
Member of Parliament

KMAfrica2007 - The Nairobi Declaration

The Second Biennial Conference of the Knowledge Management Africa (KMA) 2007 was held in the City of Nairobi, Kenya, from the 17th -19th July 2007 under the general theme of ‘Knowledge to remobilise Africa’, following which the Nairobi Declaration of July 2007 has been made.

The declaration was signed and dated on 18th November, in Nairobi 2007 by:

• Hon. Henry Obwocha, Minister for Planning and National Development, Government of the Republic of Kenya

• Dr Snowy Khosa, Chairperson, Knowledge Management Africa and Development Bank of Southern Africa
• Professor Loyiso Nongxa, Vice Chancellor, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Learning & Development - Why Knowledge Management? Why Now?

Organizational success depends less on products and more on the appropriate use and deployment of distinctive capabilities. The true core competence of any firm is the ability to create new knowledge, learn continuously, identify and solve changing problems. Interest in knowledge is being driven by:

• Greater and faster connectivity and information flow due to the internet - ideas at the speed of light!

• Increasing knowledge content 'intelligence?' in products and services
• Decreasing life-cycles and time to market for industrial products
• Hyper competition and innovation pressures on a global scale
• Strong business focus on innovation driven growth after cyles of down-sizing and lean production.
• Critical need to be flexible, nimble and 'in-tune' with your market.

What is KM?

There is no easy and accepted answer here. The problems around defining KM are also part of its strength and allure. KM is emergent, it takes on different forms, shapes and strategies in different firms and may not even look the same across groups within the same firm. It pays to take time and to have conversations to surface assumptions & beliefs, build alignment and share understandings around what knowledge means to your firm. There are a number of positions you can take to mix and match these for yourself. Most have ties to how you think about knowledge and what you believe knowledge really is! Consider your choices with care:

• Approach: Personalization vs. codification

• View: knowledge as an object vs. knowledge as flow or dynamic
• Emphasis: tacit vs. explicit
• Strategy: internal vs. all stakeholders
• Nature: existing vs. emergent / constructed
• Focus: reuse vs. creation / innovation
• Culture: eastern vs.western
• Attenion: external (business intelligence) vs. internal (learning)

Learning & Development - Ontology

Ontology in philosophy (from the Greek words being, to be, science, study and theory) is the study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as of the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.

Students of Aristotle first used the word 'metaphysica' (literally "after the physical") to refer to what their teacher described as "the science of being qua being" - later known as ontology. 'Qua' means 'in the capacity of': hence, ontology is inquiry into being in so much as it is being, or into being in general, beyond any particular thing which is or exists; and the study of beings insofar as they exist, and not insofar as, for instance, particular facts obtained about them or particular properties to them. Take anything you can find in the world, and look at it, not as a puppy or a slice of pizza or a folding chair or a president, but just as something that is. More specifically, ontology concerns determining what categories of being are fundamental and asks whether, and in what sense, the items in those categories can be said to "be".

Some philosophers, notably of the Platonic school, contend that all nouns refer to existent entities. Other philosophers contend that nouns do not always name entities, but that some provide a kind of shorthand for reference to a collection of either objects or events. In this latter view, mind, instead of referring to an entity, refers to a collection of mental events experienced by a person; society refers to a collection of persons with some shared characteristics, and geometry refers to a collection of a specific kind of intellectual activity. Between these poles of realism and nominalism, there are also a variety of other positions; but any ontology must give an account of which words refer to entities, which do not, why, and what categories result. When one applies this process to nouns such as electrons, energy, contract, happiness, space, time, truth, causality, and god, ontology becomes fundamental to many branches of philosophy.

Some basic questions

The principal questions of ontology are "What can be said to exist?" and "Into what categories, if any, can we sort existing things?" Various philosophers have provided different answers to this question. One common approach is to divide the extant entities into groups called categories. Of course, such lists of categories differ widely from one another, and it is through the co-ordination of different categorial schemes that ontology relates to such fields as theology, library science and artificial intelligence.

Further examples of ontological questions include:

• What is existence?

• Is existence a property?
• Which entities are fundamental?
• How do the properties of an object relate to the object itself?
• What features are the essential, as opposed to merely accidental, attributes of a given object?
• What is a physical object?
• Can one give an account of what it means to say that a physical object exists?
• What constitutes the identity of an object?
• When does an object go out of existence, as opposed to merely changing?
• Why does anything exist rather than nothing? (This overlaps with questions in cosmology.)

Concepts

• Quintessential ontological concepts include:

• Universals and Particulars
• Substance and Accident
• Abstract and Concrete objects
• Essence and Existence

Subject, relationship, object

"What exists", "What is", "What am I", "What is describing this to me", all exemplify questions about being, and highlight the most basic problems in ontology: finding a subject, a relationship, and an object to talk about. During the Enlightenment the view of René Descartes that "cogito ergo sum" ("I think therefore I am") had generally prevailed, although Descartes himself did not believe the question worthy of any deep investigation. However, Descartes was very religious in his philosophy, and indeed argued that "cogito ergo sum" proved the existence of God. Later theorists would note the existence of the "Cartesian Other" — asking "who is reading that sentence about thinking and being?" — and generally concluded that it must be God.

This answer, however, became increasingly unsatisfactory in the 20th century as the philosophy of mathematics and the philosophy of science and even particle physics explored some of the most fundamental barriers to knowledge about being. Sociological theorists, most notably George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman, saw the Cartesian Other as a "Generalized Other," the imaginary audience that individuals use when thinking about the self. According to Mead, "we do not assume there is a self to begin with. Self is not presupposed as a stuff out of which the world arises. Rather the self arises in the world" [1] The Cartesian Other was also used by Sigmund Freud, who saw the superego as an abstract regulatory force, and Emile Durkheim who viewed this as a psychologically manifested entity which represented God in society at large.

Body and environment

Schools of subjectivism, objectivism and relativism existed at various times in the 20th century, and the postmodernists and body philosophers tried to reframe all these questions in terms of bodies taking some specific action in an environment. This relied to a great degree on insights derived from scientific research into animals taking instinctive action in natural and artificial settings — as studied by biology, ecology, and cognitive science.

The processes by which bodies related to environments became of great concern, and the idea of being itself became difficult to really define. What did people mean when they said "A is B", "A must be B", "A was B"...? Some linguists advocated dropping the verb "to be" from the English language, leaving "E Prime", supposedly less prone to bad abstractions. Others, mostly philosophers, tried to dig into the word and its usage. Heidegger attempted to distinguish being and existence. Heidegger suggests that our way of being human and the way the world is for us are given by the ontological assumptions that come along with our language. These assumptions provide the context for communication: a horizon of unspoken background meanings. Because these assumptions both generate and are regenerated in our everyday interactions, the locus of our way of being is the communicative event of language in use.[2]

Ontological approaches

Social scientists adopt one of four main ontological approaches: realism (the idea that facts are out there just waiting to be discovered), empiricism (the idea that we can observe the world and evaluate those observations in relation to facts), positivism (which focuses on the observations themselves, attentive more to claims about facts than to facts themselves), and post-modernism (which holds that facts are fluid and elusive, so we should focus only on our observational claims).

Learning & Development - Quotes about Knowledge

For also knowledge itself is power. Francis Bacon

Information is not knowledge. Albert Einstein

The knowledge I have now is not the knowledge I had then. Stokely Carmichael

That knowledge which is popular is not scientific. Maria Mitchell

The only source of knowledge is experience. Albert Einstein

Where is all the knowledge we lost with information? T. S. Eliot

Doubt grows with knowledge. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. Vince Lombardi

You should not ask questions without knowledge. W. Edwards Deming

A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge. Peter Drucker

Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement. Ludwig Wittgenstein

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. Jimi Hendrix

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein

The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values. William Ralph Inge

Research is creating new knowledge. Neil Armstrong

Knowledge is true opinion. Plato

Knowledge is the prime need of the hour. Mary McLeod Bethune

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. Marcus Garvey

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. Theodore Roosevelt

Wonder is the desire for knowledge. Saint Thomas Aquinas

If we would have new knowledge, we must get a whole world of new questions. Susanne Langer

Where knowledge ends, religion begins. Benjamin Disraeli

For the things of this world cannot be made known without a knowledge of mathematics. Roger Bacon

A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge. Thomas Carlyle

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be. Albert Einstein

Wisdom is knowledge which has become a part of one's being. Orison Swett Marden

Anyone who relies exclusively on television for his or her knowledge of the world is making a serious mistake. Steve Powers

Knowledge is the life of the mind. Abu Bakr

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein

Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge. Alfred North Whitehead

Belief and knowledge are considered to be two different things. But they are not. Stanley Fish

Knowledge is only one half. Faith is the other. Novalis

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. Isaac Asimov

All men are born with a nose and ten fingers, but no one was born with a knowledge of God. Voltaire

A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. Plato

We own almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed. Charles Caleb Colton

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Albert Einstein

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. James Madison

To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge. Kong Fu Zi

Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom. Clifford Stoll

There was never a nation great until it came to the knowledge that it had nowhere in the world to go for help. Charles Dudley Warner

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. Socrates

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends. Friedrich Nietzsche

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. Alfred Lord Tennyson

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance. Henry David Thoreau

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. Bertrand Russell

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write. John Adams

In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance. Henry Miller

There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge. Michel de Montaigne

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. William Shakespeare

Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. Ambrose Bierce

It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder. Joseph Wood Krutch

The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance. Herodotus

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. Robert Fulghum

We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge. Nicolaus Copernicus

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing. Socrates

Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge. Abraham Joshua Heschel

All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than animals that know nothing. Maurice Maeterlinck

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. Confucius

There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. Albert Einstein

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. George Bernard Shaw

The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge. Albert Einstein

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. Albert Einstein

The youth of an art is, like the youth of anything else, its most interesting period. When it has come to the knowledge of good and evil it is stronger, but we care less about it. Samuel Butler

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail. David Hare

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. Samuel Johnson

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant. Plato

But inner experience is only one source of human knowledge. Muhammed Iqbal

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. Kahlil Gibran

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself. Aldous Huxley

The current state of knowledge is a moment in history, changing just as rapidly as the state of knowledge in the past has ever changed and, in many instances, more rapidly. Jean Piaget

The more extensive a man's knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do. Benjamin Disraeli

Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge. Lao Tzu

What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child. George Bernard Shaw

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you. Princess Diana

Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. Friedrich Nietzsche

In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge. Francois de La Rochefoucauld

From all this it follows what the general character of the problem of the development of a body of scientific knowledge is, in so far as it depends on elements internal to science itself. Talcott Parsons

We can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom. Michel de Montaigne

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge. Confucius

Life is a travelling to the edge of knowledge, then a leap taken. David Herbert Lawrence

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. Albert Einstein

It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters. Friedrich Nietzsche

And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul? Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul. Plato

No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience. John Locke

In a battle all you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that it's more dangerous to lose than to win. George Bernard Shaw

All men by nature desire knowledge. Aristotle

You can acquire a lot of knowledge without ever going to school. William Glasser

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Carl Sagan

Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Samuel Johnson

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise. Samuel Johnson

I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.
Thomas Jefferson

It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge. Voltaire

Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love. George Bernard Shaw

It is no good to try to stop knowledge from going forward. Ignorance is never better than knowledge. Enrico Fermi

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. Marilyn vos Savant

All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. Leonardo da Vinci

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him. Blaise Pascal

I have thought about it a great deal, and the more I think, the more certain I am that obedience is the gateway through which knowledge, yes, and love, too, enter the mind of the child. Anne Sullivan

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. Leonardo da Vinci

Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind. Plato

Youth is the period in which a man can be hopeless. The end of every episode is the end of the world. But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration comes to the middle-aged. Gilbert K. Chesterton

The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes. Avicenna

The small part of ignorance that we arrange and classify we give the name of knowledge. Ambrose Bierce

A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows.
George Gurdjieff

Zeal without knowledge is fire without light. Thomas Fuller

Never stop learning; knowledge doubles every fourteen months. Anthony J. D'Angelo

Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom. Will Durant

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? T. S. Eliot

Readership was high, and very attentive. It was people's only source of knowledge about the world. Ryszard Kapuscinski

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance. Benjamin Franklin

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. John F. Kennedy

It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin. Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. Herbert Spencer

The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained. David Bohm

This means that no single logic is strong enough to support the total construction of human knowledge. Jean Piaget

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but a little want of knowledge is also a dangerous thing. Samuel Butler

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall. Francis Bacon

Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance. Plato

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous. Plato

Men are limited by the knowledge of their minds, the worth of their characters and the principles upon which they are building their lives. Edwin Louis Cole

A belief in hell and the knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton have never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumor. Aldous Huxley

Sorrow is knowledge, those that know the most must mourn the deepest, the tree of knowledge is not the tree of life. Lord Byron

After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books. Albert Camus

The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold. It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism. Albert Camus

Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom. Plato

The idea of trying to create things that last - forever knowledge - has guided my work for a long time now. Edward Tufte

In a world in which the total of human knowledge is doubling about every ten years, our security can rest only on our ability to learn. Nathaniel Branden

Poverty and lack of knowledge must be challenged. Russell Simmons

Vanity of science. Knowledge of physical science will not console me for ignorance of morality in time of affliction, but knowledge of morality will always console me for ignorance of physical science. Blaise Pascal

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. Henry Ford

Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate is certainty, whether of knowledge or ignorance. Bertrand Russell

To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge. Benjamin Disraeli

The study and knowledge of the universe would somehow be lame and defective were no practical results to follow. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. Plato

But the scientific importance of a change in knowledge of fact consists precisely in j its having consequences for a system of theory. Talcott Parsons

A lot of knowledge in any kind of an organization is what we call task knowledge. These are things that people who have been there a long time understand are important, but they may not know how to talk about them. It's often called the culture of the organization. Howard Gardner

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance. Baltasar Gracian

One must know combinations, one must have a true knowledge of food to be in the moment. Charlie Trotter

The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin. Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. Aristotle

Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of face within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity. Calvin Coolidge

For me, there is nothing worse than the knowledge that my life holds nothing for me but being a writer. Jean Stafford

Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another. William James

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Bertrand Russell

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. Charles Darwin

The true method of knowledge is experiment. William Blake

I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art. Kahlil Gibran

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms. Kahlil Gibran

The first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant. Richard Cecil

Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information. Peter Drucker

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The fog of information can drive out knowledge. Daniel J. Boorstin

Knowledge is love and light and vision. Helen Keller

Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance. Robert Quillen

A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century. David Hume

If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants. Lao Tzu

Doubt is not below knowledge, but above it. Alain Rene Le Sage

Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul. Will Durant

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom Charles Spurgeon

If information and knowledge are central to democracy, they are the conditions for development. Kofi Annan

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family. Kofi Annan

Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity. Jose Marti

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness. George Santayana

One of the interesting things about having little musical knowledge is that you generate surprising results sometimes; you move to places you wouldn't if you knew better. Brian Eno

I think it's wrong that so many people pass on from this existence, and take all their knowledge with them. Rex Hunt

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself. Arthur Schopenhauer

The knowledge that we have about what it is to be human that we have as a child is something we necessarily must lose. Dennis Potter

In 20 or 30 years, you'll be able to hold in your hand as much computing knowledge as exists now in the whole city, or even the whole world. Douglas Engelbart

Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile. Abu Bakr

Having knowledge but lacking the power to express it clearly is no better than never having any ideas at all. Pericles

Knowledge is proud that it knows so much; wisdom is humble that it knows no more. William Cowper

Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various facets of them. Lord Chesterfield

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge. Bertrand Russell

It takes a couple of years just to get the background and knowledge that you need before you can go into detailed training for your mission. Sally Ride

The seat of knowledge is in the head; of wisdom, in the heart. We are sure to judge wrong, if we do not feel right. William Hazlitt

All along we find that social life - religion, politics, art - reflects the stages reached in the development of the knowledge of self; it shows the social uses made of this knowledge. James M. Baldwin

The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom. Kahlil Gibran

We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves. Saint Thomas Aquinas

Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof. Kahlil Gibran

Knowledge is not eating, and we cannot expect to devour and possess what we mean. Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace. George Santayana

The universal Mind contains all knowledge. It is the potential ultimate of all things. To it, all things are possible. Ernest Holmes

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. Kahlil Gibran

There is no force more liberating than the knowledge that you are fighting for others. Bob Kerrey

Knowledge slowly builds up what Ignorance in an hour pulls down. George Eliot

A physician without a knowledge of Astrology has no right to call himself a physician. Hippocrates

The degree of one's emotions varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts. Bertrand Russell

A civilization is a heritage of beliefs, customs, and knowledge slowly accumulated in the course of centuries, elements difficult at times to justify by logic, but justifying themselves as paths when they lead somewhere, since they open up for man his inner distance. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The best theology is rather a divine life than a divine knowledge. Jeremy Taylor

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth. Sophocles

If we want our children to value education, then we must show our appreciation for knowledge. Brad Sherman

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge. Kahlil Gibran

Most of my technical knowledge comes from having worked in the industrial video industry. Richard King

It is with children that we have the best chance of studying the development of logical knowledge, mathematical knowledge, physical knowledge, and so forth. Jean Piaget

The real difference between a man's scientific judgments about himself and the judgment of others about him is he has added sources of knowledge. Edward Thorndike

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it. Napoleon Hill

For the progress of scientific knowledge will lead to a constant increase of expenditure. Richard Cobden

If the education of our kids comes from radio, television, newspapers - if that's where they get most of their knowledge from, and not from the schools, then the powers that be are definitely in charge, because they own all those outlets. Maynard J. Keenan

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them. Isaac Asimov

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge... observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Denis Diderot

Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not. Carl Jung

Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ASK. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds. Anne Rice

Thus, in accordance with the spirit of the Historical School, knowledge of the principles of the human world falls within that world itself, and the human sciences form an independent system. Wilhelm Dilthey

I mean, it's the life lessons that I suppose you learn that nobody gets a free ride and that you do the best you can with the means that you can and try to open yourself to as much knowledge and all that that you can. Joe Mantegna

It has been a privilege to pursue knowledge for its own sake and to see how it might help mankind in more practical ways. Paul Nurse

There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge - that is everywhere. Hermann Hesse

As far as knowledge goes I've come a long way. Jurgen Klinsmann

He that hath knowledge spareth his words. Francis Bacon

We must always remember with gratitude and admiration the first sailors who steered their vessels through storms and mists, and increased our knowledge of the lands of ice in the South. Roald Amundsen

Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its accidents and accompanying essentials. Avicenna

Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another. Thomas Hobbes

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. John F. Kennedy

We are sinful not only because we have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, but also because we have not yet eaten of the Tree of Life. The state in which we are is sinful, irrespective of guilt. Franz Kafka

It is in moments of illness that we are compelled to recognize that we live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom, whole worlds apart, who has no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body. Marcel Proust

Knowledge without education is but armed injustice. Horace

If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off... no matter what they say. Barbara McClintock

And most importantly perhaps, children can learn about their rights, share their knowledge with the children of other nations, identify problems with them and establish how they might work together to address them. Carol Bellamy

Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use. Thomas J. Watson

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing. Maria Mitchell

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. Carl Jung

I came literally to the table with a wealth of knowledge by simply understanding how food should taste. Rocco DiSpirito

Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain. Kahlil Gibran

Learn from me, if not by my precepts, then by my example, how dangerous is the pursuit of knowledge and how much happier is that man who believes his native town to be the world than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow. Mary Wollstonecraft

Learning & Development - Definitions of Knowledge Management

There are numerous definitions of Knowledge Management, and while quite a few appear below, you are challenged to come up with your own, more useful definitions of KM and share them:

The Wikipedia definition states: Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of practices used in an organisation to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organisational processes or practice. An established discipline since 1995, KM includes courses taught in the fields of business administration, information systems, management, and library and information sciences. More recently, other fields, to include those focused on information and media, computer science, public health, and public policy, also have started contributing to KM research. Many large companies and non-profit organisations have resources dedicated to internal KM efforts, often as a part of their 'Business Strategy', 'Information Technology', or 'Human Resource Management' departments. Several consulting companies also exist that provide strategy and advice regarding KM to these organisations.

KM efforts typically focus on organisational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, and continuous improvement of the organisation. KM efforts overlap with Organisational Learning, and may be distinguished from by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the exchange of knowledge. KM efforts can help individuals and groups to share valuable organisational insights, to reduce redundant work, to avoid reinventing the wheel per se, to reduce training time for new employees, to retain intellectual capital as employees turnover in an organisation, and to adapt to changing environments and markets

Additional definitions of KM include:

• The Process responsible for gathering, analysing, storing and sharing knowledge and information within an Organisation. ... www.datajar.com.au/e-learning/mod/glossary/view.php

• A multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational objectives by making best use of knowledge. It involves the design, review and implementation of both social and technological processes to improve the application of knowledge, in the collective interest of stakeholders. www.records.nsw.gov.au/recordkeeping/glossary_of_recordkeeping_terms_g-o...
• The way a company stores, organizes and accesses internal and external information. A Narrower term is: "Organizational Memory"
• Discipline within an organisation that ensures that the intellectual capabilities of an organisation are shared, maintained and institutionalised. www.infodiv.unimelb.edu.au/knowledgebase/itservices/a-z/k.html
• The process of systematically and actively managing and leveraging the stores of knowledge in an organisation is called knowledge management. It is the process of transforming information and intellectual assets into enduring value. www.unisa.edu.au/pas/qap/planning/glossary.asp
• Managing tacit knowledge (held in an individual's brain in the form of know-how and experience) and explicit knowledge (recorded independently of humans) www.curaconsortium.co.uk/glossary.html
• KM can have multiple meanings. In business information technology knowledge management refers to an entire integrated system for accumulation, integration, manipulation, and access of data across multiple organizations, including such data as credit data, consumer profiles, market data ... www.translationdirectory.com/glossaries/glossary017_k.htm
• A method for gathering information and making it available to others. www.qualishealth.org/qi/collaboratives/glossary.cfm
• The mistaken idea that what is in peoples heads (knowledge) is fundamentally the same stuff as can be documented in words, pictures charts etc (information). ... www.information-alchemy.co.uk/glossary.htm
• Knowledge Management is a set of processes used to effectively use a knowledge system to locate the knowledge required by one or more people to do their work
• is the process of improving the job performance of knowledge workers by eliminating relevant ignorance and inability as quickly and inexpensively as possible AND providing the proper environment, motivation and role models. km-experts.com/defs.htm
• KM is the distribution, access and retrieval of unstructured information about "human experiences" between interdependent individuals or among members of a workgroup. ... services.eliteral.com/glossary/decision-support-systems-glossary.php
• The ability to navigate through and analyze large amounts of data, and to ensure a flow of knowledge to the right people at the right time, is emerging as a major competitive advantage. ... www.bioon.com/book/biology/genomicglossaries/algorithms_glossary.asp.htm
• “Knowledge management involves creating, securing, coordinating, combining, retrieving and distributing knowledge” (Lin et al., 2006).
  www.oise.utoronto.ca/rspe/UserFiles/File/Terms%20and%20Definitions.doc

• This is a system that affords control, dissemination, and usage of information. This is often a Net-enabled corporate initiative. www.marketresearchterms.com/k.php
• KM is the process of managing the creation, use, and dissemination of knowledge www.surfcityhost.com/glossary.html
• A range of practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge en.wiktionary.org/wiki/knowledge management

Learning & Development - Knowledge Mapping

What is knowledge mapping?

An ongoing joint quest to help discover the constraints, assumptions, location, ownership, value and use of knowledge assets, artifacts, people and their expertise, uncover blocks to knowledge creation, and find opportunities to leverage existing knowledge. Knowledge mapping may involve developing an ontology, conducting social network analysis, executing a survey, engaging a group of people in sensemaking, action research or ethnography.

The process of making the knowledge map is as important as the final product because its impossible to create a single map which will meet the needs of every situation. Agreement is required by decision-makers regarding the purpose of the knowledge mapping exercise and a map or maps created to meet those objectives.

A key distinction

Knowledge mapping is data gathering, survey, exploring, discovery, conversation, disagreement, gap analysis, education and synthesis. It aims to track the loss and acquisition of information & knowledge, personal and group competencies and proficiencies, show knowledge flows, appreciate the influence on intellectual capital due to staff loss, assist with team selection and technology matching.

Knowledge mapping can be contrasted with a knowledge audit which tracks deviations from policy or established process, checks for compliance with standards and procedures, seeks to measure and value knowledge assets and marketable intangibles.

Knowledge audits

A knowledge audit focusses on finding, itemizing and putting values to knowledge assets and checking compliance with approved processes. The key activity is determining the worth and market value of intellectual property and capital and spotting policy and practice deviations. Mostly this activity is concerned with portfolio management and tangible (hard) assets.

"A knowledge audit covers, legal and security (protection) issues, ownership, market value, portfolio dynamics and synergies, potential for realising capital gains and enhancing revenue streams. The knowledge audit looks at conformance and compliance, concentrates on objects which are marketable or nearly so, rather than the enviroment for new knowledge creation. Every audit attempts to locate, measure and evaluate assets with some potential market value and checks for deviations from accepted processes."

Finding deviations

KM audit takes place after your organizational knowledge policies and processes are put in place and practices have been established. The audit meaures how faithfully the organization is following these authorized practices, lists departures, suggests revisions, controls and reviews to bring things back in-line.

Using audits vs. mapping

KM mapping is often done at the start of a major project to collect baseline data, although I think mapping is useful as an on-going exercise. The emphasis is on exploration, discovery and opportunity finding. Knowledge audits are scheduled to value intangibles (intellectual property, social and intellectual capital) and mostly are done on an annual basis, before mergers and acquistions and as part of 'accounting' reviews or strategic due diligence exercises.

What exactly is a knowledge map?

A knowledge map portrays a perspective of the players, sources, flows, constraints and sinks of knowledge within an organization. It is a navigation aid to both explicit (codified) information and tacit knowledge, showing the importance and the relationships between knowledge stores and the dynamics. The final 'map' can take multiple forms, from a pictorial display to yellowpages directory, to linked topic or concept map, to inventory lists or a matrix of assets against key business processes.

Why should you bother to map knowledge?

• to find key sources, opportunities and constraints to knowledge creation and flows.

• to encourage re-use and prevent re-invention, saving search time and acquisition costs
• to highlight islands of expertise and suggest ways to build bridges to increase knowledge sharing and exchange
• to discover effective and emergent communities of practice where informal learning is happening
• to provide baseline data for measuring progress with KM projects and justifying expenditures
• reduce the burden on experts by helping staff to find critical solutions & information quickly
• improve customer response, decision making and problem solving by providing access to applicable information, internal and external experts
• highlight opportunities for learning and leverage of knowledge through distinguishing the unique meaning of 'knowledge' within that organization
• provide an inventory and evaluation of intellectual and intangible assets and assess competitive advantage
• supply research for designing a knowledge architecture, making key strategic choices, selecting suitable software or a building corporate memory
• garner support for new knowledge initiatives designed to improve the knowledge assets.

What needs tp be mapped?

• Location, ownership, validity, timeliness, domain, sensitivity, access rights, storage medium, use statistics, medium and channels used

• Documents, files, systems, policies, directories, competencies, relationships, authorities
• Boundary objects, knowledge artifacts, stories, heuristics, patterns, events, practices, activities and flows
• Explicit and tacit knowledge which is closely linked to strategic drivers, core competencies and market intelligence
• Portray both the codified and the informal stuff, highlight constraints, assumptions, policies, culture, bottlenecks, brokers, repositories and boundary spanners.

It can be very difficult sometimes to quickly identify important knowledge assets because people forget about what they know until they need to know it. Consequently it can be useful to collect stories of how people work to remind others of the knowledge they rely on. This story base provides evidence which helps the knowledge mapper know where to look and what to include in the map.

What should I be looking for?

This depends on the mapping brief and may vary from recording existing explicit information sources, to understanding complex knowledge flows or evaluating industry competitiveness and innovation. Here is a checklist:

Newsfeeds, contact addresses, network transactions, helpdesk cheat sheets, patent registers, corporate libraries & HR databases, warrantee claims, LAN directory structures, record & document archives, process descriptions, push profiles, meta-data directory, social network patterns, customer notes, informal communities.
Locate 'mavens', boundary spanners, go-to contacts, off the radar databases on individual harddrives, check for coporate membership of industry SIGs and thinktanks.

Map of Knowledge

A 'map of knowledge' has been assembled by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory research library. It is based on data searches in which users moved from one journal to another, thus establishing associations between them. The map includes both the sciences and the humanities in a hub and wheel arrangement, with the humanities at the center and the sciences arrayed around them. The arrangement fell out naturally from the data and is not contrived. You can download the entire map below or open the map in a new window

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

On 6th September 2000, 189 heads of states and governments met at the United Nations in New York to reaffirm their faith in the Organization and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world. The 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were adopted at the meeting. These 8 goals are seen as key to to freeing some of the world's poorest people from the dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.

Millennium Development Goals:

1 - Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than one U.S. dollar a day.

• Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

2 - Achieve universal primary education

• Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling. Increased enrollment must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that all children remain in school and receive a high-quality education

3 - Promote gender equality and empower women

• Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.

4 - Reduce child mortality

• Reduce the mortality rate among children under five by two thirds.

5 - Improve maternal health

• Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio.

6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

• Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.

• Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.

7 - Ensure environmental sustainability

• Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.

• Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
• Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.

8 - Develop a global partnership for development

• Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and internationally.

• Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction.
• Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt problems through national and international measures to make debt sustainable in the long term.
• In cooperation with the developing countries, develop decent and productive work for youth.
• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
• In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies - especially information and communications technologies.

The MDG's were introduced as part of a wider attempt to encourage the international community to stop talking about making a difference in the developing world and join forces to start doing something about it. The Millennium Development Goals have a crucial part to play in reducing poverty and encouraging progress in the developing world. As a result, NEPAD, COMESA, IFPMA, UNECA, and the African Development Bank have all come together in analysing the progress and discussing a way forward.

See MDG Review for further details.

List of Abbreviations

A

AAR- After Action Review
ASADI - African Science Academies Development Initiative

B

BCPR -Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (UNDP)
BDP - Bureau for Development Policy (UNDP)

C

CAFOD -Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
CAMPFIRE - Community Area Management Programme for Indigenous Resources
CBA - Community-Based Adaptation
CBO - Community-Based Organization
CIFOR - Center for International Forestry Research
CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency
CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States
CO - Country Office
CoP - Community of Practice
CPR - Crisis Prevention and Recovery
CPRP-net - Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice-Network (UNDP)
CRC - Citizen Report Card
CSO - Civil Society Organization
CV - Curriculum Vitae
CVCA - Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis

D

DCAF - Democratic Control of Armed Forces
DDR - Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration
DFID - Department for International Development
DIRAC – The Directory of Radiation Centers can be accessed on http://www.iaea.org/programme.nahunet
DRM - Disaster Risk Management

E

ECIS - Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
E-discussion - Electronic-discussion (online discussion)
EWS - Early Warning System

F

FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FARC - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
FEWS - Net Famine Early Warning System Network
FOWECA - Forestry Outlook Study for West and Central Asia
FG - Focus Group

G

GOFORDEV Governance for Local Development
GGI Good Governance Index
GOFORGOLD Good Governance for Local Development***

H

HC - Humanitarian Coordinator (UN)
HQ - Headquarters
HR - Human Resources

I

IAEA - International Atomic Agency
IAEA/NUS - The national University of Singapore (NUS) has taken the initiative to start distance learning in radiation processing and tissue banking. The Tissuebank website
IARC – International Agency for Research on Cancer.
IAC - InterAcademy Council
IAP - InterAcademy Panel
IAMP - InterAcademy Medical Panel
IASC - Inter-Agency Standing Committee
ICCPR - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICERD - International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
ICT - Information and Communication Technology
IDEA - International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
IDP - Internally displaced person
IISD - International Institute for Sustainable Development
ILO - International Labour Organization
INIS – The International Nuclear Information System has been operated by the IAEA and can be accessed on INIS website
IT - Information Technology
IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

K

KM - Knowledge Management
KMAfrica - Knowledge Management Africa (www.kmafrica.com)
KM4DEV - Knowledge Management for Development

L

LGB - Local Governance Barometer
LGPMS - Local Governance Performance Management System
LGSA - Local Governance Self-Assessment
LGU - local government unit

M

MA&D - Market Analysis & Development
M&E - Monitoring and Evaluation
MCA - Minimum Conditions of Access
MDG - Millennium Development Goal
MDGs - Millennium Development Goals
MISP - Minimum Initial Service Package
MWC - International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (short form: the Migrant Workers Convention)
MYFF - Multi-Year Funding Framework

N

NAP - National Action Programme to Combat Drought and Desertification
NAPA - National Adaptation Programme of Action
NASAC - Network of African Science Academies
NeLH - National Electronic Library for Health (UK)
NGO - Non-Governmental Organization
NSO - National Statistical Office
NNI - National Nuclear Institution
NSAG - Non-State Armed Group
NWFD - Non-wood forest product

O

OC - Office of Communications (UNDP)
ODI - Overseas Development Institute (UK)
OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OECD-DAC - OECD-Development Assistance Committee
OGC - Oslo Governance Centre
OHCHR - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
OSI - Open Society Institute

P

PBGS - Performance Based Grant System
PEM - Practice Experience Map
PES - Payment for Environmental Services
PKM - Personal Knowledge Management (see http://isivivane.com/kmafrica/?q=og.pkm for the KMAfrica.com PKM project)
PLA - Participatory Learning for Action
PM - Performance Measure
PROFOR - Programme on Forests

R

RBA - Rights-Based Approaches
RBEC - Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (UNDP)
RC - Regional Center (UNDP)
RC - Resident Coordinator (UN)
RCA - Results and Competency Assessment
RRA - Rapid Rural Appraisal

S

SARUA - Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA)
SALW - Small Arms and Light Weapons
SEI - Stockholm Environment Institute
SURF - Sub-Regional Resource Facility (UNDP)

T

ToR - Terms of Reference
TRAC - Target for Resource Assignment from Core Funds (UNDP)
TTF - Thematic Trust Fund (UNDP)
TWAS - The Academy of Science for the Developing World

U

UCLG - United Cities and Local Governments
UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UGI - Urban Governance Index
UN - United Nations
UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
UNCDF - United Nations Capital Development Fund
UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UN-HABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
UNDPKO - United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
UNISDR - United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
USAID United States Agency for International Development

V

VCA - Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment

W

WHO - World Health Organization
WRI - World Resources Institute

Travel to Dakar

Dakar is well connected to other African capitals. Air Sénégal International has good, regular connections to Praia in Cape Verde (US$300), Banjul (US$300), Bissau (US$200), Abidjan, (US$350), Accra (US$380) and Bamako (US$290). Lagos is best reached by Virgin Nigeria (around US$380). There are also good connections to Morocco (Royal Air Maroc), Algeria (Air Algérie) and Tunisia (Air Tunisia). For trips to East Africa, Kenya Airways is your best option. Trips to Nairobi cost around US$1600, and there are good connections to Uganda and Tanzania. Ethiopian Airways has an excellent link to Addis Ababa (US$800), and South African Airways flies to Johannesburg (US$1300).