KM & Governance

THE FUTURE OF HUMAN, NATURE and KNOWLEDGE

Md Santo — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:57:46 -0600

THE FUTURE OF HUMAN, NATURE and KNOWLEDGE
by : Md Santo – MobeeKnowledge Services - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.” - Stephen Covey
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein
....“I think the next century will be the century of Complexity.” - Stephen Hawking
..... Dear Hawking, it seems the next century will be the century of Knowledge.” - Md Santo

PROLOG
Considering, Human Knowledge evolved and generated from Human Knowing Tools (HKT) and most likely that “WE ARE KM-REGULATED BY NATURE vice-versa BY NATURE WE ARE KM MODEL” ( KM = Knowledge Management ) - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/we-are-kmregulated-by-nature

? Therefore, on redefining Knowledge :
Knowledge evolved as emergent property inside human being as Complex System having consciousness, alive and behaving as subject with freewill. Contrary with Data and Information exist outside human being, non-alive and behaving as object only ( MobeeKnowledge K-base http://www.delicious.com/mobeeknowledge/kmdefinition )

? Therefore, on discussing DIKW model :
If we treat Data (D), Information (I), Knowledge (K) and Wisdom (W) as “human enlightenment agents”, most likely that DIKW continuum should be separated into separated DI – KW continuum model, considering of the Knowledge behavior above mentioned ( THE ORIGIN OF KNOWLEDGE AND KM : DI-KW SEPARATED ENTITIES MODEL” - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/the-origin-of-knowledge-and-... )

? Therefore, it is our obligatory to develop Human System Biology-based Knowledge Management (HSBKM) model framework as follow :

• Human Senses (Peripheral Nerves System incl. Autonomic Nerve System) as Primary HKT – Primary HKT producing “Knowledge with Lower Consciousness” (KLC) – KLC representing human sense-taste-feeling-feel-flavor-sensation – Within Human System Biology-based KM (HSBKM) model framework, KLC represented by KM Tools as Techno-based boundary – Weighted Score (WS) = 1.0 as value of KM Tools representing the value of KLC - KM TOOLS component covering IT/ICT, Web 1.0 and 2.0 incl. Social Media platforms. (Referred to “Machine or Techno Learning” or to Category 7.0 (PCF – APQC**) as corporate orientation) – Be like to human organ system as somato (physical body structure) aspect : Documents of management (tools) type exist as Explicit Codified Knowledge, Taxonomy Metadata Management + CMS = Data/Information Management (Knowledge-base)

• Human Brain (Central Nerves System) as Secondary HKT – Secondary HKT producing “Knowledge with Medium Consciousness” (KMC) – KMC representing human reason-mind-intellect-intelligence-way-idea – Within HSBKM model framework KMC represented by KM Process Framework as Human Mind-based boundary – WS = 3.0 as value of KM Process Frameworks representing the value of KMC - KM PROCESS FRAMEWORK component covering Human (Tacit) Mind incl. Web 3.0 and/or Semantic Web including Artificial Intelligence (AI) (Referred to “Individual Learning” or to Category 12.0 (PCF – APQC**) as corporate orientation) – Be like to human brain as somato (physical body structure) aspect : Documents of Process Classification Framework (sources of Human Learning Competencies) exist as Explicit Codified Knowledge

• Human Genomic DNA as “Tertiary HKT” producing “Knowledge with Higher Consciousness” (KHC) – KHC representing human will-desire-wish – Within HSBKM model framework KHC represented by KM Standards Culture and Value as Human Organizational (Collective / Social) Learning-based boundary in KM – WS = 5.0 as value of KM Standards Culture and Value representing the value of KHC - KM STANDARDS Culture and Value component covering Codified / Explicit Knowledge, Human Social Behavior, Organizational Culture (Learning Organization. (Referred to “Organizational Learning” or to Category 1.0 – 2.0 – 3.0 – 4.0 – 5.0 – 6.0 – 8.0 – 9.0 – 10.0 – 11.0 (PCF-APQC**) as corporate orientation) – Be like to human genomic DNA as somato (physical body structure) aspect : Documents of Enterprise DNA = Knowledge Architecture (as Content Management System / CMS & Learning Management Syste / LMS) + Taxonomy Metadata Management exist as Explicit Codified Knowledge

** Referring to PCF – APQC = Process Classification Framework – American Productivity and Quality Center as taxonomy of cross functional business process comprising 12 Categories :
1. Develop Vision and Strategy
2. Develop and Manage Products and Services
3. Market and Sell Products and Services
4. Deliver Products and Services
5. Manage Customer Service
6. Develop and Manage Human Capital
7. Manage Information Technology
8. Manage Financial Resources
9. Acquire, Construct, and Manage Property
10. Manage Environmental Health and Safety (EHS)
11. Manage External Relationships
12. Manage Knowledge, Improvement, and Change

EPILOG
• We did not mention Knowledge with Ultimate Consciousness (KUC) as some people called “the Unknown” as the ultimate HKT whatsoever, considering that KUC is beyond human being although the interaction (knowledge sharing) among KLC – KMC – KHC – KUC believed to be in perpetual state. Considering also that KHC to KUC is a “spiritual journey”, but essentially I myself tend to agree that …….we are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey..... as Stephen Covey said as well as Albert Einstein mentioning .... "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one"....... That’s because “...... space-time is the notion of human being in the universe to accommodate the existence of Matter and Energy . Some people say, space-time is human illusion regarding Knowledge behaving as subject with consciousness acting as “causa prima” of human selves feeling toward Matter and Energy....” (Md Santo : “SPACE-TIME AND KNOWLEDGE : A HUMAN SYSTEM BIOLOGY-BASED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT VIEW” - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/spacetime-and-knowledge-a )

• We’re convinced that behavior of Knowledge as living thing having consciousness could linking up Human Knowledge with Nature Knowledge among others through comprehending “DESCRIBING COMPLEX SYSTEM AS KM ATTRIBUTE” - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/describing-complex-system-as... and from our K-base on Complex System / Complexity http://www.delicious.com/mobeeknowledge/complexsystem as well as through “IS KNOWLEDGE THE 3rd BASIC INGREDIENT OF THE UNIVERSE BESIDE MATTER AND ENERGY ? : KNOWLEDGE REPOSTULATED” - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/is-knowledge-the-3rd-basic?x...

• Knowledge is an important valuable aspect and must be well managed and measured. So far, it seems no universal accepted method for assessing the Competency as well as the Capability Maturity in field of practicing Knowledge-based or Knowledge Management within corporate. Amid such condition, we have developed our Human System Biology-based-KM (HSBKM)-driven KM Metric version called “Mobee Knowledge Competency and Capability Maturity” (MKCCM™) model to complement the operational concept of HSBKM ( “INTRODUCING MOBEE KNOWLEDGE COMPETENCY AND CAPABILITY MATURITY (MKCCM™) MODEL” - http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=2090583:Topic:11355 and MobeeKnowledge K-base http://www.delicious.com/mobeeknowledge/kmmetrics+mkccm )

LIST OF SELECTED FORUM ARTICLES AS BACKGROUND READING STRONGLY RELATED WITH HUMAN, NATURE AND KNOWLEDGE ISSUES

1. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/we-are-the-knowledge-hybrid - WE ARE THE KNOWLEDGE : HYBRID DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE” (October 25, 2009)

2. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/five-basic-implications-of-n... - “FIVE BASIC IMPLICATIONS OF NEW PARADIGM OF KNOWLEDGE” ( November 19, 2009)

3. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/the-origin-of-knowledge-and-... - “THE ORIGIN OF KNOWLEDGE AND KM : DI-KW SEPARATED ENTITIES MODEL” (February 15, 2010)

4. http://bit.ly/eRWQD7 - “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ US” (April 1, 2010)

5. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/the-edge-of-scientific - “THE EDGE OF SCIENTIFIC BOUNDARY : KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT DOMAIN” (July 9, 2010) ( http://bit.ly/aoFQp0 - “KNOWLEDGE IS THE EDGE OF SCIENCE” )

6. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/knowledge-is-neither-flow-no... - “KNOWLEDGE IS NEITHER “FLOW” NOR “THING” BUT “CONSCIOUSNESS” : KNOWLEDGE IS EMERGENT PROPERTY OF HUMAN BEING AS COMPLEX SYSTEM” (August 1, 2010)

7. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/we-are-kmregulated-by-nature - “WE ARE KM-REGULATED BY NATURE vice-versa BY NATURE WE ARE KM MODEL” (October 27, 2010)

8. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/is-knowledge-the-3rd-basic?x... - “IS KNOWLEDGE THE 3rd BASIC INGREDIENT OF THE UNIVERSE BESIDE MATTER AND ENERGY ? : KNOWLEDGE REPOSTULATED *” (January 5, 2011)

9. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/repostulating-knowledge-to - “REPOSTULATING* KNOWLEDGE TO ADDRESS EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY” (January 29, 2011)

10. http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/spacetime-and-knowledge-a - “SPACE-TIME AND KNOWLEDGE : A HUMAN SYSTEM BIOLOGY-BASED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT VIEW “ (February 22, 2011)

11. http://bit.ly/hJCYtI - “...DEAR HAWKING, IT SEEMS THE NEXT CENTURY WILL BE THE CENTURY OF KNOWLEDGE...” (April 18, 2011)

12. http://bit.ly/ipH4kd - “MOBEEKNOWLEDGE CHRONOLOGICAL ATTEMPT TO REVISITING KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY “ (April 23, 2011)

TO GET COMPREHENDED VISUALLY ON HUMAN SYSTEM BIO-BASED KM (HSBKM) MODEL FRAMEWORK FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING LINKS :

“KM 2.0 Basic Visual Map” http://bit.ly/bTzgUz - “Our KM Model Framework” http://bit.ly/cSwUlx - “Our 6 Dimensions of KM” http://bit.ly/cPadwJ - “HSBKM-based CoP model” - http://bit.ly/g3B4jo and our K-base http://bit.ly/cIh75U

Tags : human, nature, knowledge, knowledgemanagement, mobeeknowledge, hsbkm, humansystembiology, complexsystem, consciousness, stephencovey, stephenhawking, alberteinstein, di-kwmodel, science, mkccm, kmmetrics, complexity, philosophy, physics, learning

Dr Md Santo
• Founder social networking site http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com
• http://bit.ly/i0ekT7 - “Introduction to MobeeKnowledge services”
• http://bit.ly/hU7fjM - “MobeeKnowledge Site Map – Taxonomy Metadata Management – Human System Biology-based KM model framework – KM Components”
@2011 - MobeeKnowledge

KM & Communications

Chronological attempt to Revisiting Knowledge and Knowledge Management Philosophy

Md Santo — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 01:29:46 -0600

Ten Landmarks Toward Next Generation Knowledge Management
Published: Feb 26, 2010 by Md Santo - http://bit.ly/fNCO9e
Category: How-To Guides/Manuals
Description : Discover the signs towards next generation Knowledge Management

KNOWLEDGE 'R' US (not KNOWLEDGE 'R' OURS)
Published: April 1, 2010 by Md Santo - http://bit.ly/eRWQD7
Category: Research > Science
Description : We are as Human Being in fact is the Knowledge itself because the Knowledge essentially behaving as Human Consciousness since beginning of our life functioning to lead us in our journey through the path of Physical Realities – Data – Information – Knowledge (narrow meaning) – Wisdom and above. So Knowledge should be treated as something which has broad meaning to our understanding. This paradigm surely will give significant impact on how we look at next gen KM as well as to the influence of how Science and Technology should developed

REPOSTULATING* KNOWLEDGE TO ADDRESS EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Posted by Md Santo on January 29, 2011 - http://bit.ly/hmmHHI
.....* Postulate = Basic Assumption
List of selected topics derived from Social Networking Site “MOBEE KNOWLEDGE CoP” K-base http://www.delicious.com/mobeeknowledge/knowledge to consider the needs to repostulate Knowledge toward next gen KM and next evolution of Science - Technology : .....

.....DEAR HAWKING, IT SEEMS THE NEXT CENTURY WILL BE THE CENTURY OF KNOWLEDGE....
Posted by Md Santo on April 18, 2011 - http://bit.ly/hJCYtI
....“I think the next century will be the century of complexity”
S. Hawking “
....My apologize to the people who wrote the QUOTES about complexity and simplicity below are modified each with my Knowledge-driven set of ideas.
The QUOTES cited from http://aidontheedge.info/quotes/ by Ben Ramalingam, lead author of a 2008 Overseas Development Institute working paper ‘Exploring the Science of Complexity: Ideas and Implications for In.... The title : Aid on the Edge of Chaos - Exploring complexity & evolutionary sciences in foreign aid....

Tourism Knowledge SIG

Two Killer KM questions: How would you answer them?

David K-Cubed — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:27:31 -0600

Please visit our blog and let us know what you think of this contribution - hoping we can help stimulate conversation on KM practice in Africa.

http://theknowledgecore.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/dont-start-a-km-project...

Hope to connect with people in this forum, please feel free to get in touch: David@theknowledgecore.com

KM, Emerging Technologies and Innovative Schemes

Scientific Knowledge and Worldviews as Mental Costumes for Revealing a Distinctive Style of Modernity in Africa

Jacques Hamel — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:18:52 -0700

Africa is perhaps the most culturally imaginative and creative region in the world. It is extremely diversified, rich in talents and ingenuity with unlimited resources and potential. It has colonized the planet and it enriches humanity through inimitable arts. Yet, one African out of two lives in dismal human conditions. And despite spectacular progress here and there, it also remains profoundly socially and culturally conditioned, corrupted, domesticated and debased by two self-inflicted intellectual and ritual servitudes – koranic and evangelical - and overwhelmingly regimented, disciplined and deceived by a host of indigenous erroneous beliefs, faulty dogmas, half-truths, intoxicating mythologies, life-denying superstitions, theological entrappings, mystifying fictions, unknown foundational assumptions, pipe-dreams, fantasies, charlatanisms, junk science and a flood of nonsense. It is a region, in comparison with other regions, that is excessively possessed, framed and misled by unsustainable fallacies, which keep part of it firmly into the darkness of ancient times. So what is needed is to make room for some sustainable, subversive and seditious ideas for the way forward, building on the authority of self-imposed scientific and technical rationality, keeping in mind that reason is before all an instrument of manipulation, self-deception and cunning, and on the blurred ruins of western modernities, born out of revolts against outdated and illegitimate wicked religious and political powers.

The immense power of science should be directed at the ‘re-Africanization’ of Africa – a region which should be purged from the worthless rubbles of history - by submitting blind religious faith and traditional folkloric loyalty to the criticism of reason and move Africa from the oppression of ancient prejudices to the tyranny of modern ‘neo-Socratic’ rationality.

In this regard African policy-makers should recall the ideals of the French Revolution: down with paternalistic, autocratic and despotic kings and fear-mongering, deceitful and fraudulent merchant-priests. Translated into this region at the present time - obscured and disfigured by foreign metaphysical symbols - on top of the African agenda freedom thinkers, lovers and fighters should put (1) ‘deprivatizing, defragmenting and civilizing African states’ and (2) ‘desacralizing, secularizing and decolonizing African cultures’, for a less totemic, more cosmopolitan, non-Abrahamic, truly enlightened, scientifically-informed and much less patriarchal, self-determined and self-empowered post-colony, in search of the superior genuine and purified meta-African, achieving the highest human possibilities.

Science, which should neither be demonized, idolized or worshiped, has never been the forte of the spiritually contaminated African human animal and can never be under current pre-modern overreligious knowledge systems, particularly science as a way of thinking and as a method of evidence and reasoning, that, if allowed to run free, would certainly transform the very cultural underpinning and identity of the continent. The modernization of these old-fashioned systems, as the backbones of any mode of modernity, requires in priority the modernization of our mental and intellectual costumes. This process is essentially the passage from closed, self-confirming, faith-based, customary, totalizing or terrorizing knowledge systems – propagated by bigoted and barbarous ecclesiasts and mysterious ‘witch-doctors’ - to essentially liberal, falsifiable, facts-based, scientifically-established, technically-proven and innovative knowledge systems (not a single new god in the last 1000 years!!). In these uninhibited systems scientific knowledge can be construed as a theory of the real and as a technology of truth and understood as the epistemological foundation of any form of Afro-modernity. It is also the passage from the ‘Book of Scripture’ to the ‘Book of Nature’ and from the submission to the white man’s colonizing gods to the more authentic African stuffs.

The key to an African revival or Renaissance is the breaking of the reigning hegemonic order, basically regulated and sustained by Islam and Christianity – two medieval phallocratic backward solitudes and perverted obscurantist establishments – living in the secluded past, thriving on holy lies, absurd fabrications, fears, mirages, delusions, false hopes and subservient obedience and, genealogically, on the non-African narcotics, values and moralities of ancient middle Eastern ‘slave’ mindsets and worldviews.

Historically, science has proven to be too toxic, troubling, unsettling or destructive for a region whose knowledge systems are plagued with spirituo-, mystico-, magico-, abrahamo-, euro- and phallo-centricity, that excessively seeks comfort in historical debris, bogus revelations, pseudo prophecies, imaginary deities, ancestors’ spirits, phony limbos, made-up angels, mind-boggling miracles, wonderful heavens, amazing demons, implausible resurrections…and other strange and unconscious chimeras, taboos and biases, providing ample material for Freudian theses. It is a region that fell prey to a gigantic fraud and misfortune and that babbles abusively in the invention of hypothetic other-worlds and after-lives, which confines the minds, poisons or vampirizes life, drags Africans outside nature and denies or weakens this worldly existence. It also wears down the natural self, consumes time and precious resources, drains valuable energies, devalues the body, camouflages the discovery of the earth, lessens control over natural environments and erects interreligious barriers, which split communities and undermines Pan-African solidarity. Uncovering an original Afro-modernity, distinct from the North-Atlantic style, requires liberating and supporting the few progressive, autonomous, scientific, secular and free thinkers on the continent, which entails unashamedly blaspheming in every meeting, on every wall, on every CoP, network and blogging site, with an unorthodox radical neo-narrative.

Science in Africa has to become defiantly offensive and utterly heretical and sacrilegious to be effective and win over the two great non-African pathetic phallocracies that deplete the African spirit and vitality and dampen African innovation, as the current state of a self-alienated region amply demonstrates. Muslim and Christian cosmic visions and phantasms, masquerading as divine revelations, are not helpful and absolutely not needed in Africa, as the degree of human development of Finland, Japan and Singapore, for example, abundantly demonstrates, for they constitute insidious obstacles to cognitive development and to the emergence of scientific ways of constructing and ordering realities. These anachronistic vestigial phallocracies, oppressive machineries of churches and mosques and institutionalized captive systems of mental cruelty, where escape is nearly impossible or statistically insignificant, flourishing on selling the shameless notion of personal immortality, impact sublimely and negatively on all aspects of African life, including in unsuspected places, such as in agriculture where repeated long periods of fasting, numerous religious holidays, prayers for rain, faith in providence, belief in humans as supernatural beings, women’s banned inheritance and ownership of land, fear of ungodly bio-engineering, dismissal of scientific facts and rejection of common-sense truths, etc. are contributing to hunger, poverty and underdevelopment.

Part of the solution, in addition to economics and politics, for going beyond the trivial, superficial realities, entrenched mental habits, close-mindedness, demagogueries, populist pomposity, stubborn views, narrow provincialism, conventional system of thought, confounding appearances, mythical taming canons, self-deceptions, self-flagellation, wishful thinking, intellectual torpor, inflationary rhetoric, circular or tautological arguments, feel-good meetings and ceremonial entertainment, is to become compassionately disrespectful of long-established authorities, roll Imperial-Doctrinaire-Contemptuous Islam and Hebraic-Pauline-Constantinian-Roman Christianity out of Africa – two proselytizing religions of decadence - and battle magical witchcraft and mystical shamanism, which would open the way to superior insight, understanding and awareness and to a distinctive version of Afro-modernity, honoring unbelievers and infidels. This paradigmatic shift toward modern ways of knowing and acting requires championing the scientific method, the rule of technique and innovation as well as promoting decisive scientific arbitrations, increased technical mediations and a redefinition of STI’s relationships with religious, cultural, social and economic life. For this shift to occur there is a need to better appreciate modern science, not as a Christian crime, but as a method of both calculative and subversive thinking and as a means of achieving the systematic unmasking and renovation of conventional / medieval / pre-modern realities. This call for re-cosmologizing, re-mythologizing, ‘re-prophetizing’, re-charlatanizing and re-directing the evolution of a mutilated empirical reality toward a truly ‘African’ future, emancipated from the sacred relics of a convoluted history.
African science policy makers have to design sustainable visions, strategies and policies to let the scientific spirit out of the bottle, fight medievalism, drive a new relationship between Africa and the emerging modern cosmos, forge a new engagement with the naked world, de-technocratize the mostly empty development discourse in science and practice the science of the ‘hammer’.

Jacques L Hamel Scientific Affairs Officer
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueshamel
jachamel@gmail.com

KM & Economic Challenges

About transparency and corruption

KMAadmin — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:09:15 -0700

Transparency International, self-described as “the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption,” has released its 2010 league table of corrupt countries. Guess what: about 3/4 of the world’s nations are corrupt!

With governments committing huge sums to tackle the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and poverty, corruption remains an obstacle to achieving much needed progress. The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt).

These results indicate a serious corruption problem. To address these challenges, governments need to integrate anti-corruption measures in all spheres, from their responses to the financial crisis and climate change to commitments by the international community to eradicate poverty. Transparency International advocates stricter implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, the only global initiative that provides a framework for putting an end to corruption.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are tied at the top of the list with a score of 9.3, followed closely by Finland and Sweden at 9.2. Bringing up the rear is Somalia with a score of 1.1, slightly trailing Myanmar and Afghanistan at 1.4 and Iraq at 1.5. Notable among decliners over the past year are some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis precipitated by transparency and integrity deficits.

Among those improving in the past year, the general absence of OECD states underlines the fact that all nations need to bolster their good governance mechanisms. The message is clear: across the globe, transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Without them, global policy solutions to many global crises are at risk. Transparency International is available on www.transparency.org

AICCIFL - African ICT Criminal Intelligence, Forensics and Litigation SIG

United in Love for the profession.Bringing the world together

libman — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 08:55:29 -0600

This is it , Collence Takaingenhamo Chisita with Dr.Chifeng from Taiwan and another Professor from India at a conference on LIS pedagogy.This was one of the greatest meeting which brought together LIS professionals and Knowledge management experts from different parts of the world.The seminar discussed current trends in LIS , for example, Web.2.0, Library 2.0, Knowledge Management, Multimodal literacies among other issues.The trio represents a new crop of Information professionals who are shaping the direction of the Information profession in the developing world.It was a blessing that the trio was able to meet and share ideas and experiences on how best to improve the profession.

KM & Governance

Pakistan Relief Toolkit: Providing Essential Knowledge and Resources for Relief Efforts

K4Health — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:00:42 -0600

As the flood waters begin to recede across Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says the government is now “seriously concerned” about the potential spread of epidemic diseases.

The flooding has left more than 1,600 people dead and approximately six million homeless. According to the BBC, about 17 million of Pakistan’s 166 million people have been affected by the disaster. In addition, the United Nations warns that without enough doctors or proper facilities, over 100,000 pregnant women are now at risk of infection and disease.

“As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with the spread of epidemic diseases,” Yousuf Raza Gilani said, adding, “There is a likelihood of water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and dysentery, especially in children who are already weak and vulnerable.”

In an effort to assist the relief efforts in Pakistan, K4Health has published the Pakistan Relief Toolkit (www.k4health.org/toolkits/pakistan-relief) which provides practical and technical health-related information to those on the ground.

The toolkit is a one-stop source for information that will help health workers respond to the flood relief efforts underway in the country. The toolkit covers the vital sectors in emergencies, including health, water and sanitation, food security, and shelter. It also covers key field activities supporting the operations, such as logistics.

The toolkit is accessible online, but K4Health will also be uploading it to flash drives so that those on the front line can access the information where Internet connectivity is lacking.

The devastation in Pakistan is severe and those providing relief need as much support as possible. Please join us to bring the essential knowledge and resources needed on the ground to alleviate some of the burden.

If you have any questions concerning the toolkit, please contact the team at toolkits@k4health.org or leave a comment on the discussion board.

Chris Rottler, Senior Communication Manager

KM & the Environment

ICT for Youth empowerment

Farai Mutindindi — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:08:33 -0600

The world today is faced with several challenges like the economic recession, climatic change, disease outbreaks, increased organized crime, information explosion, and uncontrolled migration. Like any other calamity, the harsh effects are mostly felt by the vulnerable third world states. Zimbabwe, coming out of an economic crisis characterized by record inflation, high unemployment, heavy brain drain and a large reduction in the Gross Domestic Product, has plenty to do with regards to enhancing the recovery path and rejuvenating the economy. With the Unity government having managed to tame the legendary inflation and the economy expected to grow, focus is now on which sectors of development should be prioritized over others given a background of an economy thriving on limited resources.

Most governments concur and recognize the fact that Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s) are central to social and economic development. On the other end of the continuum, the youth are perceived as the highest potential users of ICT. In addition, the UN population division has revealed the following statistics about youth:

The world population in the range of 12 – 24 years of age is 1.5 billion of which 1.3 billion are in developing countries.
The African median age is 19 years.
The African youth population has multiplied 4 times since 1950 and in projected to be 8 times more by 2050.

It, therefore, would not only be fair but wise to recommend that the bulk of resources and opportunities should be directed towards developing this sector.

The African Union acknowledges this thought and has established the African Regional Action Plan on a Knowledge Economy (ARPKE) as a promising pan-African initiative that will establish a platform for launching regional and sub-regional ICT projects for the benefit of the African youth. The Government of Zimbabwe, through the relevant ministries of ICT and Youth empowerment, should compliment this gesture and give preference to projects that give special attention to youth developing their ICT capabilities since the youth represent the most valuable asset and hope for the future.

While addressing Youth and ICT, emphasis on critical issues such as access, integration, empowerment, learning and employment is essential. The youth should be able to apply various ICT strategies to improve gathering, collation, evaluation and dissemination of information regardless of their areas of expertise. Below are some essential areas:

Education and Training

E-Learning is set to surpass traditional face to face education because it has proven to be a more effective method of instruction. The consensus of research shows that online instruction is better than traditional methods because of the numerous advantages attached to it. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education has adopted “Moodle” as the recommended Learning Management System or platform (LMS) for colleges and universities in Zimbabwe. This poses several questions regarding these institutions’ capacity to fully implement E-Learning, ability of lecturers to upload learning materials on the LMS and capability of students to navigate it. There is need for harmonized policy guidelines on mainstreaming ICT’s in the education system.

Commerce

There is a need to facilitate and grow E-Commerce locally. The Wikipedia defines E – Commerce as buying and selling products and services over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.

Agriculture

With agriculture being the mainstay of the economy, there is need for transformation to accommodate modernization in order to utelise ICT in land management, crop and animal production and output processing. ICT promotes information sharing for forecasting and sustainable agricultural development. It is imperative that agrometeorological services should harness ICT’S in order to ensure that the mass populace makes maximum use of online agricultural information services to improve productivity and promote sustainable development

Mining and Manufacturing

ICT use for both small and large scale mining industries can aid in prospecting and modeling deposits. It can also improve the quality of controls, marketing, production data and management in trade.

Health

Research, data gathering and processing information for dissemination within the health sector will be achieved by developing and promoting the use of ICT to efficiently deliver health services. This will result in integration of health services with an interactive national and international ICT information sharing system.ICT’S can also be used to improve health Information services and also to facilitate the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

Tourism

The tourism industry would benefit from electronic reservations, payment systems and travel technology. Countries like Malaysia have benefitted immensely from innovative E – Tourism projects.

Having highlighted some of the areas that would benefit from ICT’s, it is imperative to capacitate the youth in order to enable them to pioneer proceedings in these areas. ICT training for the youth should be extended to grassroots levels and remote areas. Opportunities for research should be availed and best practice projects on ICT that have been implemented in some areas should be replicated. Social networking sites available on the internet provide an opportunity for youth to showcase their capabilities, share accomplishments, and reveal challenges. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and hi5 are some of the modern platforms that the youth can use to create personal, project or event profiles in order to market themselves. These networking forum are becoming so influential that Personnel Recruitment companies have hinted that potential employers are consulting these during candidate selection.

Whilst the government should be commended for waiving customs duty on ICT products, more should be done to encourage the youth to venture into projects related to ICT. Incentives for those carrying out research and development in this sector, for instance, would go a long way in promoting creativity in the local industry. The youth, undoubtedly, has brilliant ideas and such incentives would encourage creation of small scale enterprises and establishment of public private partnerships. Such incentives may include tax exemption, tax reduction on equipment and software, special ICT investment funds, subsidies and micro-credit.

KM & Communications

International librarianship and International Cooperation: A reality or erroneous belief?

libman — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 02:55:18 -0600

Abstract

International librarianship and international cooperation in Library and information Science are critical concepts that have become topical in the current global world. Librarianship is a dynamic profession that is affected by the cultural, technological, economic, technological and political milieu. The paper will explore the extent to which international cooperation in Library and Information Science has contributed towards development. The treatise will also find out how ICT’s have helped to promote international cooperation. It also looks at the challenges that Affects international cooperation..The paper highlights significant developments that have taken place in international library cooperation since the beginning of the twentieth century .The new millenium is a bracve new year that requires focussed professionals who understand the value of cooperation or srategic partnerships at both regional and international levels.

Introduction

International librarianship should be interpreted in the context of those aspects of our work which are the same throughout the world as reflected by the philosophies, practices, standards, tasks, procedures, regulations and processes that are similar or relatively similar among other things. It can also be understood in the context of the international relationships between libraries at both regional and international level. It is tapestry Harvard and Williams (1972:170) defined International librarianship as a cooperative activity done for the benefit of the individual librarian inn the whole world.Stueart(2007:4) as the development of various kinds of relationships ranging from intellectual ,cultural and professional among individuals and groups from more than one country.On the other hand Lor (2008) views international librarianship as the international activities involving cultural, educational and professional interactions among nations. He further views International librarianship as an academic discipline that scientifically looks at the similarities and differences between countries as well as international cooperation and the role of international organisations in library development.

The ICT Revolution

Mueller (1998) notes that ICT’s have become an integral aspect in all aspects of life and libraries should exploit such an opportunity to promote international cooperation. The advent of new technologies calls for Libraries and related institutions to adopt to change with a high degree of confidence because if we are to escape the gravitational pull of the past, we must be in a state of preparedness to challenges our own orthodoxies according to Prahalad (1999).International cooperation is critical in order to close the information and digital divide that characterize the current global information order.ICT’s are helping in accelerating the rapid spread of globalisation as institutions exploit the infrastructures through which this phenomenon survives. On the one hand globalisation threatens to suffocate the weaker voices in developing countries but thanks to the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) which has been assisting African scholars to gain academic visibility through the African Journals Online (AJOL)

“….Information and communication technologies are developing at a breath-taking pace. They represent the foundation of the coming Information Society which will establish completely new structures in economy and society. This process is chiefly characterised by the globalisation of communication and of all activities linked to it. National frontiers are losing their significance. We are becoming global players ….At the same time there is no aspect of human life and no group in society which is not affected by the new information networks and their potential for growth, wealth-creation and prosperity. In order to exploit this potential we urgently need international cooperation at all levels and on all factors which impede the full development of the Information Society." Mueller (1998)

Kent(1996:2009) notes that the advent of ICT’s requires a fundamental rethink or reworking of the role of the library because technology creates possibilities and consequent options for libraries s, firstly as physical architectural places, secondly, the library as a terminus on the information superhighway, and thirdly the library as a catalyst for converting information into knowledge. Kumar (1999) on the other hand argues that the brave new world is not about computers or technology but rather it is about new concepts, new management and new goals.

Historical development of libraries

The history of libraries stretches to antiquity, for example , the ancient libraries in Ninevah, Syria, Egypt and other parts of West bear testimony to the great foundations of ancient civilization.The libraries of Ashurbanipal and Alexandria, University libraries of Egypt and Fez are classic examples of how libraries played a critical role in Africa prior to colonialism. The libraries of Ashurbanipal and Alexandria, University libraries of Egypt and Fez are classic examples of how libraries played a critical role in Africa prior to colonialism. The International dimension of the Library and Information profession has its roots in great libraries of Alexandria (3.B.C) and Ashurbanipal (668-630).The Mali Manuscripts which are being rehabilated through a partnership with South Africa are good examples of how cooperation is helping to shape information Science. Shoham (et.al) (1996) notes that librarianship as a science goes way back beyond the birth of Jesus Christ.Archaelogical and paleontological excavations carried out from at Kuyunjik the library of Ashurbanipal in the ancient city of Nineveh which is now modern day Iraqi date back as far as 600B.C.

Ancient civilisations in Egypt, Mesopotamia (present day Iraq), and Crete relied on libraries to sustain their knowledge and information industries as well as to sustain and preserve their societal memory. Records were preserved on a plethora of materials ranging from bone, clay, metal wax, wood, papyrus, silk, leather, parchment, vellum paper, film, plastic, and magnet tapes. However, it should be noted that these libraries were a preserve of a privileged few mainly the aristocrats and the clergy because the free flow of Information had not yet been democratized. Knowledge was monopolized by the talented tenth consisting of the privileged classes either the clergy or aristocracy. The ancient society was rigidly stratified on the basis of class and caste and this made it impossible for one to move up the ladder of social progress.

International Cooperation

The International dimension of the Library and Information profession has its roots in great libraries of Alexandria(3.B.C) and Ashurbanipal (668-630).Interest in International librarianship gathered momentum in the twentieth century when the American Library Association(1876) and the British Library Association(1877) Began to engage in international library activities. The early engagements in International Librarianship took the form of representation at each others conferences and those of other national associations. Munford notes that cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States of America was manifested concretely in the adoption of the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2). The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international association of library organisations. It is the global voice of the library and information profession, and its annual conference provides a venue for librarians to learn from one another. International Organisations involved in library and Information Science play a critical role in bringing together LIS professionals irrespective of race, sex, gender and class. Guido Biagi(1855-1925) was one of the founding fathers of International Librarianship. He put forward the idea at International Congress of Librarians in 1904.He predicted that international cooperative libraries would need in the future document supply services, bibliographic standards, preservation and other technical areas. Guido‘s efforts have also been complemented by people Henry La Fonteine who are the Pioneers of the Information Science revolution.

“One of the special characteristics of the library of the future will be cooperation and internationalism applied to the division of labour”

Roots of International Cooperation in LIS

The roots of international librarianship are also anchored on the establishment of the International Institute of Bibliography which later became International Federation for Information and Documentation(FID) founded in the late 1880’s.It is noted that the early leaders of the International Federation of Library Associations were inspired by ideals of world wide peace and cooperation that characterized the early years of the twentieth century, for example, the ideas of President Woodrow Wilson famous for the fourteen points. After the second world war , the United Nations which superseded the ineffective League of Nations Provided the much needed support for library development on an international scale. The decade of decolonization resulted in the emergence of new states in Asia and Africa and this stimulated internationally minded librarians to consider supporting libraries throughout the world.The rise of new nations states and the need to consolidate peace gave rise to the idealistic and ambitious plans for developing national library services in newly independent nations states Especially after the second world War(1939-1945).

Foreign and non- governmental organizations and international organizations also came in to support library development as a way of promoting culture and development, for example, in Anglo-Phone Africa the British Council was forthwith in providing support .On the other hand UNESCO as an inter-governmental organisation promoted the idea of building libraries to support education .it also assisted in the formulation and implantation and evaluation of National Information Policies, for example, World Science Information Systems and National Information Systems (NATIS) programmes for all member states.

Campbell(2001) notes that through-out the post second world war period, IFLA played a critical role in promoting international librarianship through its deliberate policy of reaching out to a potential membership outside Europe and North America..IFLA’s concept of Universal Bibliographic Control and Universal Availability of Publications was widely supported by the library fraternity according to Maurice B.Line.UNESCO managed to set up an Office for UAP in the British Library Lending Division to provide infrastructure for efficient international inter-library lending loan and document supply. National Library adopted an increasingly international outlook as they developed to serve as national centers for international lending and for universal bibliographic control There are various other international non –governmental organisations that have helped in supporting libraries , for example, International Association of Music Libraries(IAML) and International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY),Standing Conference of East, Central and Southern African Libraries (SCECSAL), International Association for the

Availability of Serial Publications(INASP)

International Philanthropic organisations

The growth of International Associations has been due to increased international awareness on the need to maintain cooperation at all levels following the Second World War (1939-1945) and also the advent of new technology with regards to communication and transportation. Philanthropic organisations were also inspired by the doctrine of social responsibility and this resulted in a number of projects aimed at supporting library development in Africa, for example, the Carnage Cooperation built a number of libraries in Mauritius and South Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is noted that Carnegie was imbued with a strong sense of philanthropy and believed in giving to the "industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others." His philanthropy was meant to help the disadvantaged black Africans access education and this example of how people can make a difference in the lives of other people.

Agada (1998) notes that philanthropic organisations like the Andrew Carnage Corporation of New York has had a profound influence on library education dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Its involvement in library development dates back to the colonial era and has continued in the post independent era through assisting library schools and professional associations. Towards the second half of the twentieth century western inspired library projects in African countries began to falter as African countries tried to rid themselves any traits of cultural imperialism as reflected by the works of Adolphe Amadi (1981), Kingo Mchombu (1982) and Sturges and Neil (1990).Mchombu argued that inoder to make library and information work relevant to Africa there was need to formulate terms of reference that are consistent with the needs of underdeveloped societies. Mchombu (1982) further noted that such terms of reference are largely nonexistent, and where they do exist they are vague and frequently irrelevant.

However despite all critical questions a number of governmental aid agencies especially those from USA, Britain, France and Nordic countries continue to play a crucial role in supporting library development in third world countries, for example, Bill and Gates Melinda Foundation, and Carnegie Cooperation. The continued support has helped to stimulate programmes aimed at capacity building through the provision of training opportunities for future leaders of the library profession inn developing countries, for example, Jay Jordan IFLA/OCLC Early Career Fellowship Programme. On the other hand the American Library Association (ALA) and International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) have joined hands to Campaign for World’s Libraries. The main aim is to showcase the unique vital roles played by libraries world –wide and to speak loudly and clearly about the value of libraries in the new millennium. This campaign will sensitise governments on the critical role libraries play and the need to increase funding for libraries.

Library development is critical for social and, economic transformation and this is why it is imperative to encourage international cooperation amongst libraries and related institutions and librarians or knowledge workers. International conferences provide platforms for sharing knowledge and creating synergies based on mutual reciprocity.IFLA Should be commended for doing a great job in creating a family of libraries and librarians who appreciate cultural diversity, democracy, unity and the need to create a just and equitable world whereby people are informed and educated through libraries. However the efforts to encourage and sustain this cooperation are sometimes hampered by travel restrictions in developed countries which make it very difficult for professional from poor countries to travel because of stringent visa requirements. This is something that should be looked at without really compromising international travel rules. Professionals from developing countries are subjected to excruciating scrutiny by consulate officials. Libraries and librarians are the true democrats who should be in the forefront in promoting understanding and cultural integration in a world threatened by snobbery and anachronism. Through Information we can break the barriers and rise above our cultural silos, racial stereotypes and prejudices so that we do not look a reality from misty foggy eyes or clouded spectacles.

The Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega (1935) was indeed right in defending the humanistic tradition of the library when he noted that the Guttenberg galaxy or Milky Way phase had provided the basis for democracy by making information accessible to many people just as how ICT’S are liberating people from the constraints of time and space. “…democratic society is a daughter of the books, the triumph of the book culture, and the triumph of the book written by man over the book revealed by God, over the book of laws dictated by the autocracy”

Conclusion

International cooperation in Library and Information Science is real a reality as reflected by the numerous examples of programmes and projects that are currently underway in both developed and developing countries. However there are challenges with regards to the digital and information divide but these are global challenges that require a concerted effort of all. The humanistic tradition should not lull us into slumber for librarians need to consider their abilities to change, to anticipate change and find ways through which we can make adjustments. Prahalad states that if one intends to escape the gravitational pull of the past he or she has to be willing to challenge established orthodoxies. International cooperation will help to strengthen the library profession and promote peace, development and cultural integration. The dream of creating a democratic society can only be realized through ensuring that there is equal and unfettered access to information to enable people to cope with the socio-economic challenges of the brave new world. The destiny of librarians and libraries lies in the hands of library and information professionals and through regional and international cooperation we will be able to shape it for the better. “The great excitement of the future is that we shape it ”

References

Agada, J.International cooperation in Library education: A Survey of programmes between North America and Anglophone Africa.IN: Journal of Education for Library and Information Science.Vol. 39, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 67-75
Anderson, Florence (1963). Carnegie Corporation Library Program, 1911–1961. New York: Carnegie Corporation.
Andrew Carnegie, "The Best Fields for Philanthropy", The North American Review, Volume 149, Issue 397, December, 1889 from the Cornell University Library website
Daugaard, V.The cooperation Across cultures in Public and Scientific libraries;The cooperation in net librarian/Bibliteks/Vagten:A Danish “Ask the librarian service”[Internet] Available from http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/106e-Daugaard.pdf.Accessed 14 July , 2010.
Harvard-Williams,P.(1972) International Librarianship:surveys of recent developments in developing countries and advanced librarianship submitted to the 1971 Pre –Session seminar for developing countries UNESCO,1971.
Kent, S.(1996:209) American Public Libraries:A long transformative moment.IN: Daedalus Fall.
Mchombu, Kingo.On the poverty of librarianship.[Internet]Available from http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8722e/r8722e04.htm.Accessed 21 March , 2010.
Miller, Durand R. (1943). Carnegie Grants for Library Buildings, 1890–1917. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Schwen, U.International Library Co-operation and Staff Development
Projects and Strategy of Die Deutsche .Available Bibliothek[Internet]http://www.nii.ac.jp/publications/kaken/HTML%93%FA%96%7B%8F%EE%95%F12000/2000Schwe02-E.html.Accessed

KM & Governance

Knowledge Management for Revealing Modernity in Africa: A New Strategy

Jacques Hamel — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:42:42 -0600

Africa is perhaps the most culturally imaginative and creative region in the world. It is extremely diversified, rich in talents and ingenuity with unlimited resources and potential. It has colonized the planet and it enriches humanity through inimitable arts. Yet, one African out of two lives in dismal human conditions. And despite spectacular progress here and there, it also remains profoundly socially and culturally conditioned, corrupted, domesticated and debased by two self-inflicted intellectual and ritual servitudes – koranic and evangelical - and overwhelmingly regimented, disciplined and deceived by a host of indigenous erroneous beliefs, faulty dogmas, half-truths, intoxicating mythologies, life-denying superstitions, theological entrappings, mystifying fictions, unknown foundational assumptions, pipe-dreams, fantasies, charlatanisms, junk science and a flood of nonsense. It is a region, in comparison with other regions, that is excessively possessed, framed and misled by the unsustainable dearest fallacies, which keep part of it firmly into the darkness of ancient times. So what is needed is to make room for some sustainable, subversive and seditious ideas for the way forward, building on the authority of self-imposed scientific and technical rationality, keeping in mind that reason is before all an instrument of manipulation, deception and cunning, and on the blurred ruins of western modernities, born out of revolts against outdated and illegitimate wicked religious and nasty political powers.

In this regard African policy-makers should recall the ideals of the French Revolution: down with paternalistic, autocratic and despotic kings and fear-mongering, deceitful and fraudulent merchant-priests. Translated into this region at the present time - obscured and disfigured by foreign metaphysical symbols - on top of the African agenda freedom thinkers, lovers and fighters should put (1) ‘deprivatizing, defragmenting and civilizing African states’ and (2) ‘desacralizing, secularizing and decolonizing African cultures’, for a less totemic, more cosmopolitan, non-Abrahamic, truly enlightened, scientifically-informed and much less patriarchal self-determined and self-empowered post-colony, in search of the superior genuine and purified meta-African, achieving the highest human possibilities.

African science policy makers have to design sustainable visions, strategies and policies to let the scientific spirit out of the bottle, fight medievalism, drive a new relationship between Africa and the emerging modern cosmos, forge a new engagement with the naked world, de-technocratize the mostly empty development discourse in science and practice the science of the ‘hammer’.

Jacques L Hamel
Scientific Affairs Officer
UNECA
Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueshamel
jachamel@gmail.com

KM & Economic Challenges

CapacityPlus.org -focused on the health workforce needed to achieve the MDGs

KMAadmin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:56:56 -0600

CapacityPlus is a USAID-funded global project focused on the health workforce needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. CapacityPlus offers state-of-the-art expertise, models, tools, training, and analyses adapted to each context. These services help countries move closer to having the right health worker in the right place with the right skills and support. We work with public, nonprofit, faith-based, and for-profit organizations contributing to better human resources for health. The site features:

News and stories from the project
Tools, resources, and publications in our Knowledge Library
A weekly summary on health workforce news from around the globe, with links
A listing of relevant conferences and meetings
A blog with perspectives on the global health workforce challenge—and solutions.

CapacityPlus helps partner countries achieve significant progress in addressing the health worker crisis building on the accomplishments of the Capacity Project, which worked in 47 countries. Capacity Partners Website www,capacityplus.org

KM & Governance

Introduction to Knowledge Management (KM) of Enterprises & TVET Institutions

Moustafa Wahba — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:02:42 -0600

By: Eng. Mousatafa Wahba, Competency Assurance & TVET Consultant

What is Knowledge Management KM within Enterprises & TVET Institutions?

In the present day, in a very simplified manner, Knowledge Management KM within an Enterprise or Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET Institution can be considered as an approach that enables each member of the Enterprise / Institution to individually know and apply what the Enterprise or TVET Institution knows as a whole, enables the Enterprise or TVET Institution to know what each member knows individually and reuse it at group level, and allows each member to recognize what he / she do not know and should learn.
Think of a coded welder as a simplified example of a knowledge worker. Coded welders do more high standard welding works than normal welders. When asked, a coded welder will give advice to other normal welders who can derive a benefit from the coded welder's advice such as a particular ‘TIG’ welding job. If a coded welder is willing to share what he knows with other normal welders, then they all may eventually earn more money.

What Constitutes intellectual or Knowledge-based Assets?

Not all information is valuable. Therefore, it's up to individual Enterprise or TVET Institution to determine what information qualifies as intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Intellectual and knowledge-based assets are either “Explicit Knowledge” consists of anything that is fully and clearly defined and can be documented, archived and codified, often with the help of IT or ‘Implicit Knowledge”, in which the knowledge that implied though is not directly expressed or the know-how contained in people's heads.
Shadowing and joint-problem solving are two best practices for transferring or recreating implicit knowledge inside an Enterprise or TVET Institution. In shadowing, less experienced staff observes more experienced staff in their activities to learn how their more experienced counterparts approach their work dialog and crystallize the knowledge transfer. As the trainees / students are often unaware of how they approach problems or do their work and therefore can’t automatically generate step-by-step instructions for doing whatever they do, the joint problem-solving support the trainees / students to work together as beginners with expert on a task / project with a view to bring the expert’s approach in solving problems to light.

Why we need Knowledge Management KM within Enterprises & TVET Institutions?

We need Knowledge Management KM within TVET Enterprises & TVET Institutions due to the following specific business factors:

Achieving substantial savings, significant improvements in human performance, and competitive advantage.
Reductions in staffing create a need to replace informal knowledge with formal methods.
The amount of time available to experience and acquire knowledge has diminished.
Early retirements and increasing mobility of the work force lead to loss of knowledge.
There is a need to manage increasing complexity in knowledge.
Enterprises & TVET Institutions compete on the basis of knowledge.
Provision of competent workers and training services are increasingly complex, endowing them with a significant information component.
The need for life-long learning is an inescapable reality.

What are the benefits and motivations leading Enterprises & TVET Institutions to undertake a KM project?

An effective KM programme should help an Enterprise or TVET Institution to do one or more of the following:

Promote innovation by encouraging the free flow of ideas
Improve customer (enterprise as end user) service by streamlining response time
Boost revenues by getting products (competent workers) and training services to market faster
Enhance Enterprise or TVET Institution’s retention rates by recognizing the value of employees' knowledge and rewarding them for it
Streamline operations and reduce costs by eliminating redundant or unnecessary processes
A creative approach to KM can result in improved efficiency, higher productivity and increased revenues in practically any business function
Making available increased knowledge content in the development and provision of competent workers and training services
Facilitating and managing innovation and Enterprise or TVET Institution’s learning
Leveraging the expertise of staff across the Enterprise or the TVET Institution
Solving intractable or wicked problems
The concept of KM embodies a transition from the recently popular concept of 'information value chain' to a 'knowledge value chain.' What is the difference? The information value chain considers technological systems as key components guiding the organization's business processes, while treating humans as relatively passive processors that implement 'best practices' archived in information databases. In contrast, the knowledge value chain treats human systems as key components that engage in continuous assessment of information archived in the technological systems. In this view, 'best practices' are not implemented without active inquiry by the human actors. Human actors engage in an active process of sense making to continuously assess the effectiveness of 'best practices.' The underlying premise is that 'best practices' of yesterday may not be taken for granted as 'best practices' of today or tomorrow. Hence, double loop learning, unlearning and relearning processes need to be designed into the Enterprise or TVET Institution business processes.
KM is necessary for Enterprise or TVET Institution because what worked yesterday may or may not work tomorrow. Enterprise or TVET Institution that were providing enterprises with competent workers became obsolete regardless of the efficiency of their learning, education and training processes since their graduated workers didn't keep up with the changing needs of the market. The same holds for assumptions about the optimal Enterprise or TVET Institution structure, the control and coordination systems, the motivation and incentive schemes, and so forth. To remain aligned with the dynamically changing needs of the business environment, Enterprise or TVET Institution need to continuously assess their internal theories of business for ongoing effectiveness. That is the only viable means for ensuring that today's 'core competencies' do not become 'core rigidities' of tomorrow.

What are the KM Strategies?

Knowledge is accessed through three stages: before, during, or after KM-related activities.
The traditional Performance Measurement System in the industrial era is losing its relevance in today’s fast changing environment where Enterprises & TVET Institutions are re-shaped into flat multi-functional hierarchies and their business models, teams’ roles and responsibilities are becoming more complex. It is therefore becoming more essential to move towards Performance Driven Enterprises & TVET Institutions and include KM in the performance appraisals with a view replace the traditional Performance Measurement System and improve the Performance Measurement Plans
One strategy to KM involves actively managing knowledge (push strategy). In such an instance, individuals strive to explicitly encode their knowledge into a shared knowledge repository, such as a database, as well as retrieving knowledge they need that other individuals have provided to the repository.
Another strategy to KM involves individuals making knowledge requests of Subject Matter Experts SMEs associated with a particular subject on an ad hoc basis (pull strategy). In such an instance, SMEs can provide their insights to the particular person or people needing this.
Other Knowledge Management Strategies for Enterprises & TVET Institutions include:
- Rewards (as a means of motivating for knowledge sharing)
- Storytelling (as a means of transferring implicit knowledge)
- Cross-project learning
- After action reviews
- Knowledge mapping (a map of knowledge repositories within an Enterprise or TVET Institution and accessible by all)
- Code of practice
- Best practice transfer
- Risk management
- Benchmarking
- Competence management (systematic evaluation and planning of competences of individual Enterprise or TVET Institution
- Proximity & architecture (the physical situation of employees can be either conducive or obstructive to knowledge sharing)
- Master-apprentice relationship
- Collaborative technologies (groupware, etc)
- Knowledge repositories (databases, etc)
- Measuring and reporting intellectual capital (a way of making explicit knowledge for companies)
- Knowledge brokers (some TVET Centre / CoC’s members take on responsibility for a specific "field" and act as first reference on whom to talk about a specific subject)
- Social software (wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, etc)

Categorization of Knowledge Management Approaches

1. Mechanistic approaches to Knowledge Management
Mechanistic approaches to KM are characterized by the application of technology and resources to do more of the same better.

2. Cultural / behaviorist approaches to Knowledge Management
Cultural / behaviorist approaches, with substantial roots in process re-engineering and change management, tend to view the "knowledge problem" as a management issue. Technology — though ultimately essential for managing explicit knowledge resources — is not the solution. These approaches tend to focus more on innovation and creativity (the learning Enterprise or TVET Institution) than on leveraging existing explicit resources or making working knowledge explicit.

3. Systematic approaches to Knowledge Management
Systematic approaches to KM retain the traditional faith in rational analysis of the knowledge problem: the problem can be solved, but new thinking of many kinds is required.

How to promote a KM project in an Enterprise or TVET Institution?

Don’t label the project as KM because the term causes so much confusion. Everyone has a different definition of KM (if they even know what it is) and those who have heard of it and have heard of all the failures associated with KM projects will be inherently biased against the KM project.
Instead of calling the project as KM, consider it as a project designed to solve a particular learning / education / training problem within the Enterprise or TVET Institution. The KM project is much more likely to succeed if it addresses an actual learning / education / training goal or specific pain point, like improving collaboration in order to bring a product to market faster than the competition.

How to Demonstrate the Value of a KM Project?

In order to highlight the pay back of a KM project it’s often wise just to promise that the project will pay for itself (if indeed it will) and therefore is worth trying out to see if incremental benefits can be gained. That approach works well if you’re trying to get funding from executives who habitually doubts generally accepted belief of KM.
Instead of attempting to demonstrate the Enterprise or TVET Institution wide value for a KM project, look for value at the individual level. For example, if the project will reduce the amount of time for the Enterprise or TVET Institution’s training life cycle, you might be able to sell the project on that basis.

What is the Best Way to Approach KM?

Start with smaller projects in order to have more control over the outcome, and less failure. Getting funding for a series of smaller projects is more feasible than getting funding for an Enterprise or TVET Institution wide initiative, especially if the benefits are hard to quantify.
Define the achievement value of the KM initiative and establish at the outset metrics that will prove the success of the KM initiative
Do not divorce the KM programme from a business goal. While sharing best practices is a commendable idea, there must be an underlying business reason to do so. Without a solid business case, KM will be an exercise having no useful result.

What Are the Challenges of KM?

Getting Enterprise or TVET Institution’s Staff on Board

The major problems that occur in KM usually result because the Enterprise or the TVET Institution ignore the people and cultural issues. In an environment where an individual’s knowledge is valued and rewarded, establishing a culture that recognizes implied knowledge which is not directly expressed and encourages employees to share it is critical. The need to sell the KM concept to employees shouldn't be underestimated. In many cases employees are being asked to deliver their knowledge and experience to prove that they are valuable as individuals.

KM Requires Ongoing Maintenance

As with many physical assets, the value of knowledge can erode over time. Since knowledge can get loosing freshness stale fast, the content in a KM program should be constantly validated, amended and updated. Relevance of knowledge at any given time changes as do the skills of employees and therefore, there is no endpoint to a KM programme.

Dealing with a Great Flood of Data

Enterprises & TVET Institutions deal with a great flood of data and KM programme has to identify and disseminate knowledge from a sea of information on the basis that quantity rarely equals quality.

How Can KM Project Be Supported?

In order to support a KM project and get the Enterprise or TVET Institution’s staff use the systems and processes designed to facilitate KM, we should:

Pilot the project among Enterprise or TVET Institution’s staff who have the most to gain and would be the most open to sharing their knowledge. This will vary depending on the TVET Centre / CoC.
Involve a selected group of influencers & employees in the pilot who are well-respected by their peers and whose opinions are highly regarded in the Enterprise or the TVET Institution with a view to convince others of the merits of KM.
Transform the knowledge collection and make easily accessible and suitable for dissemination into everyday jobs of the Enterprise or the TVET Institution.
Link KM directly to job performance, create a safe climate for the Enterprise or TVET Institution’s staff to share ideas and recognize people who contribute to the KM effort.
Many Enterprises & TVET Institutions create incentive programmes to motivate employees to share their knowledge. This can work, but the danger with incentive programs is that employees will participate solely to earn incentives, without regard to the quality or relevance of the information they contribute. Ideally, participation in KM should be its own reward. If KM doesn't make life easier for employees, it will fail.

What is the Most Important for Enterprises & TVET Institutions to Do in Knowledge Management?

The most important KM issues for Enterprises & TVET Institutions are:

Focus on the cooperative interaction of data and processing capacity of information technologies IT and the creative and innovative capacity of the human members. Advanced information technologies can increasingly accomplish 'programmable' tasks traditionally done by humans.

If a procedure can be programmed, it can be delegated to Information Technology in one form or another. The information and control systems in an Enterprise or TVET Institution are intended to achieve the 'programming' for optimization and efficiency. However, checks and balances need to be built into the Enterprise or the TVET Institution’s learning, education and training processes to ensure that such 'programmes' are continuously updated in alignment with the dynamically changing external environment.

The Enterprise or TVET Institution’s learning, education and training processes need to implement what is called 'loose tight' Knowledge Management Systems. The tightening is in the reinforcing linkage between the archived Enterprise or TVET Institution’s 'best practices' and the actions taken by Enterprise or the TVET Institution’s members based on that information. The loosening is in the reverse separating linkage between actions taken by Enterprise or TVET Institution’s members that serve as a continuous check for renewing the archived 'best practices.' This is where human creativity and innovation comes into the picture.

Eng. Moustafa Mohamed Moustafa Wahba
Competency Assurance & TVET Consultant
Contact:
Egypt
Mobile: 0020101469376
Res. 002/03/5831540, 5854769 (Alexandria) - 002/046/4063005 (Marina)
E-mail address: mmm_wahba@hotmail.com

KM & Governance

The role of translation in Knowledge Management

charlesd — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:22:32 -0600

"Indigenous African knowledge has much to offer science — but only if science can be translated into local languages" Charles Dhewa.

Africans have a rich cultural heritage and a wealth of traditional knowledge on topics ranging from agricultureand forestry to medicines and medical practices — all of which could make valuable contributions to modern science. For example, traditional knowledge of drought-resistant crop varieties could prove crucial in helping small farmers across the continent adapt to climate change. Much of this type of knowledge is embedded in the diverse local languages and cultures found in Africa.

Yet despite centuries of scientific undertakings on the continent, there is still no vernacular word for 'science'. In Southern Africa, science remains a minority, English-language based, pursuit that reinforces the domination of English at the expense of local languages such as Ndebele, Swahili and many others.

This marginalisation of African languages and practices means much local knowledge is lost. Many innovations by farmers and rural communities are excluded from modern science and technology (S&T) because there are no local terms or expressions to capture them.

It is vital for ordinary people to be able to participate in science innovation. Moving the large body of indigenous knowledge into mainstream S&T systems will help address pressing development issues on the continent.

Engaging ordinary people with S&T could also help prevent unfair exploitation of natural resources and make citizens more aware of laws protecting these resources at national and regional levels.

Domesticating science

African policymakers must make an effort to 'domesticate' science by usingvernacular languages to talk about it. This means investing in translation activities.

Literal translation is, of course, an important aspect. Initiatives to compile science dictionaries are a welcome step forward. Zimbabwean scientist Christopher Chetsanga is, for example, compiling a dictionary in the Shona language — spoken by nine million people in Zimbabwe — that should do much to improve local understanding of scientific terms and issues.

Certainly, big institutions such as the UN Economic Commission for Africa and huge initiatives such as the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development should use translation to add value to the mountains of documents they publish in English.

But it's not just individual words that need translating, it's also the expression of ideas and meanings, formed in one context and received and interpreted in very different ones.

Integrating ideas

To achieve this we must strengthen the role of intermediaries with specialist communication skills — people who can translate and summarise complex S&T ideas in local languages and explain both the concepts and implications with simplicity. Such people are sometimes called 'integrators', 'filters' and 'synthesisers'.

Integrators combine separate ideas into one body of knowledge. An integrator can adequately combine indigenous and scientific knowledge on climate change in ways that are meaningful to ordinary people. Filtering includes editing and clarifying ideas so that people can understand the benefits of, for example, biotechnology, without bias or misunderstanding. Synthesisers effectively summarise key issues.

Translating the issues around topics such as climate change and biotechnology, where debate is often highly polarised, requires all three skills.

Intermediaries can sometimes do more than simply explain the science. They might, for example, be able to draw attention to opportunities around intellectual property.

And intermediaries can draw marginal communities into modern scientific discourses, enhancing collaboration with researchers and formal S&T organisations.

Translation activities should also promote cross-disciplinary sharing and collaboration. Many S&T disciplines still operate as self-contained silos. In Africa, for example, civil engineers rarely communicate with agricultural researchers, with potentially serious consequences for rural farmers.

Boosting farmers' yields through agricultural research is of little value if the transport infrastructure, including roads and bridges, cannot get their crop to market.

Paying for progress

Of course, domesticating S&T through translation can only succeed with sufficient investment to support it. In theory, money for translation activities should come out of national S&T budgets. But these remain very small in Africa.

Despite African Union members promising, in 2007, to spend one per cent of their GDP (gross domestic product) on research and development, only two countries are doing so — Rwanda and Tunisia (see Africa Analysis: Progress on science spending). The average spend across the continent is just 0.4 per cent — translation funds are unlikely to be found here.

An alternative source of funding, recently championed by my scientific colleagues in Zimbabwe, could be national S&T taxes, modelled on Zimbabwe's three per cent HIV/AIDS Levy, introduced in 1999. The levy has been remarkably successful in ensuring funds for HIV/AIDS activities, including access to lifesaving antiretrovirals, despite the country's economic turmoil.

A S&T Levy could be used to finance all aspects of research and development, including translation activities. It could also help promote industrialisation and help local producers and manufacturers add value to their products.

Whatever the route to accessing money, the fact remains that science translation activities in Africa are urgently needed if we are to tap into the energy, entrepreneurship, creativity and intelligence of our people.

Charles Dhewa is the managing consultant for communications and knowledge management consultancy Knowledge Transfer Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe.

KM & Social Challenges

Will Knowledge ‘R’ us (not “Knowlege 'R' ours”) shape the future of knowledge and KM?

Md Santo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:04:48 -0600

Will Knowledge ‘R’ us (not “Knowlege 'R' ours”) shape the future of knowledge and KM?

By : Dr Md Santo – http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com

The nature of Homo Sapiens comprising three knowing tools components. The first is Peripheral Nerve System or Human Senses including our Autonomic Nerve System representing Human Knowledge with Lower Consciousness (KLC). The second is Central Nerve System or Mind Brain representing Human Knowledge with Medium Consciousness (KMC). The third is Human Consciousness DNA representing Human Knowledge with Higher Consciousness (KHC). If it is postulated that nature of Knowledge Management (KM) derived from the nature of Human or we could say Human System Biology (HSB)-based KM, then we will observe that KM Tools mainly generated from KLC, KM Process Framework generated from KMC as well as KM Standards (culture and value management) generated from KHC respectively ( http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/brief-description-of-our )
Consequently Knowledge which is located at the domain of DIKW continuum model as commonly believed has a narrow meaning. Hence, I suggested to separate DI with KW considering each is an entity into DI – KW model to give emphasize the paradigm I’ve just mentioned above (http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/blooms-taxonomy-knowledge-an... )
Therefore, Knowledge Management (KM) essentially is not management technique but behaving more as an access mechanisms that can be used across any management tool type such as Total Quality Management, Learning Organization, Benchmarking, Process Classification Framework, Business Process Reengineering, Balanced Scorecard, Business Intelligence including Social Media platforms etc. wherein each with their specific functions to be orchestrated under KM’s consciousness. So, here we put KM in incredibly broad meaning as subject with higher level than any other management tool type which is treated only as object ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/28696847/How-to-re-postulating-the-paradigm-of... ) From eastern concept, Knowledge with broad meaning also known as Noor or “Light”
I use the phrase “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ US”, not “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ OURS” as the expression of the paradigm of K as well as KM just mentioned above wherein human knowledge from beginning of our life represent human consciousness as well as our personality functioning to lead us in our journey through the path of Physical Realities – Data – Information – Knowledge (narrow meaning) – Wisdom and above . In eastern people beyond Wisdom frequently called as “Ma’rifat”
The overall description in schematic as well as in presentation forms could be accessed through the list of the links below. To get explanation more in details you could visit our gateway links by choosing relevant article(s) or topic(s) at http://delicious.com/mobeeknowledge and/or http://delicious.com/tags/mobeeknowledge?view=all& . And last but not least, just to emphasize from my point of view I’ve recognized at least 10 “symptoms and signs” toward the future of next gen KM – visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/27484344/Ten-Landmarks-Toward-Next-Generation-Knowledge-Management

List of the “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ US” related links are as follow : (Source Link : http://www.scribd.com/doc/29259487/KNOWLEDGE-R-US )

Human Body Knowing Tools as Human Consciousness Related to Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28959294/Human-Body-Knowing-Tools-as-Human-Con...
How to re-postulating the paradigm of Knowledge and Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28696847/How-to-re-postulating-the-paradigm-of...
Road to Next Gen Knowledge Management : “Mobee Knowledge Top Four Articles of the Month” - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28435600/Road-to-Next-Gen-Knowledge-Management-“Mobee-Knowledge-Top-Four-Articles-of-the-Month”
Bloom's Taxonomy (Learning Domains)* related with Knowledge and Knowledge Management (KM)** - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28370204/Bloom-s-Taxonomy-Learning-Domains-rel...
How to convert Knowledge Into Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28177748/How-to-convert-Knowledge-Into-Knowled...
Ten Landmarks Toward Next Generation Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/27484344/Ten-Landmarks-Toward-Next-Generation-...
The Origin of Knowledge and Knowledge Management derived from DI-KW separated entities model - http://www.scribd.com/doc/26869572/The-Origin-of-Knowledge-and-Knowledge...
Towards Human System Biology-based Next Gen KM - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25765257/Towards-Human-System-Biology-based-Ne...
Knowledge Management System Development Derived From Human System Biology - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25613526/Knowledge-Management-System-Developme...
Explaining Step by Step the Process of Knowledge Management 2.0 Map - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25036410/Explaining-Step-by-Step-the-Process-o...
KM Metrics to Locate Your Achievements in the Universe - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24808191/KM-Metrics-to-Locate-Your-Achievement...
You Are the Knowledge - Hybrid Definition of Knowledge - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24439826/You-Are-the-Knowledge-Hybrid-Definiti...
The Physics of Knowledge - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24339159/The-Physics-of-Knowledge
WEB-BASED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 2.0 MAP - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24331515/WEB-BASED-KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT-2-0-MAP

@2010 Md Santo

KM & Communications

Learning does not end :TIB Library in Hannover

libman — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:28:28 -0600

Collence.T. Chisita and fellow professionals on a study visit in Germany. This was a learning session on new trends in interlending and document supply initiatives

KM & Social Challenges

Reconstructing public administration in post-conflict situations

KMAadmin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:49:17 -0600

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs highlights the issue of how to reconstruct public administration in post-conflict situations so as to enable it to promote peace and development in countries that have been affected by civil war and destruction.

Countries emerging from conflict situations are almost always plagued by social upheaval, damaged infrastructure, reduced productive capacity, severe revenue shortfalls, seriously weakened human resources and greatly diminished security.

The challenges are daunting as post-conflict governments strive to ensure peace and security, foster social reconciliation and promote development. Yet recovery is possible if the public administration can earn the trust of the people, effectively provide services to all and operate in an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable way. In fact, whereas the root causes of intrastate conflict are usually assumed to be poverty and economic inequality or clashes among different ethnic or religious groups, the central cause of violent conflict is ineffective leadership, weak governance institutions, inappropriate human resources, lack of mechanisms to engage citizens in public policy-making decisions and lack of or ineffective delivery of public services.

The report emphasizes that because post-conflict situations are heterogeneous, there are no “one size fits all” solutions to governance challenges. In each country, public administration reforms should be tailored to local needs. The report also
highlights that contrary to commonly held belief, post-conflict situations not only present challenges, but also offer numerous opportunities to leapfrog stages of development by adopting innovative practices in public administration, particularly the application of ICTs in government and service delivery in the information age we all live in.

A United Nations Publication
Publication No.: ST/ESA/PAD/SER.E/135
March 2010
Copyright © United Nations, 2010
All rights reserved

KM & Governance

What mental or intellectual costumes Africans need to wear in order to develop modern knowledge systems?

Jacques Hamel — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:44:35 -0700

This is a free reflection on the power of modern science, technology, innovation and knowledge systems (STI) for revealing some distinctive style of modernity in Africa.

The modernization of these knowledge systems, as the backbones of any mode of modernity, also requires the modernization of our mental or intellectual costumes. This process is essentially the passage from closed, self-confirming, faith-based, customary, totalizing or terrorizing knowledge systems to essentially falsifiable, evidence-based, scientifically-established and technically-proven innovative knowledge systems. In these systems scientific knowledge can be construed as a theory of the real and as a technology of truth and understood as the epistemological foundation of any form of Afro-modernity. It is also the passage from the ‘Book of Scripture’ to the ‘Book of Nature’ or from the submission to the white man’s colonizing gods to the more authentic and genuine African identities, beliefs and values, such as those embodied in the concept of ubuntu. In this perspective rejuvenating knowledge systems can purge Abrahamic and Shamanic worldviews of non-scientific constituents and open a path from the mostly totemic, enchanted, mystified, supernatural, patriarchal / phallocratic and over-religious worldviews and mindsets of pre-modern Africa to the more desacralized, secular, rational, liberal, enlightened and autonomous worldviews and mindsets of modernity. This paradigmatic shift toward modern ways of knowing and understanding requires championing the scientific method, the rule of technique and innovation as well as promoting decisive scientific arbitrations, increased technical mediations and a redefinition of STI’s relationships with religious, cultural, social and economic life. For this shift to occur there is a need to better appreciate modern science as a method of both calculative and subversive thinking, as a means of achieving the systematic renovation of conventional / medieval / pre-modern realities and as a way to reconstruct and re-order African realities from fresh fundamentals and from the latest scientific insights. This may require strengthening various capacities to probe, undermine and rationalize oppressive systems (religious, cultural, social, economic, political). It may also require re-cosmologizing, re-mythologizing, ‘re-prophetizing’, re-charlatanizing and re-directing the evolution of the African reality toward a region free of wishful thinking, fallacies, lies, superstitions, prejudices, magic and witchcraft and toward an Islam-free and Christian-free scientifically-informed free-thinking innovative post-colony. The necessary capacities for achieving this shift toward more innovative scientific and technical orders and systems are grouped into eight areas.

Full reflection here: http://sites.google.com/site/revealingmodernityinafrica/newpaper

My website: http://sites.google.com/site/revealingmodernityinafrica/

Join me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueshamel

KM, Emerging Technologies and Innovative Schemes

KMAfrica.com KnowledgeHub Greetings

KMAadmin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:16:07 -0700

Zulu culture, language & traditions

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012

Md Santo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:40:15 -0700

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012 or “CONTINUUM OF PHYSICAL REALITY WITH KNOWLEDGE AND BEYOND : GREAT TURNING FROM MIND BRAIN TO CONSCIOUSNESS DNA” (see the Attachment) showing global trends towards 2012 in which the domain of Knowledge evolved in continuum universe as emergent behavior within human body as complex (adpative) system, having consciousness and free will (mind and value) as well as behaving dynamically as subject

A brief description about the sentence ..."After Singularity between Human Mind and Technology reaching its peak (in 2012 ?)"... :
"Singularity" here means the phenomenon of the race between smartness of Human and Technology (Machine) which is at present occured exponentially and exponentially at very tremendous speed and will reaching its peak around the year 2012. To cope this situation, Human as Complex Adaptive System will migrate or making "great turning" from Brain as "center of play making in science or scientific knowledge" (locus of Mind) to the DNA as "new center" (locus of Consciousness). This migration or "great turning" will give impressive impact on how Human manage the Science and Technology. In this circumstances, it will appropriate if we put or coin a new term called as "Knowledgeable Science" which is entirely different with Scientific Knowledge as commonly used. (Consciousness) DNA as new vital locus will certainly has a higher level than the (Mind) Brain as former human vital locus.

To get more comprehensive insight, should you visit also :

http://isivivane.com/kmafrica/forum.hybrid.definition.of.knowledge - "We are the knowledge: a hybrid definition of knowledge"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/next-generation-of-knowledge - "NEXT GENERATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (KM)"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/five-basic-implications-of-n... - "FIVE BASIC IMPLICATIONS OF NEW PARADIGM OF KNOWLEDGE"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/knowledge-towards-2012-great - "KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012 : GREAT TURNING FROM MIND BRAIN TO CONSCIOUSNESS DNA"

Tourism Knowledge SIG

The water debate

storytelling — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:03:06 -0600

Water is vital to life. It is the essential component in all aspects and activities related to our well-being and existence – including food and energy production and manufacturing in general. It’s clear that if our water supply continues to dwindle, and/or, if water became unaffordable, our lives would be detrimentally transformed. Billions of people are already experiencing and suffering from the mismanagement and unequal allocation of water. Between 1.1 and 1.5 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. 2.2 million people die each year due to low quality drinking water and/or lack of sanitation – that is 42,000 people per week, 90 percent of whom are children (WHO/UNICET:2005). Exclusion to socially necessary goods and services such as fresh water has horrific consequences that are catastrophic, yet entirely preventable.

The struggle over fresh water goods and services has taken the form of a conflict over increasing commercialisation, privatisation and liberalisation. This struggle takes place in an era of economic globalisation where neoliberal policies transform all forms of social reproduction so that all goods and services that were once held in common (things such as fresh water, education and healthcare etc.) are increasingly exposed to the free market and in many cases transformed into a form of private property. This regulatory shift – from public to private – is by no means inevitable. The processes that facilitate this shift are a direct result of political and corporate elites exercising their power and will, through an organised network of connections, in order to achieve the free market conditions that are necessary to expand the reach of capital.

Fireside Chat

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance

storytelling — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:29:00 -0600

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a comprehensive ranking of African countries according to governance quality. Funded and led by an African institution, the Ibrahim Index aims to be Africa’s leading assessment of governance that informs and empowers citizens to hold their governments and public institutions to account. Thus it is hoped to stimulate debate in a constructive way and establish a framework for good governance in Africa.

The Ibrahim Index measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors. The Ibrahim Index uses indicators across four main pillars: Safety and Rule of Law; Participation and Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and Human Development as proxies for the quality of the processes and outcomes of governance.

The Ibrahim Index assesses governance against 84 criteria, making it the most comprehensive collection of qualitative and quantitative data that measures governance in Africa. The criteria are divided into four main categories and 13 sub-categories. The indicators that make up the sub-categories are based either on official data (OD) or expert assessment (EA).

The 2009 Ibrahim Index includes new indicators more regularly updated, and therefore more immediately reflective of current reality. The index has also been extended this year to consider the entire continent, not just the sub-Saharan region, following consultation with stakeholders and in consideration of the geographic and political links between all African countries.

In addition, the Ibrahim Index will be compiled in partnership with African academics and researchers. Already, experts from various African institutions including: Afrobarometer, the American University in Cairo, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA – in Senegal), and the Institut de Recherche Empirique en Economie Politique (IREEP- in Benin) support the Foundation’s research team. These experts sit on the Academic Advisory Council and Technical Committee, whose work is overseen by the Foundation’s Director of Research, Dr Hania Farhan.

We are deeply committed to this partnership with institutions on the continent and to developing capacity within them so that in the years to come they will be full partners in the compilation of the Ibrahim Index. This is part of our commitment to further entrench the continent’s ownership of governance issues and to improve the quality and availability of data.

The lack of sufficiently robust and comprehensive data to assess African progress is striking in all the components of the index. This unavailability of data has led us to exclude a number of indicators, particularly those that assess poverty and vital aspects of health service delivery, which are major issues for developing countries. This is a pragmatic choice and finding strong poverty and health indicators in future years will be a core priority for us.

Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Index Website

KM & Governance

The role of traditional and indigeneous knowledge and technology: the citizens engagement

storytelling — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:57:23 -0600

By Prof. Joseph O. Malo. KNAS and University of Nairobi

Abstract

The paper examines the role of traditional and indigenous knowledge and technology including the role of citizens in knowledge management of sustainable environment, health, water resources, education, habitat, disaster and emergency response, food security, clean energy etc.

The motivating factor is that most of the villages in developing countries are small and literally cut off from the rest of the world and hence under serviced. Social services particularly in health must therefore promote a combination of traditional and scientific approach. This calls for recognition of people who apply natural and traditional methods to sustain life.

One of the main bottle-neck in technology transfer is the current approach of the trickle-down effect rather than participatory bottom up approach where citizens are considered not just as partial beneficiaries but knowledgeable, active and centrally involved in both the upstream design and downstream delivery systems.

Background and Major Constraints

The key problem Africa is facing today is under-development that manifests itself in terms of abject poverty, diseases, ignorance and many other forms. It is regrettable to recognize and note that due to the severe but apparent lack of funds and other resources, many African counties have remained impoverished over the years. The weak fiscal status and the dim prospects for drastic economic improvement coupled with mismanagement, corruption in the continent also militate against any significant local support to alleviate the problems of under-development in the near future. From the experience of the industrialized countries it has become abundantly clear that for Africa to develop and survive this century, science, technology and innovation must take root in the continent to serve the people and improve productivity.

Global Environmental Change refers to a set of transformations of land, oceans and atmosphere driven by an interwoven system of socioeconomic and natural processes. Thus concurrent with the modern phenomena of globalization and to some extent as a consequence, human have begun to induce planetary-scale changes in earth’s life support systems.

Today human activities already match and sometimes exceed natural forces that regulate the earth systems. Current levels of carbon dioxide and methane are already well outside the range of natural variability over the years. Humans also now fix more nitrogen than nature dues. Furthermore particles emitted by human activities alter the energy balance of the planet as well as have adverse effects on human health.

It is however encouraging to note that the earth system is a very complex system with very many feedbacks to the extent that it can presumably still exhibit rapid global scale responses to changes in environmental conditions. However, a consequence of the interconnectedness of the coupled human environmental earth systems is that no region is independent of the rest of the world. For example the process at wok in the African region namely desertification and, biomass burning can have global consequences in the same way processes occurring in other regions can have influences in Africa such as particulate emissions from other continents affect rainfall patterns in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus Global Environmental research in Africa requires not only Africa Scientists but also inputs from Scientists from outside the region. We are all interdependent.

It is therefore imperative that Global Warming and Climate Change that is real must be adequately addressed to bring sustainable development down to earth. To achieve this noble goal, traditional and indigeneous knowledge and technology including citizens engagement must be fully incorporated in the process of socio-economic development and more so in the developing world.

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

It is today generally accepted that technology is “ the engine of economic growth” and technological innovation is indeed the principal currency of international competition. Thus technology plays a key role in attaining major goals in invigorating countries competitiveness in the global market place. For example the secondary applications of aerospace technology –spin-offs- span so broad a range of public needs and conveniences that is almost impossible to find an area of everyday life they have not improved and thus collectively represent a substantial dividend on the national investment in technology research.

A science and technology policy should therefore aim at improving the effectiveness of a national system of innovation, supporting public research and education, and sustaining the competitiveness of the business sector. So a major policy area should therefore focus on the promotion of innovation and investment, the diffusion of advanced technologies and creation of new firms. Thus a mechanism must be put in place for funding technological innovation by providing grants, low-interest loans and risk capital for supporting individual and cooperative research projects including downstream innovation that will mitigate the effects global warming and climate change.

Capacity Building

The highly interdisciplinary nature and mutuality of science in the development of new technology evolved mainly out of the capitalization on the solid foundation in science in the aspects of technology innovation, development and diffusion. Despite all the trailblazing advancements, our society is still experiencing an imbalance in improving literacy of citizens with the scientific technology development process, that has serious implications for public policy formulations, especially for developing countries.

Thus for Africa to enjoy the full benefit of Science and Technology they must be deemed critical to our effort to achieve economic well-being and indeed, social justice integrated into societal decision making structure and systematically supported by actions that nurture the nation’s capacities and indigenous talent/knowledge.

Since many of the urgent problems facing humanity today have potential solution derived from science and technology, it is vital that science and technology become part of the mainstream of education system. Thus courses that provide the basis of science and technology literacy and reasonable literacy and familiarity with scientific and technological culture, should be required at all levels and for all students including the many who do not intend to specialize in science and technology. This will create a science culture for a knowledge based society of the future.

Regarding Science Education we need to urgently introduce Inquiry-based Science Education (IBSE) at least from Pre- primary to primary school level. The conduct of science is also increasingly affected and indeed, driven by economic and other societal concerns .It is therefore necessary for the scientific community to be conscious of the concerns of the societies. Research agenda priorities derive not just from the wishes of scientists or their interest in certain problems, but from factors such as national needs, the availability of funding, access to tools of research and commercial prospects for deploying the resulting technologies such that almost always what get studied is decided by non-scientists.

Since the indigenous professionals generally understand their nation’s culture, they can easily communicate with it’s people. That is, they are uniquely placed to be disseminators of advanced knowledge and know-how to other critical local actors. This will greatly increase the likelihood that the new technologies will be well adapted to that society’s needs and cultures. The public can become sensitized on the important role of Science and Technology in society and their potential to help to solve urgent problems. A society that has become increasingly more dependent upon Science and Technology requires more professional scientists, more technically trained professionals and more citizens literate in science and technology who can make intelligent decisions on the increasing number questions of public policy with a technical component.

A nation that is involved in development, production or use of new technologies such as those deriving from biotechnology and bioengineering, should have the means to access and manage their benefits and risks. It is obvious that independent scientific advice improves decision making for public policies in terms of formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The effective government programmes can be greatly improved if inputs and independent review are provided by scientific, engineering and health experts. These are honest brokers who bridge the gap between what is technically possible and politically achievable. We know that many international deliberations from intellectual property rights to environmental and health regulations require governments to fully understand the science and technology premises that underlie the decisions they are negotiating. It is therefore vital that we create suitable mechanisms for providing important scientific and technological advice to government policy makers. That will also mitigate the effect of global warming and climate change.

Our governments must therefore ensure that indigeneous science and technology capacities are in place not only for adoption of new technology but also for helping in implementing public health, human safety and environmental guidelines or regulations that address potential side effects of new technologies. The possibilities of long term effects must be kept in mind when setting up such systems which must remain fully adaptable to rapid advances in scientific and engineering knowledge. It is therefore highly desirable that there be coordination of such efforts among nations to permit the sharing of the experiences and standardization of some of the risk assessments.

Traditional and Indigeneous Knowledge and Technology

There is no doubt that traditional and indigeneous knowledge and technology, particularly in the developing world, can enhance and indeed play decisive role in the management of sustainable environment, health, water resources, education, habitat, disaster and emergency response, food security, clean energy etc. In this paper, I will however focus only on health.

Plenty of our villages are small and literally cut off from the world and under-serviced. Most are subsistence farmers and indeed live below poverty line. The children are under and malnourished and at risk of preventable diseases.
We must expand social services for these people who are particularly disadvantaged in remote villages. The few government institutions that exist are far away and most are under equipped, including lack of staff. In any case they are often beyond the reach of those without money. Needless to point out that young doctors prefer working in towns. In addition to this, language barriers and cultural differences make communication even more difficult.

Social services particular in health, we must promote a combination of traditional and scientific methods during training of all cadres of medical personnel. The so called healers should first impart basic knowledge of scientific, natural and dental care including sexual and reproductive health.

We must urgently start supporting people who manufacture and use natural healing methods and recognize the potential of traditional medicine. As a first step, we should compile a handbook that will indicate disease patterns, diagnosis and cure including details of identification and the correct way to use medicinal plants.

We should then use media such as Radio and TV that feature interviews including public lectures that are informed and knowledge based. This programme could give information on symptoms and report on how to prevent and cure illnesses. Last but not least train two or more people in each village.

Citizen Engagement

It has become imperative that high- tech promotion should be of particular interest for developing countries because research in this areas has the general advantage that leads and require technological advancement in the frontier fields that will produce important spin-offs on the development of a country in which it is performed. Thus only knowledge based on local realities and environment can resolve the appropriateness of an imported technology to the community and turn them into new products and services that address national and local needs.

Citizen engagement is vital to ensure Science, Technology and Innovation respond to the challenges of international development agenda that includes Global Warming, Climate Change, Bioengineering and Biotechnology. There are many pathways to poverty reduction including social, cultural and institutional dimension that are key. This is so because Science, Technology and Innovation should be perceived as a part of a bottom-up participating process of development where citizen themselves are centre stage. Instead of citizen being viewed as passive beneficiaries of trickle-down development of technology transfer, they be considered as knowledgeable, active and centrally involved in both upstream choice and design of technologies and indeed their downstream delivery and regulation.

How about the following issues (1) What role can technologies play in future of people in developing world (2) How can poor people become more involved in shaping their own technological future (3) What makes Science and Technology to work for the poor (4) Which forces will be involved in shaping this (5) How can those who work in science and development assist and (6) How and where should Research and Development funds be directed

One of the main bottleneck of acceptance of new technologies currently is how risk and uncertainties arising from technological applications are regulated. In this connection the marginalized people should be involved in decision about innovation and technology. Thus it is time to adopt a new vision of citizenship that goes beyond public engagement with science encompassing, how science and technology agendas are framed, and the social purpose they serve and, who stands to gain or lose from them.

Conclusion

Thus advances in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) should not neglect the poor people’s own priorities in trickle - down model since this approach will ignore poor people’s own perspective and concerns. For these technologies to provide well being for the citizens, innovation must be rooted in the local realities. Thus more participatory approach is needed where innovation are seen as part of broader system of governance and markets that extends from local to national , regional and international levels . No doubt this will increase access and indeed ownership for sustainability.

I have tried above to present historical perspective of the development of science and then not only to underscore but also to underpin policy issues and capacity building together with citizen engagement for sustainability in order to guarantee achieving both goals and the desired result. My conclusion is that it is vital to ensure well being of the society than so called wealth creation by providing the necessary infrastructure and an enabling environment. I have no doubt that Science, Technology and Innovation will make lasting contribution in these efforts to by engaging citizens and incorporating of traditional and indigeneous knowledge and technology.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Malo J. O., Physics and Industrial Development, 3rd Regional ANSTI Seminar in Physics, 5 – 7 August, Gaborone, Botswana
Malo J. O., Capacity building in Science and Technology :The African perspective, International Conference on Physics and Industrial Development- Bridging the Gap, 17- 19 January ,1994, New Delhi , India
Malo J. O., Physics in Africa World Congress of Physical Societies, 17- 22 September 2000
Malo J. O., Major constraints in Application of Science and Technology in National Development- The African Perspective, COPID 200, Durban, South Africa, 4-7 September 2000
Malo J. O., Physics in Contemporary World: The African Perspective: Third World Congress of Physical Societies, Berlin, Germany 15- 16 December 2000
ICSU, Report on New Genetics, Food and Agriculture: Scientific Discoveries – Societal Dilemmas, 2003
Inter Academy Council (IAC), Inventing a Better Future: A Strategy for Building Worldwide Capabilities in Science and Technology, January 2004
Prof. E. O. Odada, A Strategy for Global Environmental Change Research in Africa : Science Plan and Implementation Strategy, 2000 PASS Secretariat, Nairobi, Kenya.
Malo J. O., Technology Development and Citizen Engagement; Career Development in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2008, USNAS

KM & Governance

Gendered ICT and Peacebuilding in Africa: A case of Missed Opportunities

storytelling — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:20:33 -0600

Author : Shastry Njeru, Midlands State University, P. Bag 9055, Gweru, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Inter-operability and use of ICT in crisis situations is not only about saving life, but a new life. The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has cathartic effects on divided societies. In violent conflicts that have taken place in modern times women have suffered much more than their male counterparts because of their ‘biological fate’ or what others have called ‘anatomy of destiny’. In most of Africa, women constitute the majority in the population. Yet they remain marginalized in knowledge, networks, and economic and political matters. As a result a lot of energy is left out in the process of national healing and peacebuilding. The recognition of women can provide ‘a new set of opportunities’ for nurturing a fragile peacebuilding process. The peacebuilding processes could be strengthened if organizations, people and regions connect ‘in effective multi-sectoral and peace building networks and provided with active and open knowledge banks. ICT can provide such connections, case studies and can bridge communication gaps between peace process stakeholders. The women can participate in the process from the grassroots upwards. This paper posits that marginalizing women can be retrogressive in the peacebuilding process and ICT can be used to mitigate against this problem in Africa.

Introduction

The United Nations Resolution 1325 of 2000 dealing with “Women, Peace and Security’1 was ground breaking for women’s peace activism in the sense that it provided a coherent policy framework for promoting women’s involvement in the wide array of issues related to peace and security (Crisis Group 2006). However, the progress along this resolution has been more limited in countries where leaderships remain hostile to a greater role for women in peacemaking and peacebuilding. What can be done to dismantle the barriers that prevent women from greater participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict governance? Yet, women peacebuilders, often without formal support, are trying to bring security to their communities, countries and regions. What can be done to recognise and support the role and capacities of women in preventing and mitigating conflict so that it does not remain an afterthought? Against a backdrop of persistent violence, exclusion and decaying social services, many see improving the status of women as an issue to be addressed further down the road, in a time of peace. Consensus is not strong around the view that women in Africa need to be empowered through gendered ICT to enable them to be involved confidently in their nations’ peacebuilding programmes.

In majority of cases women have been left out as a result of their gender rather than supposed incompatibility with ICT. Just like many institutions in Africa, the ICT has not effectively escaped the problems of gender discrimination. The belief that technology knows no gender is openly challenged in Africa where technology is not only framed in a masculine way but is refusing to change. Even in economies like South Africa, only ‘17% of women have access to ICT related services’ (Huyer and Sikoska 2003) . Women have watched the benefits of technology accruing to men for a long time from a distance and bridges to this divide have been constantly destroyed with every step. There is a group of critics who argue persuasively that in Africa women need clean water, adequate food, health rather than worry about ICT. They do not see the connection between these necessities with ICT.

On daily basis in a normal peaceful African state, structural conditions are pitted against empowering of women. During times of war women suffer all kinds of violations and in peace times the cultural stakes are far against them. Some women are married off early in their lives to cover family debts, they forced out of school to give way to sons, and they are enslaved and kept illiterate because they are women. Recognizing the gravity of violations against women during war times and in the spirit of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000, the encouragement of the eventual use of the ICT in peacebuilding can have that cathartic effect on the women.

In violent conflicts that have taken place in modern times in Africa, women have suffered much more than their male counterparts because of their ‘biological fate’ or what is called ‘anatomy of destiny’ despite their numeral superiority. Example is Zimbabwe where women constitute 52% of the population (CSO 2006). They have suffered the discomfiture of poverty, drought, hunger, imprisonment and degradation. Yet in Africa, women constitute the majority in the population, yet still minority in decision-making. The inclusion of women in the ICT spheres is necessary for national growth and prosperity (Chamberlain 2002). Yet again they remain marginalized in knowledge, networks, and economic and political matters. Closing and making inaccessible the information management and frameworks to key all stakeholders, particularly women, undermines the ability of ICT to save lives in a crisis situation. Women need to know where they can get information, food, medicines, protection, and networks. ICT can help in this. By inter-operability of information, accessing to it will be made possible to all as digital barriers are pulled down by availability of information. The guarantees that systems, tools and mechanisms can exchange information seamlessly, securely and sustainably, need to be put in place.

Those in power must have the political will to achieve peace and to share the information that can be used in peacebuilding and in meeting everyday life challenges. The politicians in Uganda have recognized the importance of ICT in curbing the rural-urban migration and gave it the attention it deserves. They believed that ICT will not only provide rural employment but will stem the urge to migrate into major towns by the youths. The Ugandan government has been very instrumental in setting up telecentres in rural areas under the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF). However, despite this effort, the rural communities are yet to benefit from this movement. There isn’t any Internet or call centres in the rural areas because of lack of electricity (Nabwowe 2008). This is a universal challenge in most of Africa and it is women who have suffered the worst ultimately because should technology reaches near them, it will be grabbed by their male counterparts who have craft competences and literacy to use the technology. Women have little exposure to education to find this technology of any use to them.

Supporting ICT in peacebuilding and conflict transformation is premised on its ability to facilitate ‘virtual collaboration’ (Hattotuwa, ud) or alternative public space for women. Women can meet and discuss issues and solutions collaboratively on the World Wide Web. ICT can augment this socio-political process that explore options for the interest based options despite the fact that virtualisation of peacebuilding is not the final panacea. Peacebuilding still exists within the emotions and problems of the real world, but problems discussed are problems half solved. Women are naturally disposed to discussing intimate issues with their confidantes. ICT can provide this option. Further, ICT for peacebuilding can address gaps in communication within and between multiple tiers of the fabric of society and polity that are party to the peacebuilding process (ibid.). To succeed, ICT should connect progressive elements of the socio-political fabric that under-gird sustainable peacebuilding including, but not limited to women, children, youth, grass-root communities and rural peace activists, at the same time marginalizing extremist and corrosive elements that are detrimental to peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

However, ICTs can only help in crisis management and peacebuilding if they are based on open standards and are interoperable, facilitating use even in difficult conditions and engendering staff by-ins (ICT4Peace Foundation 2008). The peacebuilding processes could be strengthened if organizations, people and regions connect ‘in effective multi-sectoral and peace building networks and provided with active and open knowledge banks – with instant access to effective peace building approaches and case studies’ (Hattotuwa, 2004). The public can participate in the process from the grassroots upwards. Women may be involved.

However, ICT revolution has left out many in Africa given the absence of basic infrastructure, high costs of ICT deployment, unfamiliarity with ICTs, dominance of the English language in Internet content and indeed – lack of demonstrated benefit from ICTs to address ground-level development challenges. Where ICT is provided it is heavily barricaded by masculinity in ways that I now seek to explain. These barriers pose even greater problems for women, who are more likely to: be illiterate; not know English; and lack opportunities for training in computer skills (Gurumurthy 2004). Masculinity is writ large when parents have to choose male children over females to send to school when resources are limited. Domestic responsibilities, cultural restrictions on mobility, lesser economic power as well as lack of relevance of content to their lives, further marginalise them from the information sector.

This paper argues that sharing information provides women with a platform to engender a culture of open information sharing, where the approach to conflict transformation is one that is holistic, inclusive and participatory. By supporting the creation of "shared spaces" the gendered ICT initiative will help the process of conflict transformation.

It’s Gender stupid!

Technology is something people can use, but not the same thing that can be used to influence society. As inanimate, technology has been viewed as gender and value neutral (Gurumurthy 2004) and having the ability to traverse human cultural barriers. Yet this is not always the case. Technology cannot be neutral at all. Skimming through feminist literature reflects that women have been ‘excluded from science, creation, design and use of technology’ (ibid: 4). Women are socialized toward non-technical careers (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). Along with that view it will be patently dangerous to accept that technology works everywhere and provides solutions to development challenges. Effectiveness of technology is dependent on culture under whose frames it was negotiated and can be transformed.

Women are cultural as well and have multiple identities that interact with gender to define their access to technology. To undo unequal gender relations depends largely on understanding the complex gender interactions and the will to transform them for the better. It is easy for a well to do sophisticated woman to have easy access to the Internet, but unthinkable for the feudal rural woman to have that access to the public telephone, yet they are all women who are driven by different socio-historical circumstances that dictate their daily factors of existence. Such realities are the heart of the gender and technology discourse. Gurumurthy (2004) reminds us that men and women from the same social context may not have equal access to technology. For instance, if household assets may have unequal ownership, what guarantees that ICTs can stand unaffected by gender? Simple technology like a radio may be fully masculine. I remember my father had a tiny radio in the 1970s that my mother had no leisure to listen or allowed to join to sit around as men did outside the house. When he left for the city he took it with him or it was safely tucked somewhere waiting for his eventual return. He joined the guerrilla movement for a long time and his radio waited for his long return. By hindsight, it made me think that radios, TVs and computers are male assets and microwaves and cookers are feminine. Yet technology must ease everyone’s life.

Technology has remained historically a male preserve suggesting that the appropriation of the technology by women is a political project that they must fight for with their blood and sweat. Over the decades it has been shown that without explicit attention to gender in policy, gender issues are not considered in implementation (Hafkin 2002:3). Governments argue that they already have gender policies in place and this should obviate the explicit mentioning of gender in every project. To the contrary, evidence shows that in the technological fields ‘policy making ignores the needs, requirements and aspirations of women and girls unless gender requirements are included’ (Marcelle 2002: 39). Without specific attention and action, women and girls are always left out (Hafkin, op cit).

The presence of gender issues rarely extends to information and communication technologies. Unlike fields such as health and education and in economic fields such as agriculture and rural development, where it is rare to find projects that fail to take into account gender issues, ICT sector is one of the last areas to open to a gender perspective. A recent study of hundreds of development projects, either ICT as the major sector or with substantial ICT components, showed that more than one-third of all projects had a high degree of awareness of gender issues, but that the gender-sensitivity carried over to the ICT components is only 10 percent of the projects (Ibid: 4).

Persistent gender specific structural inequalities constitute barriers to women’s access to technology. Such barriers are imbedded in education, tradition, economic inequalities, etc (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). In fact, ICTs are designed and created within the male dominated environments and therefore do not necessarily correspond to specific needs of women (ibid.). This is the “gender digital divide”.

Technological Barricades

ICT has become a potent force in transforming social, political and economic life globally. It is viewed as an ‘intrinsic part of nation building’ (Hattotuwa 2003). It has the potential to carry ‘the new global knowledge based economy’ (Huyer and Sikoska, op cit). ICTs ‘may reshape, reorganize, and restructure working methods’. It has ‘generic advantages of efficiency, information sharing, storage, faster knowledge accumulation, dissemination and can permit new and collaborative work methods’. Further ICT can improve ‘the quality of human life’ and can afford ‘new types of education modalities such as distance learning and online training’ (ibid.). ICT is a tool for transformatory empowerment of women.

Development strategists are encouraging the developing countries to embrace ICTs to avoid social and economic marginalisation (Ahmed et al, ud.). The uneven distribution of the use of information technologies across the societies is called the ‘digital divide’. It reflects a division between the information "haves" and "have-nots" structured along lines of race, ethnic group, class, age, region, and gender; between countries; and globally, between those who have access to abundant information resources and those who do not have this access.

Women within developing countries are in the deepest part of the divide. They are further removed from the information age than are the men whose poverty they share. The gender gap in the digital divide is of increasing concern; if access to and use of these technologies is directly linked to social and economic development, then it is imperative to ensure that women in developing countries understand the significance of these technologies and use them (ibid.). The lack of access to information and communication technologies becomes a significant factor in the further marginalization of women from the economic, social, and political mainstream of their countries and of the world. Without full participation in the use of information technology, women are left without the key to participation in the global world of the twenty-first century (ibid.). Due to these problems it is important to challenge the apparent lack of visibility of women on the ICT, industry and as users of ICT. The starting point is to pull down perceptions that ‘women are less suited to or interested in working with technology’ (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). The truth is that women’s lack of engagement is due to gender inequality than ‘women’s lack of compatibility with technology’.

Women in Africa are generally barricaded out technologically as already intimated. Bisnath (2005) attributes the barriers in the path of women to gender inequality and technological. These are resource endowments, infrastructure, telecommunication policies, skills and educational levels, socio-cultural norms, positions of men and women in production and reproduction, and digital preparedness of the country in question. Huyer and Sikoska (2003) reiterate the same problems always stand in the way of women’s progress: unequal educational access, glass ceilings in industry and research, lack of financial resources resulting from the women themselves or choices made by their families. Unless these barriers are pulled down ostensibly through the struggles of the women themselves, women will remain outside as technological second citizens.

ICT and Peacebuilding in divided societies

Countries coming out of a violent conflict, dilapidated institutions and systems do not have the capacity to manage the complex and disparate interests of multiple stakeholders and tiers. This is more difficult where politics is zero-sum and parochial. Social disconnect occurs due to fears and distrust in what the peace process may mean affecting the building of peace. Peacebuilding is a process beyond conflict viewed by Boutros-Ghali (1995) as ‘comprehensive efforts to identify and support structures which will consolidate peace and advance a sense of confidence and well being among people’. It is hard work demanding everyone’s contribution in disarming, repatriating refugees, restoring institutions, retraining security personnel, monitoring elections, reengineering political institutions for democratic governance, and protecting civil liberties and human rights. This does require more than men’s contribution. Women need to take part because they were involved actively in the conflict as combatants, victims or supporters. Leaving them out is an opportunity cost. Yet the structural stakes are too much against them in Africa, from the physical to social.

Peacebuilding must go beyond sorting ‘political and institutional deficits’ (Llamazares 2005) to healing lives made meaningless by protracted conflicts. Women and youth had their sense of self-respect and esteem violated by the conflict and left scattered across the rural areas as Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and in refugee camps. Cognizant of the geo-location of most women in Africa in rural settings, the use of ICT will enable them to be reached and participate in the peacebuilding without having to relocate them to urban areas. Women in post-conflict societies share common issues that they can creatively transform through ICT platforms. If ICT does not connect them, women remain separated by language, stereotypes, distance and mistrust even when they still share fears and hopes for peaceful futures. If ICT is neutral as suggested by some, then it can catalyse intra- and inter- communal dialogues, create powerful communal people-led foundations that can act as a bulwark against regression. Yet this is not the case when it comes to involving women in real issues of peace and nation building. ICT is an edge of a bayonet set against women where forces of gender are structured against the progress of women.

Peacebuilding has become profoundly multidimensional taking in humanitarian workers, Non Governmental Organisations, United Nations, governments, global financial institutions and from the bottom up, peace activists, women and children. This requires ‘multilevel approaches’ to increase inter-connectedness (Lederach 1997). It cannot assume this comprehensiveness without taking serious account of women. Pulling down of ancient structural forces working against women would make multidimensional peacebuilding possible. ICT can be used to reach out to all forces in peacebuilding including women. ICT can be embraced for its potential in advocacy and dissemination of information and policy alternatives. However, this potential in women can be seriously hampered by the usual litany of ‘lack of funding to purchase equipment or services, lack of skilled staff, little time and interest’ (Hattotuwa 2003:3). But despite the challenges, In Zambia, mobile phone networks are used to advocate women’s rights and in Douala the Internet is available to women entrepreneurs in textile industries. In Uganda ICT and mobile phone business are used as instruments of change by rural women, even professional women in Kenya are fast reaping the ICT benefits.

In some cases the websites available are carelessly designed to be of little use to the rural women. Some lack the content that can capture the attention of these women and in most of the cases they are written in a language that is difficult to understand. A good site is the Centre for Women Research (CENWOR) of Sri Lanka www.cenwor.lk that serves as an information source for the Sri Lankan women. The site is interactive and provides critical information facing women, and action taken by the government and other agencies. It also provides a communication platform transcending all types of boundaries for women and women’s organizations striving to realize women’s rights (ibid.). This platform is effectively eroding the gender barriers pitted against women in the country.

The corpus of conflict resolution literature proffers that it is possible to transcend conflict if parties can be helped to analyse, explore, questions and then reframe their interests and positions (Hottotuwa 2004). ICT can energise the creative dynamics of societies to fully engage with paradigm shifts necessary for visioning a state without protracted conflicts. ICT fertilizes the process of peacebuilding itself (ibid.) by engendering subtle changes in the socio-political relations through interacting protagonists who may not be able to meet face to face in real world through the virtual spaces. INSTRAW virtual seminars demonstrate the potential of ICT in engaging women (Huyer and Sikoska 2003) in e-democracy.

Good ICT for peacebuilding should form the repository for documents, press releases and other information related to the peace process. Hattotuwa (2006) suggests ICT instruments that can be used to embrace all. He identifies community podcasting and Internet radios, Skypecasts, micro-grants for blogging, cheap digital cameras, oral histories, and establishing women, children and youth media houses as instruments that can be profitably used by rural women in Africa for peacebuilding. Community podcasting and internet radios are often required in conflict to capture the voices and hope of people in support of peace. Through ‘new media such as digital audio / video / mobile video / MMS, it is possible to link community driven production of media that addresses local issues. Community radio stations often find that they are prey to legislation that often restricts their freedom to broadcast issues seen as too sensitive by the incumbent government. Internet radio and websites by-pass these restrictions’ (ibid).

Internet radio for grassroots involves those who cannot read or write. Literacy is not a requirement for digital media production that seeks to capture the views of those who may not be able to read and write, but through their life experiences may have valuable insights into the transformation of the conflict and into issues such as reconciliation, transformative justice and co-existence. This technology is sustainable as long as the technology already in the hands of the people (mobile phones) is thoroughly exploited than creating a whole new technology for reaching out to the marginalised women and communities. The ICTs can help to revitalise stagnant dialogues and sustain difficult processes of peacebuilding by providing spaces for sustained dialogue even when Track One processses have run aground (Hattotuwa 2006). Through the internet and radio broadcasts, efforts of peacebuilders are augumented by enhanced channels, avenues and possibilities for communication, information and knowledge sharing, collaboration, empowerement and discussion in virtual spaces, even when physical, realworld meetings are impossible on account of geographical distance or political sensitivities.

The skypecasts allow a large audience to participate, using Skype as well as PSTN phones, in discussions that can be on any topic. The Skype is free, Skype to Skype calls are free and for Skype to work, all that is required is a decent ISDN connection. The rural women may only need to purchase the ISDN connection and the equipment for them to broadcast. Donors need to be motivated to support women’s projects that can enable their voices to be heard. In areas which are not on national electricity grid, solar energy driven with rechargable batteries need to be made available for easy access for women.

Women can exploit their access to these technologies to ‘create Skypecasts on peace from the grassroots itself’ – say a village meeting with a global audience including members from the diaspora chipping in. Such a series of recorded Skypecasts can be a useful way to capture community driven ideas for peace with international and regional voices in support of such ideas. Shared and borderless sources of ideas will not only improve the quantity and quality of information the women may have, but even their self-esteem. The moment women know that someone is listening to their arguments across the globe would empower and engender a new spirit in them.

There is need to provide women micro-credit for blogging. Blogging is an urban phenomenon and there is need to take to the rural areas where majority of women live. If blogging engenders democratic dialogue, it needs to go into places outside of the cities. Blogs that are based in the grassroots itself, and can promote voices of the community, can be a useful way of capturing voices in support of peace. The emphasis here should be on blogs that promote a multiplicity of voices, particularly that which ensures diversity and gender participation.

Women need to be also provided with digital cameras to capture the world around them as they see it along with their thoughts on the challenges of peacebuilding. CD-ROMs based on the lives of an activist in conflict zones, an activist in an urban centre, a web based activist and an activist in the diaspora may be produced as reference material for the people in bureaucratic decision levels to fall back on when crafting nation and peacebuilding policies. The Ugandan CD-ROM project based on the Nakaseke and Buwama telecentres explained by Mijumbi (2002) provides a good starting point for African women. The women who used the CD-ROM have become more confident, knowledgable, prepared to experiment with new approaches and more willing to compare situations for joint solutions (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). Further, women emerged not only with greater knowledge but also with enriched self-esteem.

Oral histories need to be recorded from the people who participated in making that history. However, conflicts often erase voices. Peace needs to preserve voices. However, when voices are captured, only voices of those with power are captured. Poor women’s voices, those who suffered the tragedies of the conflict are left out. Digital media offers unique ways through which voices that are important and most vulnerable, can be captured and promoted, so as to protect valuable ideas for social change even if their authors are killed. Simple recording devices can be given to communities (keeping in mind gender, age, ethnic, economic, class, caste, religious diversity) and capture their voices that support peace.

Women, youth and children need to be supported in setting up their own small media production houses. National regulations may need to be relaxed particularly in Africa where alternative sources of information are viewed by the governments with scepticism. With the help of donor financial support, acquisition of new technology would make setting up the houses pretty inexpensive. Women and youth media bring very different perspective to peace and conflict reporting as well as general programming. Children and youth have much more access to political leaders than do adults and can get away with asking some seemingly simple but precise questions that go to the heart of peacebuilding.

Innovative websites need to be created in vernacular languages to reach women who are often not educated in foreign languages like English and French. Since most women are impeded by lack of education to engage effectively with ICTs, there is need to ensure ‘soft access’ to less literate and educated by developing appropriate software applications and content. For example, Web 2.0 mash-ups that tell the narratives of those involved in peacebuilding through the use of Flick photos, audio / podcasts, GIS (Google Maps), blogs, mobile video, MMS or SMS (like myspace.com, but geared for peacebuilding) can be used. Projects such as www.witness.org use digital media to record human rights violations. When all these are made accessible to women great strides may be made in solid peacebuilding in Africa. There is no need to continually blame the victims by feeling ‘that women are reluctant to invest either their time in learning how to use the technology or financial resources needed for access’ (Huyer and Sikoska 2003). Women have been severely battered by the weight of masculinity to take further blame for their problems. They have been frequently diasdvantaged by culture and concomitantly by inequitable access to all kinds of resources.

There are challenges for ICT in peacebuilding in spite of its phenomenal potential to augment the interventions of individual women in many areas of peacebuilding process like rebuilding trust between communities, creating dialogues within and between ethnic groups, giving voice to the marginalized women and youth, and enabling grassroot participation in the dialogues related to peacebuilding. What discourages wide and regular use of ICT are the high capital and recurrent costs which most of the women and their organizations cannot meet. This dovetails into the problem of access. By elbowing women out of ICT through bad policies, this dis-empowers them from having a voice in the peacebuilding processes when in fact, ICT must be able to facilitate the building of social capital that can empower women and ‘local communities to grapple with conflicts in a non-violent way’ (Hattotuwa 2004).

The other challenge is the trust that people can conduct critical discussion in virtual spaces while being assured of confidentiality of shared content. This is important in countries where terror and violence is heavily embedded and people cannot afford to trust the next person. How would it be possible to trust a worldly technology that one does not control? Next is sustainability of the ICT in a world where equipment can be novel today and obsolete the next day. The question of compatibility is important as well. There are the issues of breakdowns and back up the problems? of viral invasions and proper software to clean may be discouraging challenges for women who are financially weak due to structural gender imperatives. Further challenges like vernacular content/interface/questions of accessibility, connectivity/infrastructure/ bandwidth, lack of IT knowledge and lack of finance to buy the hardware and software remain prominent. While some of the challenges may be addressed by donor funds, the question of sustainability needs more than donor support but the strengthened arm of the beneficiary.

Finally, the lack of technological ownership by women is a huge challenge to be overcome if women are going to mean much in peacebuilding. A sense of ownership is an important precondition for overcoming the barriers to women’s access to and use of ICTs. To achieve this fullness of ownership, ‘it is important that ICT tools are tailored to the specific needs of women’ (Huyer and Sikoska 2003) and this feat is overcome by serious advocacy by the women themselves for other women. Women need to curve inroads into the realm of policy making to influence the ICT policy making for a gender perspective.

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_________ (2002b) “Information and communication technologies (ICT) and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women: Report from the online conference conducted by the Division for the Advancement of Women” located at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/ict2002/reports/Report-online.PDF.
__________(2000) “Getting Gender into African ICT Policy: A Strategic View.” In Eva M. Rathgeber and Edith Ofwona Adera, Gender and the Information Revolution in Africa. Ottawa:IDRC located at http://www.idrc.ca/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&User_ID=468876&st=3548&st2=-2....
__________(1998) ‘Strategies for including a Gender Perspective in African Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs)’, Paper presented to ECA 40th Anniversary conference on Women and Development located at
http://www.devmedia.org/documents/Marcelle.htm.

KM & Governance

The management of knowledge: best practices learned from the people of the Great Lakes region of Africa

DriesVelt — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:13:55 -0600

Author: Dr Andreas Gerhardus (Dries) Velthuizen

Organizational Affiliation: Centre for African Renaissance Studies, University of South Africa (Academic Associate)

Contact Details: dries@africanwisdom.info - Mobile: +27834736478

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the management of knowledge for conflict resolution and the innovation of Africa. After a brief discussion of the research methodology followed, feedback is provide on field studies conducted in from 2006 to 2008 in Northern Uganda, Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania and in the DRC. As a result of the field study certain principles and practices were identified by which the challenges of Africa could be engaged. The author found five “realms” in which KM can take place and that traditional knowledge practices if merged with more modern KM practices provides a valuable framework for KM for conflict resolution and the innovation of Africa. Best practices that were identified include an intra-connected and collective knowledge production system and the production of tacit knowledge especially among the new generation or “youth”. Furthermore, the importance of intellectual capital in the form of value-driven leadership, competent managers, and expert knowledge workers and the activation of intervention into the continuous spiral of violent conflict, ultimately leading to the innovative transformation of African society, is discussed. Finally, some recommendations are offered as possible solutions for conflict resolution and the innovation of Africa.

INTRODUCTION

Today there is a need in Africa for knowledge for decision-making purposes. Information from official structures such as the African Union (AU), the structures of its member countries, trans-national organisations, business structures, civil society, and indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) should become usable knowledge. Furthermore, it is necessary for African structures to accommodate the perspectives of local communities, the content of IKS, and intellectual capital of society ('higher minds') to ensure understanding of the challenges, prompting active intervention to find solutions.

The question remains: How should African knowledge and knowledge in Africa be managed to resolve conflict and to ensure the innovation of the continent?

The specific aim of the paper therefore is to propose a solution for the management of knowledge, including indigenous knowledge, to achieve desired outcomes for Africa while promoting the “African Renaissance”. The crux of the paper is to present a knowledge management (KM) solution on how to accommodate the wisdom embedded in the indigenous knowledge systems, communities and 'higher minds' of Africa in decision-making and actions together with knowledge brought by the trans-national organisations in a collective middle ground to create a new holistic knowledge.

The paper is the outcome of an extensive literature study and research conducted in the Great lakes of Africa from 2006-2008. After a brief discussion of the research methodology that was followed in Northern Uganda, Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania some good practices were identified for the innovation of Africa through the management of knowledge.

THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research was done by following a multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary systems approach, using a qualitative research methodology on trans-national level.

A review of literature on the philosophy of knowledge, the theory of knowledge management, knowledge in Africa and African knowledge alerted the researcher of a few important themes:

The production of tangible collective knowledge of indigenous society by means of an intra-connected knowledge system.
The creation of tacit understanding by establishing a culture of learning towards a synthesis of knowledge and a holistic understanding for a new generation to develop and to find solutions for the innovation of Africa.
Intellectual capital in the form of value-driven leaders, capable managers and facilitators as well as expert knowledge workers.
The activation of intervention by means of knowledge-driven policy frameworks, strategies, and action plans to stop the cycle of violence that prevents the revival of Africa.
The knowledge-driven innovative transformation of the normative foundation of African society.

The Great Lakes region of Africa (with specific reference to the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda), was chosen as the general universum of the study because of the number of unresolved or managed conflicts in the area, and intense knowledge management activities related to conflict resolution.

A pilot study was conducted by means of content analysis of empirical literature related to KM for conflict resolution in the Great lakes region as well as preliminary exploration by means of travelling in the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda to make observations and to identify key informers and focus groups for the study.

Consequently, samples within the following units of analysis were selected that meets the criteria for selection

The Traditional Acholi Conflict Resolution System in Uganda
The Gacaca Court System in Rwanda
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha

The main investigation was conducted in these “samples” through:

Content analysis of literature available in East Africa and published by East Africans on indigenous conflict prevention methods.
Interpretative interaction with people involved in the selected cases during fieldwork in Kampala, Gulu, Kigali and the ICTR.
Qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews with selected key informers (specialists, professionals, and members of the communities and organisations) focussing on KM activities related to the specific conflict management cases.

The result of this research is some important concepts that can be serve as best practices for the management of knowledge for the innovation of African society.

THE INTRA-CONNECTED AND COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION SYSTEM

Research revealed a 'trans-dimensional KM paradigm’ that involves collective knowledge including knowledge claims from the African village (the traditional knowledge realm), the religions of the community (a religious knowledge realm), official structures (formal knowledge realm), judicial structures (judicial knowledge realm) and trans-national organisations involved in the community (global knowledge realm). Collectively these knowledge claims forms the indigenous knowledge of African society, when collective middle ground is found in the context of social capital of the community involved.

According to Dia (1996, 241), the first requirement for knowledge production is the need for a new participatory process that focuses on building convergences between formal and informal institutions, empowering beneficiaries and local communities. Reconciliation between indigenous groups and formal institutions brings together dominant societal values of indigenous cultures as well as technical and organisational ideologies supporting modern institutions. Convergence begins when both formal and indigenous recognise the need for sustained interaction. Renewing, informal institutions need to create relationships with adaptive formal ones, revolving around programmes and projects, releasing synergy between the interacting institutions and achieving institutional convergence.

Nabudere (2006a) concludes that nowadays business, communities and several non-academic settings, where groups of people from different disciplines and institutions come together, are centres of learning. Boundaries that used to exist between academic and non-academic learning is becoming blurred, as the ‘excluded middle’ is increasingly included. Policies must work towards a new convergence, which recognises that knowledge is necessary for production, and that other communities seek interlocking networks of economic and social relationships globally as Africa moves into a 'learning economy'.

The pilot study in the Great Lakes region disclosed the following knowledge management “realms” related to a collective and intra-connected knowledge production system.

The African Traditional Knowledge Realm. On this level the traditional knowledge of Africa, including the knowledge embedded in collective memory and articulated in African language narrative is accessed in a spirit of Ubuntu2 to gather data on how to prevent or resolve violent conflict.
The Indigenous Knowledge Realm. In this realm, the unique tacit or explicit normative knowledge and scientific/empirical knowledge claims embedded in the political, religious and traditional African society, including the universal knowledge claims that originate from outside Africa and that became indigenised in African society, is gathered and processed in a central point with new knowledge for decisions and actions as an output.
The Collective Knowledge Realm. This realm involves the finding of collective middle ground where the indigenous knowledge claims of Africa and the knowledge claims of entities outside Africa (sometimes represented by trans-national organisations such as multi-national corporations and the UN) complement each other equally in a formal and informal way, through the implementation of good KM practices.
The Social Capital Realm. In this realm social capital in the form of intricate trans-national and intra-societal networks of individuals and knowledge centres intra-act in a supportive dynamic trans-realm where knowledge is shared and renewed in a horizontal relationship, continuously seeking new synthesis and holistic perspective of the causes, development and consequences of conflict and opportunities to prevent or resolve it.

The new paradigm emerged that can be illustrated as follows:

The manifestation of the paradigm was found during field research in Gulu, Northern Uganda. It was found that the traditional system of the Acholi people enjoys an intra-connected relationship with broader society during which new knowledge is created. It was found that traditional knowledge is used extensively by organisations in Gulu to manage the consequences of internal conflict (with specific reference to the activities of the Lords Resistance Army during three decades of internal war). In contrast, it was found that an organisation such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not succeed in contributing to KM for conflict resolution in a similar way or with similar impact and the challenge remains in finding common ground between the indigenous society and the trans-national institution.

The observation in Uganda was confirmed during field research in Rwanda. It was found that the Gacaca court system3 allows for a structured way of maintaining an intra-connected relationship with broader society during which new knowledge is created. It also appeared sufficient common ground exist between the practices of Gacaca and the modern KM practices represented by the ICTR in Arusha4. However, it was found that traditional and indigenous knowledge inputs are only used by both systems as evidence, and do not result in production of sufficient knowledge for decision-making in contributing to KM for conflict resolution to such and extent that it would assist in the eradication of conflict.

Furthermore, it was found that the social networks and intellectual capital of Rwanda, together with a system based on traditional Gacaca practices, provides sufficient opportunity for peace and restorative justice. The challenge is in finding common ground not only between Gacaca and the ICTR, but also with actors in the global community in an equal and complementary fashion.

THE CREATION OF A NEW HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING BY A NEW GENERATION

The research found that both tacit knowledge and tangible knowledge products, produced in knowledge centres created for that purpose as part of an indigenous knowledge system, could contribute to better understanding in the form of knowledge synthesis and holistic perspective, especially among the youth and an emerging new generation of leaders. In these centres knowledge production takes place through the processing of information (including indigenous knowledge) into tangible innovative knowledge products that provides early warning of conflict, lessons learned from conflict resolution initiatives and recommends specific solutions, as well as the creation of tacit understanding by means of skills development, formal courses, mentoring programs, coaching, counselling, and distance learning, including the use of information and communication technology (ICT) platforms to collaborate through the communication, storage and display of knowledge.

Nonaka (1998, 21) discussed the 'knowledge creating company' and proposed that the creation of new knowledge depends on tapping the subjective insights, intuitions and ideals of workers. He uses the example of 'holistic knowledge creation' as a tool for innovation in Japanese society. Garvin (1998) described the 'learning organisation' by saying that before people and companies can improve, they must first learn. People must be skilled at systematic problem solving, experimentation with new approaches, learning from experience and best practices, accompanied by quick and efficient transfer of knowledge through the whole organisation. Pelissier (2001) found that if the organisation is knowledge-based, it means that knowledge and business intelligence are competitive weapons in a borderless environment.

Gutto (2006, 306-320) argues that 'the primary purpose of education, formal or non-formal, is the development of interrelated and interdependent sets of human capacity to think, to know and to act by honing social consciousness or awareness, values and skills. This requires understanding of the interrelatedness and interdependence of knowledge systems, creative utilization of ICT, enhanced networking and distance learning.

According to Nabudere (2002b), African epistemology starts with the recognition that all knowledge is valid within its own cultural environment. Conditions must be created for communication and recognition of the contribution of each entity. This hermeneutic approach requires an African contribution that concurs with the needs of self-emancipation, while drawing on cultural heritage, taking into account new developments. Therefore tools must be developed to draw on the deeply embedded indigenous knowledge systems of Africa, including its practical knowledge, and build on it technical knowledge that can be of value in a global world.

These findings were reinforced by solutions proposed by ESCOM during a workshop on 17 and 18 February 2009 in Midrand, South Africa. Organisational learning should take place through mentoring programs, capturing of “lessons learned” and staff collaboration in communities of practice. Learning can be facilitated by “Grey Beard Mentors” (experienced people who already left the organisation) or by employees that will soon leave the organisation. Tools can be used to transfer best practices such as the design and development of courses, the use of case-study templates and collaborative technological platforms to do e-learning. The output should be to create understanding of the system by people on “grass-roots” or “coal-face” level.

During the pilot study in the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda the good practice of production of knowledge in knowledge centres in the form of early warning and foresight of the probability of incidents that might occur in the short term (such as genocide), or in the long-term, the probability of conflict in and among societies. Furthermore, it could deliver a more tacit knowledge product in the form of a person with a new vision of the future, learning new values, understanding of the causes and consequences of conflict and changed behavior, including managerial excellence and vocational skills.

During field studies, specific examples of these practices were found. Several centres of knowledge production and learning initiatives were found in the small town of Gulu. The traditional structures and culture of learning of the Acholi manifest in extensive social capital in local, regional and international context, nurtured by supportive organisations and individuals throughout the years of conflict. Coupled with the capacity to use modern ICT to disseminate knowledge to and receive knowledge from other centres, the social capital of the Acholi yields suitable conditions for knowledge production.

Observation and interviews on the Gacaca Court System in Rwanda revealed that epistemologically the procedures on village level are of value to create an understanding of the forces at play before and during the genocide. Especially when the intellectual capital of a jury as a form of community of practices is applied, an accurate view of actual events may emerge. Although not directly and immediately useful to eradicate ideologies such as racism and genocide, it may lead to a complete understanding of the underlying causes and consequences, an understanding that will be useful for actions to prevent similar events from recurring.

During the main study at the ICTR in Arusha it was found that involvement in the trans-national organisation means entering a culture of learning. The opportunity presents itself to African society to enhance professional and managerial competence, become multi-skilled and adaptable, and to learn from a culture that promotes managerial excellence, performance value-based learning, and the maintenance of standards required for service to others.

In 2007 and 2008, after ten-month long training projects under the auspices of the security sector reform initiative in the DRC it was concluded that value-based transfer of knowledge, following a trans-disciplinary (as opposed to specialisation) and multi-platform approach (training specialists but as part of a system) in a practical environment ensure lasting skills and capacity. The tacit outcomes of the training is a new generation of middle-level managers and specialists who understand the values of peace (as opposed to violence), self-emancipation (as opposed to domination), professional conduct (as opposed to corruption), justice (as opposed to impunity), national pride, trust, respect and the importance of becoming part of peaceful solutions in the region.

THE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL OF AFRICA: VALUE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP; COMPETENT MANAGERS AND EXPERT KNOWLEDGE WORKERS

During research in the Great Lakes region, it was found that intellectual capital in the form of value-driven leaders, competent managers and facilitators, expert knowledge workers (including ICT experts) work together in multi-cultural working groups or communities of practice to share worldviews and learn from each other. Together they form an intellectual capital pool of people with trans-disciplinary insight, holistic knowledge, cultural awareness and innovative thinking. The opportunities exist for the empowerment of Africans to participate equally as value-driven leaders in the production of new knowledge.

A recent study by the Department of Industrial Psychology, University of Stellenbosch (Du Toit, Engelbrecht and Pooven 2006) revealed that traditional African values, although in congruence with many universal ethical values, place more emphasis upon collectivism, collaboration, caring, dignity and respect. It is argued that these values should underlie a value-based leadership style to enhance team performance in modern organisations through better integration and understanding of a multi-cultural workforce and the management of diversity with a focus on teams.

In the ICTR it was found that value-driven leaders, competent managers and facilitators, expert knowledge workers representative of society (not only governments) are involved in joint working groups where they can participate in an equal relationship. Leadership is strongly value driven, especially concerning the universal values of justice, peace, respect and dignity. This environment creates an opportunity for Africans to participate and leadership role in modern trans-national institutions for not only the immediate purpose of seeking justice done and preventing further conflict, but also to exert positive African values such as self-emancipation and competitiveness toward a convergent relationship with the rest of the global community.

A further good practice that was found at the ICTR is the concept of an 'inter-disciplinary and representative knowledge pool' of intellectual capital consisting of productive leaders, managers and experts from within African society. Because KM supports the 'common cause', the identification of capable people from a knowledge pool is the ideal situation. The criteria for belonging to the pool include diversity in terms of geographical origin and the advancement of women. Specific expert skills like those of translators, security staff,' and base administrators' with multiple skills and inter-disciplinary ability, are needed. Leaders with an understanding of the system who are adaptable to a trans-national environment and innovative thinking must be in key positions. The ideal person should be an innovator with a will to meet targets.

It became evident that value-driven leadership, supported by a pool of capable managers and experts, is vital to activate innovative solutions to complex challenges facing Africa.

THE ACTIVATION OF INTERVENTION TO RESOLVE CONFLICT

One of the main conclusions of the research indicated that to activate intervention in conflict, knowledge-driven adjustment of policies, strategy and contingency planning are necessary to resolve conflict and to maintain peace. To this end collectiveness and the finding of common ground among conflicting parties as a first step towards peace and growth are vital.

One of the first steps towards the achievement of this objective was the 2004 AU Summit, which adopted a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on KM responsibilities. According to the MoU, RECs should maintain a database and transmit quarterly reports to the PSC of the AU. Regular networking must be ensured, including visits by officials charged with implementation and REC representatives must attend AU meetings. Focal points must be created for liaison between regional mechanisms and the mechanisms within the AU. A guideline that was given is that conflict situations on the continent should be monitored by gathering information based on specific indicators.
Perhaps the most important integrated project for creating a peaceful and secure environment for African development is the establishment of a Continental Early Warning System (CEWS) of the AU. According to the Protocol of the Peace and Security Council (PSC), timely information collected through a CEWS will be used by the Peace and Security Council on potential conflicts and threats to peace and security in Africa. The CEWS is linked to regional situation rooms. Decisions on the best course of action will be based on this intelligence, and should preventive diplomacy fail, peacekeepers may be deployed to prevent violence. (AU 2005).

Neuland & Venter (2005, 25) assert that policy measures of governments and governmental institutions to deal with conflict resolution in the NEPAD context should be complemented by a public peace process and a convergence of the roles of citizens, public organisations and NGOs with the role of government during conflict resolution. The causes of many conflicts are outside the reach of government-based diplomacy and the role of citizens and public organisations is crucial in building positive political relationships between people in conjunction with official peace processes, focussing on systematic dialogue among individuals, transformation to end violence and to build peace.

During field research in Gulu, it was found that the traditional justice system of the Acholi provides a valuable framework of KM practices that can be used for conflict resolution. The traditional initiative proved to be a knowledge driven process providing for the gathering of empirical data from the memory and narrative of the exact original observer or participant, and for context unique to the specific culture. It was found that traditional practices are reconcilable with modern KM practices, even to the point where the keepers of traditional knowledge can participate in modern collective knowledge activities where tangible knowledge is produced, lending a particular indigenous character to the knowledge product. Furthermore, it was found that traditional and indigenous knowledge inputs are used extensively by organisations in Gulu to produce a synthetic renewable knowledge because of intra-connectedness and convergence in a collective middle ground with the traditional community as part of broader Acholi society. It is especially in Gulu where the trend towards equal complementary nature of IKS and modern knowledge systems were discovered. The intra-action between the church leaders and traditional leaders can be considered as a good example of a traditional system that allows for extending traditional structures towards an intra-connected relationship with broader society during which new knowledge is created.

On the contrary, it was found that institutions such as the ICC and ICTR do not succeed in contributing to KM for conflict resolution to such and extent that it would assist in the eradication of conflict. The gathering of evidence to prosecute within a modern legal framework, serve mainly the prosecution strategies and corporate interests of the organisation and produces very little current knowledge that could be used for early-warning and planning purposes.

KNOWLEDGE-DRIVEN INNOVATION OF AFRICAN SOCIETY

During the field studies in the Great Lakes of Africa, it was found that it is in the realm of the African Renaissance where the totality of a holistic knowledge foundation serves to eradicate the causes and consequences of conflict. It was found that productive growth, competitiveness, self-emancipation, empowerment of the marginalised and restoring of equilibrium between African society and the global economy can only be attained through the innovative transformation of thinking away from negative values that drives conflict, to be replaced by a new thinking driven by values such as peace, freedom, and the spirit of Ubuntu.

The African Renaissance philosophy, which is about developing Africans and Africa, is a call for the rebirth, renewal, reinvention and repositioning of Africans and Africa in a globalizing world. The African Renaissance is seen as the rebirth of the continent after centuries of suppression, correcting negative images. Rebirth must be through rediscovery of Africa's past, reversing the downfall into chaos. It is about planning for the future based on a new knowledge framework accommodating the ideas and philosophies that created the great empires of Ghana, Monomotapa, Songhai and Mali. (Gutto 2006).

According to Nabudere (2002b, 13) the African renaissance has to be a globally humanizing experience involving whole masses of people under the enlightenment of 'global Ubuntu', which enables people to struggle for humanism and emancipation alongside oppressed humanity. Ubuntu does not seek to dominate and exploit; it can only seeks to liberate the African as a means of humanizing the world. The objective is to bring about social transformation in African societies. Research in Africa must seek to liberate and empower the marginalised to fight for their rights for self-transformation.

During field research, it was found that the immediate expectation of the people of the Great Lakes are that the continuous spiral of violent conflict must change into peace and reconciliation, before an African renaissance or any development initiatives can be possible. A first step after peace appears to be a need for justice, taking into account the need to restore normality where dysfunctions in society persist, and to reconnect people where connections were destroyed by conflict. The expectation is that this will lead to psychological healing, replacing the psychological causes of the conflict with the principles of Ubuntu, characterised by interconnectedness, togetherness, humaneness, respect and dignity. Only after restoration, reconnection and healing can the expectations of lasting human security, freedom to exercise human rights, production to relieve poverty and improved quality of life be fulfilled. The ultimate expected outcomes are self-emancipation from domination, transformative socio-economic growth, innovation in all aspects of life, towards a situation where African countries can project competitiveness in a global context in order to restore the historic disequilibrium and reach a new convergence with the rest of the world.

CONCLUSIONS

The first realm of knowledge management in Africa, as learned from field studies in the Great Lakes of Africa, involves collection of information based on confessions and investigation on village level, both in the cases of Gacaca and the traditional practices of conflict resolution of the Acholi. What is distinct here is the public nature of hearings as effective checks to determine the truth. The practices of traditional justice embedded in society and combined with modern practices, were observed. What is especially significant is that a new awareness has to be created of traditional practices to resolve Cold War- related conflicts and impunity.

The second realm of indigenous knowledge involves the broader context of society, visible in both Acholiland and Rwanda. Conventional modern justice systems are already formally integrated with the traditional system, political system and religions as part of one process. An advanced synergy has already been reached involving most actors with knowledge claims originating from traditional culture, religion, politics and modern justice. Traditional knowledge and the norms of Ubuntu complement knowledge brought by the pillars of modern society.

The third realm of collective knowledge management in a middle ground, reflecting the importance of intra-action and interaction among centres, was identified. The role of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the government of Rwanda and relations between the traditional leaders of Acholi and the rest of Ugandan society are examples of these. Since the inception of Gacaca and the revival of the traditional system of Gacaca, the importance of intra-active communication has been realised. Communication between Arusha and Kigali and between Gulu and the ICC appeared to be problematic for various reasons. It is in these challenges that the need for principles and practices on how to develop as complementary epistemological relationship, formal or informal, in a common ground between entities to resolve conflict, were identified.

The fourth realm of social capital manifested itself as a complicated network of 'stake-holders' who are involved in the quest for justice and reconciliation (e.g. the ICC and the ICTR). It is concerning the use of social capital for conflict resolution that the need for good practices for intra-active relationship among global, regional and local entities was detected.

A fifth realm of innovative transformation of post-conflict societies through the fusion of knowledge was identified. The expectation of lasting peace in both Uganda and Rwanda and the resulting transformative growth and reconciliation, calls for effective intervention to prevent continued conflict. Apart from the current temporary solution of military intervention, learning interventions and the development of intellectual capital by institutions outside the conflict, targeting the next generation of leaders, promises to have a more lasting effect on the peaceful transformation of the Great Lakes society.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the conclusions, the following practical solutions are recommended:

Government and organisations should refine processes involving gathering of data from the realm of the ‘lawn’ or village, the processing of information in community-based information centres, synthesis of interpretation in a an intra-connected and collective community of practice where vital decisions are made that would activate intervention and innovation.

The leaders of African society must continue to build trust, respect and cohesion between African Society and its partners that are involved in or support reconciliation efforts in order to plug into the wealth of knowledge offered by the global community.
The leaders of African society should involve the whole society, on not only organisational level but also accommodating the right of every citizen to contribute to the creation of knowledge. The managers of modern knowledge systems must adopt good practices from the traditional culture of Africa to solve modern problems in contemporary situations.

Service providers in education, training and development should develop a culture of learning among the new generation with the focus on creating a holistic understanding of the causes and consequences of conflict and measures to prevent the cycle of violence to continue. Moreover, it would require knowledge-driven transformation of society by means of learning interventions and value-driven development of intellectual capital to eradicate the thinking of class-consciousness, racism and impunity replacing it with universally accepted positive values.

African communities and organisations involved in Africa should establish inter-disciplinary and “Representative Knowledge Pools” of intellectual capital consisting of value-driven leaders, capable managers and expert knowledge workers as drivers of knowledge management in Africa.

Instruments such as the Gacaca court system and the international criminal justice system promised to be suitable instruments to ensure lasting peace. Whatever instrument is chosen would require the eradication of boundaries with local communities allowing for the management of knowledge in the specific episteme according to best practices, focussing on the use of social capital, transcending artificial boundaries between people towards sufficient common ground for lasting peace, productivity, socio-economic growth and competitiveness in the international arena.

REFERENCES

African Union. 2003. Report of workshop on the establishment of the AU Continental Early Warning System (CEWS). Unpublished official document. Addis Ababa: AU Headquarters.
African Union. 2005. Communiqué of the second periodic meeting of the African Union (AU) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) on peace and security. Unpublished document. Addis Ababa: AU Headquarters.
Dia, M. 1996. Africa’s management in the 1990s and beyond. Reconciling indigenous and transplanted institutions. Washington: World Bank.
Du Toit, M.K., A.S. Engelbrecht and N.Poovan. 2006. The effect of the social values of Ubuntu on team effectiveness. South African Journal of Business Management, Vol.37, no. 3, September 2006.
Garvin, D.A. 1998. Building a learning organisation. In Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management, ed. P. Drucker, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Gutto, S. 2006. Towards a new paradigm for Pan-African knowledge production and application in the context of the African Renaissance. International Journal for African Renaissance Studies. Vol.1, No. 2. Centre for African Renaissance Studies, Pretoria:.UNISA.
Nabudere, D.W. 2002a. NEPAD: Historical background and its prospects. Paper presentation at the African forum for envisioning Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, 26 – 29 April 2002. www.hollerafrica.com/pdf/vol1AfricanRenSep_Oct_2004.pdf, retrieved March 2007.
Nabudere, D.W. 2002b. The epistemological and methodological foundations for an all- inclusive research paradigm for “field building” and inter-subjective accommodation. Mbale: Africa Study Centre.
Nabudere, D.W. 2006. The developmental state, democracy and the global society in Africa Paper for DBSA/HSRC/Wits NEPAD Conference 'Investment Choices for Education In Africa', 19-21 September 2006, Johannesburg.
Neuland, E and D.J.Venter. 2005. Conflict and governance: Nepad, South Africa and Africa. University of Pretoria: Institute for Business Innovation.
Nonaka, I. 1998. The knowledge creating company. In Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management ed. P. Drucker. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Pellissier, R. 2001. Searching for the quantum organization. Midrand: IPG.

KM & Governance

Green Jobs for the Poor: A Public Employment Approach

carol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:05:36 -0600

This paper explores the potential for governments to create 'green jobs' in developing countries by funding public employment activities to preserve biodiversity, restore degraded land, combat erosion, and conserve water. The paper draws on the experiences of the Working for Water programme in South Africa and the National Rural Employment Guarantee in India.

By :Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song Discussion Paper, April 2009

UNDP Poverty Resources UNDP Website
Wet-Africa.org Waterway Transformation Africa Wet-Africa Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Knowledge Sharing Toolkit

carol — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:35:20 -0600

Authors: White,N.; Lamoureux,L.; Staiger-Rivas,S.
Produced by: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (2009)

The Institutional Knowledge Sharing (KS) Project together with CGIAR Center partners has been experimenting with a range of KS tools and methods over the past five years and has recently been assembling these and many others into this toolkit. It is an evolving resource, continually updated, edited, expanded, and critiqued and it's aimed at scientists, research support teams, and administrators working in international development agencies, with a special emphasis on those engaged in agriculture and agricultural research.

The Knowledge Sharing Toolkit has been designed as a wiki - a highly interactive and collaborative website - where registered users can add tools and methods, edit existing pages, insert comments and anecdotes, or even list themselves as contacts if they have had experience with a particular tool or method.

The toolkit is based on first identifying a knowledge sharing need first and then finding the most appropriate tools and methods to meet this need. These needs are divided as follows:

Relationship building needs For example, improving relations between regional offices, managing
networks, opening up spaces for open dialogue with stakeholders
Planning, monitoring and evaluation needs For example, developing a strategic planning process, providing evidence of the difference made by a project or organisation, reflecting on processes and sharing lessons learnt
Delivery - For example, enhancing demand driven research initiatives, facilitation the adaptation and adoption of research outputs by beneficiaries and stakeholders
Collaboration For example, facilitating effective collaborative practices, supporting collaboration between wide-spread teams, different approaches to meetings
Knowledge capture and dissemination For example, how to point to and share digital materials available on
the internet, dealing with large volumes of materials produced and found on the internet, getting people to share their knowledge face to face and online Users can also search the toolkit or find the best tool or method for them using the key words (tags).

The toolkit is available online on KSToolkit.org Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Governance

A Users' Guide to Measuring Local Governance (2009) UNDP Oslo Governance Centre

storytelling — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:15:46 -0600

This is a useful guide from the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre on the evaluation of the many tools to measure Local Government. Specifically the guide covers:

Urban Governance Index (UN-HABITAT)
Local Governance Barometer (Impact Alliance)
Good Governance for Local Development – GOFORGOLD Index (Afghanistan)
Local Democracy Assessment Guide (International IDEA)
Indicators of Local Democratic Governance (Tocqueville Research Centre & OSI)
Methodological Guidelines for Local Governance Analysis (UNDP)
Governance Index (Indonesia, Kemitraan - Partnership)
Measuring Municipal Performance – MIDAMOS (Paraguay)
Observatory of Democracy in Central America: System of Legal and Institutional Governance Indicators for Central America (Centro Estudios para el Futuro)
Desde lo Local – Strategic Decentralization for Local Development (Mexico)
Council of Europe’s Guide to Developing Well-Being & Progress Indicators with Citizens - Application of the Governance Module in Timisoara (Romania)
Citizen Report Cards (Public Affairs Centre, India)
Social Audit of Local Governance (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Social Audit of Governance and Delivery of Public Services (Pakistan)
Local Governance Self-Assessment (Bangladesh)
Governance for Local Development Index - GOFORDEV Index (Philippines)
Assessments Informing Performance Based Grant Systems (UNCDF)
Local Governance Performance Management System (Philippines)
Index of Responsibility, Transparency and Accountability (Macedonia)
Standards of Municipal Transparency (Chile)
Local Integrity Initiative (Global Integrity)
Methodology for the Assessment of Capacity of Municipalities in Turkey and the Western Balkans to Deliver Basic Services (UNDP)

KM & Governance

European Public Sector Information (PSI) Platform

KMAadmin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:44:10 -0600

The European PSI Platform is funded under the European Commission’s eContentplus Programme and builds upon the work of the ePSIplus Thematic Network (September 2006 to February 2009) . The current site will remain but over the next few months you will notice changes to the design and structure as the European PSI Platform develops. All of the content published by the ePSIplus Network will be maintained and new content will be published. The European PSI Platform is an interactive one-stop shop which provides:

News about European PSI re-use developments
Emerging good practices
Examples of new products and services
Information about legal cases on the re-use of PSI
Facilities for discussion, communication and information sharing across the European PSI community

The aim is to further stimulate action and monitor progress towards a stronger and more transparent environment for the growth of national and European markets in the re-use of PSI.

Further information available at European Public Sector Information (PSI) Platform EPSI Website

KM & Governance

The challenges and opportunities for implementing KM in public agencies in South Africa

storytelling — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:36:36 -0600

By: Dr Nhamo W. Samasuwo, Learning and Innovation Subunit, Development Programme Services Unit (DPSU) Independent Development Trust (IDT), South Africa

Introduction

Although Knowledge Management (KM) as a discipline had been in existence for over decade now, its impact on the public sector seems to have remained minimal at best, or at worst, ineffectual. The apparent minimal impact which KM seems to have made on the public sector is in deep contrast to the public sector’s well documented role in producing groundbreaking knowledge in the fields of humanities, sciences and development alike. Research on the subject also suggests that older management theories have previously and successfully migrated from the private to the public sector with value enhancing impact.1 The apparent difficulties faced in institutionalizing knowledge management in the public sector in general has tempted some scholars to explain away the situation in terms of the incompatibility arising from knowledge management’s bottom-line “business-driven origins” or “citizenship in corporate environments.”2 Thus, despite its strong private sector pedigree, knowledge management still has special validity in the public sector where multi-governance imperatives for a people-centred, responsive, innovative and flexible government mean that old and costly mistakes cannot be repeated in perpetuity, and often without serious negative social consequences on the governed. As in other developed countries, the governments in Africa not only have a responsibility to ensure the continued economic viability of their respective countries, but they also have to spearhead and drive an innovative, learning and effective public sector which is able to deliver services efficiently and eradicates chronic poverty.3

This paper tries to critically examine the key challenges and opportunities for implementing and integrating knowledge management in key development agencies which fall under the Department of Public Works (DPW) in South Africa. While there is abundant literature on the potential of knowledge management to deliver value in the public sector in South Africa and beyond, little or no scholarly effort seems to have been spared for a critical analysis of the state of implementation and integration of knowledge management in the country’s key “change agents” or development agencies in general. This is despite the fact that knowledge management has long been recognised as key imperative in development best practice and a driving force for pubic sector reform and innovation in most developed countries. Suffice to say that development agencies in South Africa have a special role to play in closing the debilitating economic disparities and bridging the divide between what commentators and policy makers alike have referred to as the “first” and “second” economies. As if to make matters worse, all existing platforms for collaboration and knowledge sharing that have emerged in the public sector seem perpetually condemned to remain as mere talk-shops offering no practical solutions on how to knowledge management can have a real transformative and developmental impact on the country’s public sector in general.

The knowledge economy imperatives and the Public Sector

Just like elsewhere, public service managers and administration in South Africa have to contend with intractable and multiple challenges of the 21st century. These challenges range from creating sustainable decent jobs, keeping new human security threats such as diseases at bay and creating new knowledge for the creation of resilient, sustainable and cohesive communities. They also have to ensure that the education system meets the needs of a contemporary knowledge economy and repair decaying social infrastructure. In South Africa, where decades of apartheid social engineering created the twin evils of racial social marginalisation and hard infrastructure disparities, the public sector managers face the daunting task of developing new infrastructure programmes that go beyond delivering widgets. In other words, they have to deliver development outcomes based on new knowledge that supports innovative anti-poverty interventions.

In the current global environment, every public sector has to promote the country’s global competitiveness in economic and knowledge terms. In fact, in South Africa, just as elsewhere, the public sector can no longer escape the reality that “knowledge and innovation [have become] the life blood of development.”4 The public sector has to think globally and act locally because of increasing competition in the area of service and policy making by other new global players or non-state actors. For example, one observable new trend is that non-state actors such as civil society, non governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector have started to directly challenge and compete with government for resources to deliver services to citizens. This has forced the public sector in general to actively take part in a new “global war for top talent.”5 The public sector can no longer afford to be the proverbial retirement home where the country’s best minds go to die. On the contrary, the civil service has to continually reform and transform itself through the creation, acquisition, dissemination and deployment of new knowledge.6 Such a paradigm shift will only take place if systems are put in place if knowledge management is mainstreamed and is used as a catalyst to create a culture of learning and innovation.

KM initiatives in the Department of Public Works

The implementation of knowledge management in South Africa’s public service has been largely spearheaded by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). The DPSA, through its Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI), has helped develop a platform for knowledge sharing and dissemination across the public service. Since efforts on implementing knowledge management in the public service started around 2003, there has been a stampede by various government departments “to do KM” as way of engineering the renewal and transformation of the civil service in general. The stampede has since given rise to a range of uncoordinated knowledge management interventions and the setting up of units with the sole responsibility of the broader institutional mandate to promote a knowledge-based culture or approach to service delivery. The underpinning objective was to make sure that the public sector avoided the wasting of valuable resources either by re-inventing the wheel, duplicating functions or repeating the same mistakes. Put simply, the expectation was/is that knowledge management should help create a smart working and knowledge-driven public service capable of running a developmental state.7

Given its pivotal role in service delivery, the Department of Public Works (DPW), often in collaboration with the DPSA, has sought to embed knowledge management and knowledge sharing as a new way of implementing government mandates across its family of major public entities such as the Independent Development Trust (IDT), Council for the Built Environment (CBE) and Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB)8. While the DPW has tried to take a more holistic and strategic approach to knowledge management in pubic entities through the Research Directorate located in the Strategic Management Unit, the public entities referred to above seem to have individually chosen to embark on separate initiatives to turn themselves into learning organisations. Despite this, efforts are still underway to develop an institutional-wide programme that is aimed at integrating knowledge management activities between the DPW and its public entities.

The envisaged plan is aimed at leveraging the existing pool of information and knowledge to promote cross-functional learning across the DPW as a whole. Thus, the Knowledge Management and Research Directorate embarked on a process to:

Conduct a situational analysis / information and knowledge assessment audit of information and knowledge management practice across Department.
Develop an Information and Knowledge Management Strategy aligned to the goals of the DPW.
Position and institutionalise knowledge management.
Develop a better coordinated implementation, and
Facilitate collaborative linkages between units within the DPW and the public entities

Key milestones in the context of the KM Life cycle

Although the introduction of knowledge management across the DPW’s various units and family of public entities appears to taken place in the absence of a broad framework strategy, certain milestones in terms implementation have been covered with varying results. The progress made so far by DPW and its public agencies is captured in the KM life cycle in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: KM Life Cycle and Milestones in the DPW and Principal Public Agencies9

Key:

Birth: This stage represents the stage at which KM is conceived.
Premature birth: This represents a false start to KM.
Over birth: At this state the institution knows the importance of KM, but levels of enthusiasm are not matched by institutional systems and internal culture.
Toddler: At this stage, the new or fledgling KM initiative struggles to thrive and constantly battling nourishment and sufficient budgetary support.
Adolescence: This stage represents the trial and error state characterised by pilot projects, platforms for sharing and processes for documenting knowledge.
Adult: This is the embedding stage where an institution starts reaching out to explore collaboration with actors in networks.
Mature: At this stage, the institution has reached a viable knowledge culture is thriving and KM becomes the way of doing business, albeit under active support by champions.
Death/re-birth: This is the stage at which the institution has become a learning organisation and KM sufficiently internalised rendering existence of a separate KM unit redundant. Even more crucially, this is the stage at which in human terms, old knowledge becomes completely obsolete and new knowledge becomes extremely necessary for society’s continued sustenance, existence and survival.

Knowledge management milestones: analysis

The progress made in terms of knowledge management implementation and integration was extensively discussed during a workshop between DPW and its public entities hosted on the 22nd of October 2008 by the Learning and Innovation subunit at the IDT. During the workshop, knowledge managers from different public entities made presentations on the state and progress made on knowledge management in their respective organisations. All participants were encouraged to measure their progress against the stages in the knowledge management life cycle and to make comments on the internal challenges they faced as well as propose the way forward. The following results came out from the workshop.

DPW

It emerged during the workshop that the DPW, as the principal department of the public entities, has made significant progress in terms of implementation across its various internal units. In terms of progress, the DPW had reached the level of integration and implementation somewhere between the adolescent and adult stages as indicated in Figure 1 above. It was noted that the department showed greater awareness of the strategic value of knowledge management. Furthermore, various initiatives such as workshops, Ideas Festival and a library Week had been started to get the process moving. It was pointed out during the workshop that DPW was also initiating a public entity-wide Community of Practice (CoP) and developing a strategy framework to guide the implementation plan process.

While it was noted that the various units in DPW had young and energetic staff, the following factors were noted as the main challenges affecting the implementation and integration of knowledge management across the various units. The following factors were noted as key impediments:

marginalisation of knowledge management champions.
Failure of management support to filter down.
Frustration with outdated and poorly maintained IT systems with limited bandwidth.
Lack of a conducive environment for creative thinking and innovation.
Lack of simple policy and procedural guides to perform tasks.
Frustration arising from multiple lines of reporting.
Constantly changing reporting formats that impact negatively on the documentation of knowledge
Rigid business processes.

IDT

Compared to all other public agencies that fall under the DPW, the IDT seemed to have made more progress over a relatively short period of time. The adoption of knowledge management in the IDT forms part of the agency’s long-term vision to become the leading knowledge-based development agency of choice in South Africa. During the workshop, it emerged that the IDT stands at the adolescence stage. Besides having a dedicated function with a budget, IDT already has a strategy framework and road map to drive the implementation of its knowledge management initiatives. A more recent reflection of progress made on such initiatives was successful hosting of the first Development Week in the history of the IDT. Other initiatives underway include the implementation of a research and evaluation programme that is aimed at generating new knowledge based on the organisation’s development experience. The IDT has established various platforms for sharing knowledge such as development dialogues that draw on the knowledge and feedback from internal and external stakeholders such as communities that benefit from its programmes.

However, despite these achievements, the IDT is still battling with the devolution of knowledge management practice and integration across its dispersed staff located in various regions across South Africa. The IDT has regional staff based in offices located in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), Western Cape (WC), Gauteng, North West (NW), Eastern Cape (EC), Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State and Northern Cape (NC). One of the main challenges the IDT faces is lack of capacity to capture and document knowledge. An internal and organisation-wide knowledge management needs analysis carried out in 200810 summarised the state of knowledge management in the IDT by making the following recommendations:

Develop an incentive system to support the knowledge management initiatives;
Establish knowledge sharing platforms;
Make knowledge management part of performance management system;
Create a new culture conducive to knowledge management
Build capacity of staff to carry out research as knowledge management cannot be implemented effectively on a low skills base;
Promote staff exposure and networking;
Build user friendly and interactive intranet with portals for sharing knowledge;
Develop simple de-briefing and handover procedures for staff leaving the organisation;
Provide support for knowledge management initiatives in the regions;
Conduct proper research to document existing knowledge and also to capture and create new knowledge;
Pilot innovative development models based on development experience;
Creating a new culture in which mistakes and failures are regarded as part of the learning process;
Eradicate silos and “functional segregation” to allow for greater synergies and integration of thinking

CIDB

In contrast to the IDT, participants to the workshop noted that in the CIDB, knowledge management is still at the toddler stage. In fact, it was revealed that the organisation was still in the process of coming to terms with knowledge management as an idea. In common with many other organizations, it also emerged that knowledge management in the CIDB was regarded as synonymous with information technology and that all initiatives were driven by library or information specialists

CBE

The CBE’s position was marginally different from that of the CIDB. It was revealed during the workshop that the CBE was still at the toddler stage of the knowledge management life cycle. Part of the problem was that the organisation lacked a common or shared understanding of what knowledge management is. The commonest assumption was that knowledge management was the same as communications. Also, while the knowledge management as a function in the CBE is located in operations, it has been left to be spearheaded by a single champion. To make matters worse, because of the association of knowledge management with communications, it emerged that the latter often took precedence over knowledge management and related activities or practices. There was a general consensus that the CBE still needed to develop a strategy, focus on records management and revive its virtual Knowledge Centre.

Way forward

In light of the challenges faced DPW and its public entities, participants at the workshop agreed that a KM Steering Committee (composed of DPW and its Public Entities) should be established to foster the cross fertilisation of knowledge and identify ideas that can fuel knowledge sharing and innovation in the public service. Amongst other things, it was proposed that the KM Steering Committee would:

Assist in the development of strategy framework and implementation plan. with clear deliverables to address knowledge management issues,
Develop key performance indicators or benchmarks for knowledge management as part of the performance management system;
Oversee the development of an integrated IT platform backed by social software to promote online collaboration and knowledge sharing;
Assist in identifying KM champions to act as flag bearers for KM in the across DPW units, regional offices and public entities alike;
Spearhead the development of a single Integrated KM policy, information and knowledge sharing guidelines;
Ensure that major knowledge events such library and development weeks are coordinated;
Develop mechanisms or guidelines for collaboration and knowledge exchange through partnerships with research institutions, universities, private sector and civil society; and
Explore the establishment of a shared knowledge gateway (i.e. shared data bases and subscriptions on electronic information).

Conclusion

It is clear that the challenges facing some of the country’s “change agents” or principal government departments such as the DPW are consistent with the findings of studies and discussions on knowledge management in the public sector in general. It is clear that there is variegated of differentiated picture of capacities and strengths among the different organisations. Indeed, this is symptomatic of the variegated nature of delivery capacities across the South Africa state as a whole. For example, studies on the state in South Africa have long pointed out that the existence of differentiated capacities and pockets of excellence across the public sector stood as the single most important obstacle to the realization of strong developmental state. This has led to calls by local development specialists for a reconfiguration of the state to boost service delivery capacity through coordination. However, what is missing in this new debate on reconfiguring the state is the potential presented by an effective public sector knowledge management strategy in building cohesion, shared learning and innovation across the whole sector.

There is no doubt that the highly compartmentalised structure of public sector institutions in South Africa also accounts for most of the problems faced by DPW and its public entities in implementing and institutionalising knowledge management. Furthermore, the lack of consensus and often varied understanding of what knowledge management is and its association with library and information technology both stand as key disablers.11 In particular, the thinking that knowledge management is the same as information technology has led to the development of unnecessary, expensive and often incompatible information technology systems or tools that only a few find useful. Even worse, this lack of understanding of knowledge management as a concept has led to the dusting-off and re-labeling of largely defunct information centres or libraries. Not surprisingly, institutions with established libraries regard themselves as knowledge management champions in the public sector. This misunderstanding of knowledge management as a concept also explains why people see it as extra work which they simply don’t have time for. This is despite the fact that most public service workers are actually knowledge workers themselves. An even bigger challenge to KM in the public agencies is a crisis of expectations. Rather expect KM to yield results in the near to long term, management sometimes expect instant pay-offs or results, almost as if KM was akin to instant coffee.

Beyond the isolated and emerging pockets of a thriving knowledge management culture in some departments and public agencies, a lot of other numerous obstacles still remain. Among those commonly cited at a recent DPSA workshop include lack of resources and internal research capacity to document knowledge, lack of viable learning platforms, weak management support for KM initiatives, a culture of intolerance to criticism, silos and the ‘not invented here” syndrome.12 The point about the lack of internal capacity to carry out research and document knowledge is a profound one because no viable knowledge management culture can be built on a low skills base. Part of the problem is the pervasive culture of consultancies in government departments. Little or no research is done internally as most of this research work is given or outsourced to consultants. Besides being costly, this over-reliance on external consultants ensures that departments don’t develop internal capacity to research, analyse and distil data or even document information and share knowledge by themselves.

The consequences of not cultivating the development of a knowledge-driven workforce or civil service mean that the problem of underdevelopment and chronic intergenerational poverty will continue to confront the majority of poor South Africans for yet another generation. Even with its vast mineral resources and untapped intellectual potential South Africa risks facing a similarly ironic fate alongside many other poor African countries: that of living like a pauper with the responsibilities of a rich man. It is therefore, pivotal that platforms such as the KM Africa Conference help address these knowledge management implementation challenges in the public sector. This includes looking at how the education systems should produce a new generation of interdisciplinary knowledge workers capable of integrating knowledge from different disciplines. While specialists remain relevant, the need to produce integrationist knowledge workers has become paramount. Thus, placing too much emphasis or resources on the teaching of science subjects only at the expense of humanities may not be the ultimate answer. Furthermore, it may also mean that KM practitioners may have to examine the potential for using adult education techniques in order to embed KM thinking and KM-based learning in their respective organisations.

What is clear is that while there exists some pockets of progress, there is no doubt that a new knowledge management culture or discipline remains largely in its infancy in the public agencies referred to above. In turn, the failure to implement knowledge management in government departments such as DPW and its key agencies will have far reaching consequences. Thus, platforms such as the KM Africa Conference have a responsibility to build capacity for implementation and to help link governments with external pockets of knowledge and learning on the continent. Ultimately, the conference will have served its purpose if it also helped devise new ways of tapping into the continent’s already existing rich but often maligned intellectual base. Africa’s intellectuals must be fully mobilised and utilised in order to develop fourth generation knowledge needed for the continued sustenance and survival of the continent not only in the current global knowledge economy, but also in an increasingly inequitable world where the rate of consumption has reached unsustainable levels.

Footnotes

For more details on this point, see, R. MacAdam and R. Reed, “A comparison of public and private sector perceptions and use of knowledge management,” Journal of European Industrial Training, 24 (6), (2000): 317-329.

F. J. Carrilo, “A global knowledge agenda based on capital systems.” [Online]
Available: http://www.csc.mty.itesm.mx/materials_de_diffusion/archives_pdf/global_k...

M. E. la Grange, “The relevance of knowledge management in the public sector: the measure of knowledge management in government”, (Master of Philosophy and Knowledge Management thesis, University of Stellenbosch, April 2006), 32.
Robert Hawkins, “Knowledge for development and public service”, Issues, Vol 6, No.2 (World Bank Institute, 2007)
W. Horsely, “Europe in fight for top talent”, [BBC News Online]. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7843285.stm , (22 January 2009).
Towards Establishing a Knowledge Management Community of Practice in the Public Service, (Concept Document, Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA Community of Practice Steering Committee, October 2008).
Towards a Knowledge Management Framework for the Public Service, (Chief Directorate; Department of Public Service and Administration’s Research, Learning and Knowledge Management –no date)
While the IDT is a development agency responsible for implementing government social infrastructure, the CBE is tasked with the transformation and development of professionals in the built environment. On the other hand, the CIDB is a statutory body responsible for sustainable growth, reform and improvement of the construction sector.
This model was developed during a KM strategy workshop between DPW and public entities. The workshop was facilitated by Kubeshni Govender from Black Earth Consulting.
Report on the IDT KM Needs Analysis Assessment (Final Draft), Development Programme Services (DPSU, IDT, 8 September 2008).
Nhamo w. Samasuwo, “Brief notes of the DPSA/GTZ Knowledge Management Workshop”, held at the Emperor’s Palace, Boksburg, South Africa, (2 March 2009).
X. Cong and K. Pandya, “Issues of Knowledge management in the public sector”, [Online]. Available on: www.ejkm.com (Academic Conferences Limited, 2003),

KM & Governance

Maximizing the Value of Public Sector Information for Scientific and Socioeconomic Development in Africa

KMAadmin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:51:58 -0600

By: Raed M. Sharif Ph.D. Candidate in Information Science and Technology at the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, NY, USA. Research Fellow at the Intellectual Capital Unit,The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Email: {raedsharif@gmail.com} Phone: +27-72-419-4097, Mail Address: 337 Hinds Hall, Syracuse University. Syracuse, 13244, NY. USA

Abstract

Although it has always been an important asset to those who posses it, in the current knowledge society, information is considered as one of the most important goods in our daily life (Porat, 1977; Machlup & Mansfield, 1983; Mueller 1995; Stiglitz, 2000).

At the same time, the public sector is the biggest single producer and owner of a large variety of information (e.g., health and geographic information, financial reports, social and economic statistics, legislation and judicial proceedings, food and water resources information, and many other kinds of data and information, collectively referred to as Public Sector Information). Public Sector Information (PSI) represents an important resource with vast socio-economic potential to different communities. For example, governments can use this strategic resource to make sound policies and to promote transparency and accountability; and private sector can use it to produce innovative products and services, which in turn can contribute to the nation’s economy. Scientific communities benefit tremendously from the PSI. The list of benefits to the community includes the promotion of interdisciplinary, inter-sector, inter-institutional, and international research. As for citizens, PSI is essential for exerting their civic rights and enabling democratic participation. Finally, for civil society organizations, PSI can be a strategic resource for their work, especially in areas such as poverty eradication, public health, food security, disaster management, and governance, where the combination of different types of PSI (e.g., geo-spatial, economic, and health data) can be of tremendous value for successful targeting and support of marginalized communities. Although the OECD countries are sparing no effort to maximize the socioeconomic value of their PSI, similar efforts, or even discussions and future plans, are almost absent in most of the developing countries, especially in Africa.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the potential social and economic value of the PSI for different communities in Africa (and other developing countries), especially to areas such as good governance, market and organizational innovation and competitiveness, scientific research and development, good citizenship, poverty eradication, as well as other socioeconomic problems facing the developing world.

Because of the unfortunate absence of scholarship about the potential value of PSI in the developing countries, this paper mainly draws upon literature, experiences, and examples from the OECD countries. The author realizes, ofcourse, that for these potential values to be realized and enjoyed by different communities in the developing world, there should be sound government policies in place to govern the PSI in these countries. However, discussing such policies and their pros and cons is beyond the scope of this paper and will be the focus of a future paper.

Introduction

The public sector in most countries, by nature of its size and scope of activities, represents the largest single producer of data and information that could be a resource for the creation of value-added information content and services (Aichholzer & Buekert, 2004; see also Steinberg & Mayo, 2007). The economic, social, and political value derived from the vast quantities of data and information being produced by the public and private sectors around the world have become a source of global interest for a variety of stakeholders across academic, social, and political fields. Use and reuse of these resources within various industries and by different organizations is what allows for the creation of such value.

The OECD (2006a) defines PSI as having characteristics of being dynamic and continually generated, directly generated by the public sector, associated with the functioning of the public sector (e.g., meteorological data, business statistics), and readily useable in commercial applications. Given the assumed special characteristics of the PSI (e.g., comprehensiveness, reliability, timeliness, and accuracy), this information is considered by different stakeholders to have potential economic, social, and political values (Aichholzer & Buekert, 2004; Uhlir, 2004; Abd Hadi & McBride, 2000). These values make the PSI a strategic resource, potentially important for different stakeholders such as different agencies within the public sector, private businesses, academia, citizens and civic organizations (see Blakemore & Craglia, 2006; Aichholzer & Buekert, 2004; Uhlir, 2004; Abd Hadi & McBride, 2000; Young, 1992). In a recent review, Steinberg & Mayo (2007) emphasized the importance of PSI and argued that it “underpins a growing part of the [British] economy and the amount is increasing at a dramatic pace” (p.3). The review, titled The Power of Information, maintains that “ when enough people can collect, re-use and distribute PSI, people organize around it in new ways, creating new enterprises and new communities” (Mayo & Steinberg, 2007, p.3).

These information resources can be used broadly by public-sector organizations themselves, through intra- and inter-governmental exchange of information (see Sheriff, 2000; Abd Hadi & McBride, 2000); by private-sector companies in general and by information industry firms in particular as re-users, to use it in their operations or to produce value-added information products and services (Abd Hadi & McBride, 2000; Young, 1992); by scientific communities (e.g., employment information is now used extensively in the social sciences and in policy making; and data from public health organizations play a growing role in the advancement of life sciences) (see Arzberger et al., 2004) ; by individual users (e.g., for health and educational purposes and for making social and economic decisions); and by civil society organizations (e.g., the use of geospatial data, economic statistics, health and education information for poverty mapping and other related activities) (see CIESIN, 2006).

The assumed economic value of PSI comes from its exploitation by different communities. Given the perceived unique properties that the PSI has such as comprehensiveness and continuity (Hadi & McBride, 2000), successful exploitation of such resources can generate income to a country1 as well as expand its ability to compete internationally. An interesting aspect related to the economic value of PSI is that the economic synergy between many pieces of information makes the whole of the information worth more than the sum of the individual pieces.

The assumed social value of PSI relates to the value that citizens and civic organizations can derive from utilizing this information. An example of the social value of PSI is given in the “Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information,” a report conducted by the UNESCO in 2004 (Uhlir, 2004). This report shows that the United States weather information collected by the National Weather Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and provided free of charge, has resulted in a large number of public users in many sectors including education and research. The accessibility of such information enables citizens to make well-informed decisions related to any business or leisure plans. Expanding this principle across information sectors indicates that the availability of the different types of PSI will lead to a more knowledgeable society and therefore a smarter workforce, which will be able to leverage this information for the benefit of the nation as a whole (see Steinberg & Mayo, 2007; Bargmann, Pfeifer, & Piwinger, 2004; Weiss, 2003).

The economic, social, and political values of PSI all have the potential to enable a more effective and transparent government, a healthier and competitive economy, as well as a more knowledgeable and responsible citizenry. The special need to study and highlight the potential value of PSI to the developing world stems from the assumption that, given the special characteristics of PSI that I mentioned above, this strategic resource can be of special importance and usefulness to the humanitarian and development work that these societies need in areas such as governance, poverty eradication, public health, and environmental protection.

Potential Value of PSI to Societies in the Developing World

PSI represents an important asset with vast socio-economic potential2. It is an important element in the existence of a robust knowledge economy. According to Horton (2002) diffusing public information and knowledge resources efficiently and effectively is essential to:

“Sustaining the competitive competency of the country’s businesses and industries, in both domestic and global marketplaces;
Attaining the highest levels of educational excellence for all the nation’s children and adults in a lifelong learning context;
Enabling citizens to participate more effectively in all facets of a democratic society;
Informing public officials at all levels of government so that they can enact better laws, formulate and enact enlightened public policies, monitor the programs they authorize effectively, and govern fairly, equitably, and wisely; and,
Enhancing the quality of life of all a country’s citizens, including responsibility to the special government information needs of disadvantaged and disabled individuals.” (p.3)

Below, I provide detailed discussions and examples of the value of PSI to different communities in the society3.

Potential Value of PSI to Governments

According to Pierre & Peters (2005), there are two key variables in determining the State’s capacity to govern. First is the authority of the State, referring to its ability “to make and enforce binding decisions on the society” (p.46), second is the State’s ability to gather and process information. The authors argue that the State must act in concert with society to gather information about it, and must also be “open to a wide range of information, including much that is uncomfortable and dissonant, if it is to be successful in governing” (p.46). Hill (1995) argues “if government wants its well researched and sensible policies to be accepted, therefore, it must not be willing merely to provide full and clear information about the issues and the expected consequences of its proposed policy; it must take every reasonable step to ensure that the electorate is given that information” (p. 280). The wealth of information generated by the government holds great value to the government itself and to the nation. The public sector, while it is the collector and creator of PSI, it is also one of the primary users of this information. Governments can use these resources in creating policies, dealing with everything from education to employment public health.

PSI for Improving Governments Efficiency

PSI can greatly improve the efficiency of many public agencies and functions. Public agencies can use their own information or information from other public sector bodies to craft policies, maintain, evaluate, and improve relevant government operations, plan for the future, inform the public, and ensure the vitality of the economy. Specific examples may include making decisions about where and how many schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and roads to build based on information the government collects from the public. Governments also can plan and prepare for natural disasters by using such information as geospatial, health and population. Moreover, governments can exchange scientific and technical information to foster excellence in scientific research and to ensure effective use of federal research and development funds. To that end, public agencies can use PSI to determine appropriate funding to areas where further development is needed. Finally, access to and sharing of PSI within these agencies can eliminate work duplications, promotes faster services and better coordination.
In thinking topically, governments may find themselves better able to communicate across boundaries, thus eliminating duplication of effort and information.

PSI for Direct and Indirect Financial Gain for Governments

The last two decades or so have witnessed a noticeable increase in governments’ awareness of the commercial value of PSI (Weiss, 2003; Hadi & McBride, 2000). According to Hadi & McBride (2000), issues and developments that affected this increased awareness include:

“increasing commercial pressure for access to government information;
the expansion of the information industry;
increasing dependence on information by many organizations and the expansion of information of information intensive industries;
increasing use of the Internet and electronic exchange of data;
the development of electronic access to government departments; and
a push by governments towards identifying new means of income generation” (p.553).

Governments can benefit from the PSI by generating some direct and indirect financial gains. Because of the strong potential for re-use, some public bodies, especially from countries that follow a “cost recovery” policy, may use the PSI they collect to develop products and services on their own (see the U.K. OFT, 2006). Under the same policy approach, some other agencies may sell or license PSI to other public bodies, to commercial entities, or to a commercial “arm” of the government (U.K. OFT, 2006 ; Weiss, 2003). For example, revenues to the UK government from the sale and licensing of PSI are around 340 million pounds, and the total market for PSI stands at 590 million pounds per year (U.K. OFT, 2006). Approximately half of the income came from businesses, 45% from other public sector bodies and the rest from the general public.

On the other hand, in countries that follow the open access model such as the USA, the public sector benefits indirectly from the PSI through the increased financial rewards generated by open and free access to PSI. By increasing the revenues that the private sector generates from commercializing the available PSI, the government increases the tax base that the it can draw upon when funding future activities and projects (Weiss, 2003).

PSI for Awareness Raising and Democratic Values

Finally, PSI has increasingly been seen and used as an instrument to educate (and influence) citizens and raise their awareness regarding many social, economic, and political dimensions of their lives, which subsequently can speed up the social development of the country (see Thomson, 1999). Also, one major value that affects the government is transparency and promotion of democratic ideals: equality, democracy, and openness. The more information that is accessible from the government, the less likely it is to create corruption. Furthermore, if the information is easily and readily accessible in a certain format, then people can have the opportunity to obtain the desired information, and pursue their democratic rights. The transparency of government and public information prevents discrimination of access and use, which fulfills citizens’ right of freedom of information.

Potential Value of PSI to the Private Sector

The great variety of PSI is not only significant in administration, control and policy making processes, it can also have huge potential commercial value. Some specific qualities of the PSI that are becoming essential with the increasing reliance on information resources include:

PSI has usually been collected over a long period of time, which makes it useful for time series analysis.
PSI enjoys the assumption of reliability. The public sector has the means to enforce information collection. Reliability is increased because in many cases providing correct information is on the best interest of the information subjects if such information is, for example, necessary to obtain a specific legal status.
The PSI collection enjoys the assumption of sustainability. At least discontinuing information services could be turned into a public policy issue (Buekert, 2004, p. 7-8).

In the OECD countries, the last two decades have witnessed a growing awareness within the private sector of the commercial value and reuse of PSI. The private sector understood that this source of information has a number of inherent qualities that are vital for the information market and could not simply be left to the public sector and their associated private enterprises (Buekert, 2004). Although much of the collected PSI was not intended for commercial purposes, businesses are continuously discovering that there are many potential commercial applications for this raw PSI. In such a process, the private sector plays an intermediary role between the PSI and the end-user, through adding some value to the raw PSI (i.e., combining sources and creating new data). According to the OECD (2006 a), some of the products and services that the private sector can produce using PSI include in-car navigation systems, digital online maps, weather forecasts for different platforms (e.g. mobile phones), enhanced legal text databases for research, location-based information on doctors and pharmacies, and location-based tourist recommendations including weather conditions, to name some.

In general, there are two distinct uses of this information within the private sector: dissemination and creation of value added products and services.
Publishing companies, web design firms and broadcasting networks are in the business of disseminating PSI. Many of these companies do nothing more than taking the information and making it viewable to the general public through print, television and the Web. On the other hand, companies who provide value added products and services transform and present this information in different ways so that consumers use it more easily to make decisions and to manage their lives. These companies come from the information intensive industries. IT consulting firms, research database providers, insurance firms and legal service providers are all part of these industries.

According to the U.K. Office of Fair Trading (2006, p.29), there are three ways to utilize PSI in the private sector:

Own Business Use—This includes using PSI to make improvements within a business, such as developing an inventory system for a retailer. Using PSI to identify patterns to maximize sales and services is another application.
Produce Products for Consumers—This includes the use of PSI to produce, for example, car navigation systems, hiking maps and genealogy services.
Produce Products for Industry—This includes the use of PSI to develop products for an industry, such as training manuals, radar or auto-pilot maritime systems.

According to the U.K. OFT survey (2006), 39% of businesses in the UK use PSI for their own purposes, 28% use it to produce products for consumers, and 44% use it as an input to produce products for industry. The same survey found that among businesses generating products from PSI, 98 % ranked PSI as an important or very important input to their products. Moreover, three out of four of them stated that they would not be able to continue production in the absence of PSI.

Potential Value of PSI to Scientific Communities

The scientific community benefits tremendously from the PSI. The list of benefits to the community includes the promotion of interdisciplinary, inter-sector, inter-institutional, and international research (OECD, 2006b). Also, using PSI promotes new type of research; reinforces open scientific enquiry; encourages diversity of analysis and opinion; and facilitates the education of new researchers. Furthermore, it supports studies on data collection methods and measurement, permits the creation new data sets when data from multiple sources are combined, helps the scientific community to maximize the research potential of new digital technologies and networks.

Arzberger et al. (2004) argue that access to the raw data for research – not just the polished, published final product - is vitally important to furthering scientific progress. Factual databases that are supported by government collections and funding are fundamental to the progress of science, to the advancement of technological innovation, and to an effective educational system. Examples of the PSI that can be used in the scientific arena include general scientific research data, such as geographic information (e.g., aerial photos, geology, hydrology, or topography) or meteorological information (e.g., climate data and weather forecasts), as well as some aspects of social data (e.g., health statistics for medical research) (MEPSIR, 2006).

Potential Value of PSI to the General Public

The unique characteristics of information in a free, democratic society are best expressed by Thomas Jefferson who called it ‘the currency of democracy’. A democratic society requires free flow of information between the government and the public. As PSI relates to all spheres of life, it is important for this kind of information to be accessible to the potential users. Indeed, the general public benefits from obtaining information on various issues that improve their well-being and allows them to be productive citizens.

PSI can inform citizens of their rights and responsibilities, educate them and provide opportunities for life-long learning, and preserve cultural and historical information for the future. The general public can benefit from PSI directly and indirectly. Directly, through access to PSI, the general public can get information and instructions related to, for example, tax (e.g., domestic and international tax arrangements), education for children and adults (e.g., educational policy, further and higher education, special educational needs and additional support, workplace training and development), health services (e.g., hospitals, insurance coverage, compensations), housing issues (e.g., housing advice, housing finance, housing repairs and renovation), and safety matters (e.g., civil emergencies, emergency response, emergency services, emergency planning, and emergency warnings). The information on justice and legal rights is also important to the public. This information includes civil and human rights, consumer rights, crime and law enforcement (including crime prevention and police) employment rights, justice system (including prisons, probation, coroners, remand and youth justice), law (including legal services) and security (including data security, national security and security of equipment)4.

PSI also includes information on leisure time and culture (e.g., arts, entertainment and events, children’s activities, parks and gardens, sports and recreation facilities, tourism and young people’s activities) that could help people make decision on different vacation-related issues. The information on transportation and infrastructure (e.g., air transport, community transport, commuting, public transport, road transport, parking, road safety and traffic management, roads and highways, structures and installations, transport for disabled people, transport planning and water transport) can explain which means of transport is good to travel at a given time or a season. Moreover, information on government and public administration is also important for the general public. This category includes information on central government, constitution, democracy and elections, local government (including council procedures, councils, local government committees and structure and mayors), politics, public administration (including public bodies, public consultation, public services, public service agreements & standards in public life), etc. One of the most important examples of the value of the PSI can be seen when people use public health information. The Power of Information report (2007) highlights a few cases where the use of this information has greatly contributed to the health of the public. The report states that the provision of food safety information has lead to a 13.3% drop in food borne illness in Los Angeles. Medical studies have also proven that HIV patients better cope with their disease and have a lower treatment cost when they better understand their condition (Mayo & Steinberg, 2007).

Potential Value of PSI to Civil Society Organizations

In addition to providing an important link between citizens and the state, civil society organizations (CSOs) also provide an enabling environment necessary to enhance community cohesion and decision-making, with free and easy access to information being of paramount importance (see Arko-Cobbah, 2007). Given the importance and diversity of areas these organizations work on, CSOs stand to benefit a lot from the availability of PSI. Areas that could benefit the most from such information include good governance, public health, environmental protection and poverty eradication. The following section focuses on the potential value of PSI to poverty eradication.

PSI and Poverty Eradication

One of the lessons learned from the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) study “Down to Earth: Geographical Information for Sustainable Development in Africa” (2002) was that geographical information (most of this information is produced by governments) and technologies are central to achieving successful transition from traditional environment and resources management practices to sustainable development due to their integrative quality (i.e., linking social, economic, and environmental data) and their place-based quality (i.e., addressing relationships among places at local, regional and global scale). Furthermore, this growing interest in the potential role of spatial data (and other types of PSI) in sustainable development, especially in poverty eradication area, was clearly demonstrated by the organization of the 9th International Conference of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) in Chile in November 2006 with the main theme of Spatial Information: Tool for Reducing Poverty.5 The conference highlighted specific issues such as spatial information platform for reducing poverty, geospatial data for sustainable development, applications relating to poverty and mapping, applications in disaster management and eradication, and applications related to poverty and community.
There was a general consensus that this kind of information will continue to play a critical role in eradicating poverty and enhancing other sustainable development activities. One of the of the main conference recommendations concerning spatial data and poverty eradication was: “Spatial Information becomes a real tool for reducing the poverty while the governments of the world create geo-referenced territorial information and statistics about the social, economic, cultural, institutional and environmental conditions of the territory and its population. Poverty is the major issue and scourge of our current society, leading in turn to other problems, for example the increase in crime, corruption, drug addiction, child abuse and so on…”6.

The logic behind the link between spatial data and poverty eradication is that the livelihoods of the majority of poor people around the world, especially in Africa, depend heavily on agriculture and natural resources, and that there are many pressing problems in these sectors that contribute to the level of poverty in these regions. Addressing these problems successfully in many cases requires better data and information, and more importantly better ways to integrate these information resources and to analyze the relationships between human activities and the changes in these land and natural resources. For example, poverty maps have proved to be a very strong tool to better understand the relationship between poverty and geographic factors such as climate conditions, elevation, access to transportation networks, exposure to natural disasters, and other important factors (CIESIN, 2006). They also are seen as permitting more effective targeting of poverty eradication efforts by enabling decision makers and the public to visualize the problems they are attempting to solve and facilitating more precise delivery of disaster relief services to vulnerable populations. These poverty maps7 have already been useful for some poverty eradication activities in Mexico and Bolivia (CIESIN, 2006).

Furthermore, the integration of health data and statistics in a relational database with a GIS interface, among many other benefits, is seen as enhancing health facility utilization, improving distribution of preventive care and response, and providing evidence-based rationales for targeted assistance and service delivery. Also, this integration of information is seen as useful in cases such as: health trends, human and animal disease tracking, health facilities, location and asset management, tracking child immunizations, and epidemiology (Cromley & McLafferty, 2002). Finally, the integration of environmental data and statistics in databases with a GIS interface can help in many applications such as land-use management and planning, urban planning and development, water and air quality assessments and enforcement, property assessment and tax policy development, and various agriculture-related services, and systems modeling and forecasting (Clarke et al., 2002). The integration of these different types of PSI (e.g., geospatial, health, unemployment, donors information, education information, etc.) and the resulting applications could have a significant and direct impact on the poverty eradication and other sustainable development efforts in the developing world.

Conclusions

As shown in this paper, provided that there are sound policies in place, the PSI has a huge potential to contribute to the information society, environmental protection, economic growth and the overall welfare of citizens in the developing world.The experiences and examples provided in the previous sections about the use and reuse of PSI by public sector agencies, private sector, scientific communities, CSOs, and the public demonstrate the potential importance and value that the PSI contains for political, legal, scientific, technical, and medical fields; the innovation and economic growth resulting from its use, and its role in educating citizens and maintaining a transparent and accountable government (Aichholzer & Buekert, 2004).

PSI can contribute value to governments through social, political and economic aspects. The availability of this information promotes a healthy economy. These social and economic aspects greatly add to the smooth functioning of a democracy. More specifically, the government can gain such social and political benefits as promoting national law and order as well as strong and peaceful global relationships. Also, enriching the educational and cultural knowledge of citizens can improve the economic well-being of citizens and thus the country and its government. The government that provides open and easy access to PSI to all interested parties can gain the trust, respect and support from both the public and private sectors, which in turn will ensure the prosperity of the country in general. Furthermore, there could be some financial benefits from the direct or indirect utilization of PSI by different communities.

Also, PSI is one of the raw materials that fuel the dynamic relationships between governments and private sector, allowing businesses to reduce their research and development overhead. Given an open marketplace, private corporations can make use of PSI to create new goods and services that add value to the raw data and in turn promote economic growth. This could increase the market size of information industry, and thereby expand the potential job market in the future. These kinds of positive externalities that result from access to and re-use of PSI create wealth and stimulate the economy, and are responsible for “enriching the population” (Uhlir, 2004).

Similar to the use of PSI in other areas, its application to science holds many opportunities for public benefit and socioeconomic development. Its value is magnified when used in important domains such as using meteorological information for agricultural predictions, using digital maps for responding to natural disasters, and in increasing research collaboration with the developing countries.

Finally, citizens and civic society can benefit tremendously from the utilization of PSI, especially in areas such as education, health, and environment. At a very basic level, it is quite known that citizens may incur some loses because they lack information when making important decisions, particularly in health and education areas. Also, the value of PSI to general public is in many ways parallel to the value of PSI to governments. Just as the government functions better with knowledgeable citizens, citizens are empowered and elect better governments with openly available information. The public needs to have access to government information to hold it accountable. The PSI becomes a communication tool that explains publicly funded projects and concerns. Furthermore, PSI is integral to the public’s freedom of expression; a freedom that is one of the hallmarks of a democratic society. PSI has practical value to the general public as well. Either directly from a publicly funded agency or indirectly available through other communities, PSI impacts the general public by creating new products, stimulating sales, adding jobs, and contributing to wealth.

References

Abd Hadi, Z., & McBride, N. (2000). The commercialization of public sector information within UK government departments. The Journal of Public Sector Management, 13 (7), p. 552-570.
Arko-Cobbah, A. (2007). The right of access to information: Civil society and good governance in South Africa. Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 73rd IFLA General Conference and Council.19-23 August 2007, Durban, South Africa.
Aichholzer, G. & H. Burkert (Eds) (2004). Public Sector Information in the Digital Age: Between Markets, Public Management and Citizens Rights . Edward Elgar: UK/US.
Arzberger, et al. (2004). Promoting access to public research data for science, economic, and social development. Data Science Journal, CODATA, p.135-152.
Bargmann, M., Pfeifer, G., Piwinger, B. (2004) A Citizen’s Perspective on Public Sector Information. In Aichholzer, G. & H. Burkert (Eds) Public Sector Information in the Digital Age: Between Markets, Public Management and Citizens Rights. Edward Elgar: UK/US, p. 255-274.
Blakemore, M. and Cragila, C. (2006). Access to Public Sector Information in Europe: Policy, Rights and Obligations. The Information Society, 22:13-24.
Burkert, H. (2004). The Mechanics of Public Sector Information. In Aichholzer, G. & H. Burkert (Eds) Public Sector Information in the Digital Age: Between Markets, Public Management and Citizens Rights. Edward Elgar: UK/US, p. 3-19.
Charlie,P.R. & Robenitsch, E.S. (2003) Into the black box: the knowledge transformation cycle. Management Science, 49 (9) 1180-1195.
CIESIN (Center for International Earth Science Information Network), Columbia University. 2006. Where the Poor Are: An Atlas of Poverty. Palisades, NY: Columbia University. Available at: http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/povmap/.
Clarke, K. C., Parks, B. O., and Crane, M. P. (Eds) (2002). Geographic Information Systems and Environmental Modeling, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Cromley, E. and McLafferty, S. (2002) GIS and Public Health. Guilford Press.
Hill, M. W. (1995). Information Policies: premonitions and prospects. Journal of Information Science 21(4) 273-282.
Horton, F.W., (2002). Public Access to Government Information and Information Literacy Training as Basic Human Rights, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, The Czech Republic.
Machlup, F. (1962). The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States, Princeton UP.
Mayo, E. and Steinberg, T. (2007). The Power of Information Review. OPSI, London. Available at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/power-of-information-review.pdf
Measuring European Public Sector Information Resources (MEPSIR) (2006). Final report of the study on exploitation of public sector information – Benchmarking of EU framework conditions. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/psi/actions_eu/policy_act...
Mueller, M. (1995). Why Communication Policy Is Passing “ Mass Communication” By: Political Economy as the Missing Link. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12 (4) 457-72.
National Research Council (2002). Down to Earth: Geographical Information for Sustainable Development in Africa, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Office of Fair Trading (2006). Commercial Use of Public Information. Available at www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/consumer_protection/oft861.pdf
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2006a). Digital broadband content: Public sector information and content. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/10/22/36481524.pdf
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2006b). Workshop on public sector information: Summary. Paper presented at the 2006 WPIE workshop on Public Sector Information. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/34/42/37865140.pdf
Pierre, J., & Peters, B. G. (2005). Governing Complex Societies: Trajectories and Scenarios. Palgrave MacMillan Hampshire, England.
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Stiglitz, J. E. (2000). The Contributions of the Economics of Information to Twentieth Century Economics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(4), pp. 1441-1478.
Thomson, O. (1999). Easily Led. A History of Propaganda. Stroud: Sutton.
Uhlir, P. (2004) Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Governmental Public Domain Information. UNESCO, Paris. Available at http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.phpURL_ID=15863&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SE....
Weiss, P. (2003). Conflicting International Public Sector Information Policies and their Effect on the Public Domain and the Economy. In Esanu, J. M., Uhlir, P. F. (Eds.). The Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain: Proceedings of an International Symposium, Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
Young, R.H. (1992), “The tradable information initiative”, in Heywood, I. and Hudson, J.K. (Eds), Geographical Information 1993-Year Book of the Association of Geographic Information, Taylor and Francici, London, p. 231-238.

Footnotes

In an influential and widely cited study of the value of spatial PSI in Australia, it was claimed that for every dollar invested on producing land and geographic data, $4 of benefits was generated within the economy. (ANZLIC, 1995). Available at http://www.anzlic.org.au/pubinfo/2358011751.html

Although this information is ascribed no power in its own right, however, it is a very valuable in the way it supports development of organizations and societies (Rraman, 1989).
It should be noted that the value of certain types of PSI is easier to grasp than the value of other types {see Cragila & Blakemore (2004) on meteorological information and Hannapi-Egger (2004) on cultural info.}
For more examples see www.Info4local.gov.uk
See the conference website: http://www.gsdiassociation.org/events/eventdetails.asp?event_id=97/
Ibid
In Mexico, poverty maps were the framework for selecting 22 locations in thee states for on-farm work using innovative breeding techniques for maize. The Bolivian government think tank UDAPE, together with the World Bank and INE developed poverty maps to report on poverty and inequality in municipalities.

KM & Governance

Managing and preserving nuclear knowledge for the socio-economic development of Africa

KMAadmin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:01:24 -0600

By: Dr Yousuf Maudarbocus

INTRODUCTION

In this modern era, development is largely based on technology. Africa is lagging behind other regions mainly because of its inability to make optimal use of modern technological development.

Instead of climbing the technological ladder gradually, Africa has now a unique opportunity to “leap frog” to the next development stage, especially through the judicious use of available new and emerging technologies which have been developed and well tested in other regions. However, mastering the new technologies necessarily implies an appropriate strategy and an efficient mechanism for capacity building in science and technology in the region. This view has been clearly specified in the NEPAD Action Plan as follows: “Science and Technology are the prime stimulators of national development….Because science and technology are products of education, the latter has been identified as the ultimate propeller of national and human development”.

Amongst available new technologies, nuclear technology can play a very important role in the socio-economic development of Africa.

PEACEFUL APPLICATIONS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

To most people, “atomic energy” conjures up horrific visions of mushroom clouds or, at best, huge concrete structures which house nuclear power plants. However, there is much more to nuclear energy that meets the eye.

Currently, about 36 African Member States benefit from the Technical co operation Program of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Nuclear technologies are used in a wide variety of subjects including medicine, agriculture, industry, hydrology and the environment, amongst others. In many instances, nuclear technologies have distinct advantages over conventional means to address problems of development.

Nuclear Applications in Agriculture

Major nuclear applications in food and agriculture are

Mutation breeding
Insect and pest control ( sterile insect techniques)
Food irradiation
Soil fertility and crop production
Animal production and health
Agrochemicals and residues.

Irradiation- induced mutation breeding followed by selection of plants for desired traits has resulted in high-yielding rice varieties in several countries in Asia, including Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. In Pakistan, 25% of the area for cotton is planted with a high yielding mutant cultivar induced using gamma rays. It is estimated that this cultivar has contributed more than US$3 billion in cotton production and saved the textile industry of Pakistan when it was threatened by reduction in cotton production from insect pests. New improved mutants of tef in Ethiopia and cocoa in Ghana have also met with considerable success.

Pest control using a method called the “sterile insect technique” (SIT) is also well established. It is used effectively for the Mediterranean fruit fly to protect citrus orchards and vineyards, and for the screw worm to protect cattle ( for example in Libya). The extension of SIT to the tsetse fly is progressing very well in several sub-Saharan African countries and has already resulted in Zanzibar being free of this pest. As a result new breeds of cattle have been introduced, resulting in higher production of milk and meat in Zanzibar. The IAEA has initiated research to develop SIT for the control of malaria through area-wide suppression of mosquitoes. Field trials are being planned for a northern region of Sudan. Need less to say, the control and eventual elimination of malaria will result in immense socio-economic benefit for Africa. Globally, there are 300-500 million clinical cases of malaria a year, resulting in 2 million deaths (one every 30 seconds) more than 90% of which occurring in sub Saharan Africa.

Another technology- food irradiation- is being increasingly used for pest control to prolong the shelf life of various foodstuffs such as ground meat and spices. Food irradiation has been declared safe by the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius, the international food safety body.

Nuclear Applications in Medicine

Nuclear applications in medicine serve multiple aspects of modern healthcare. They contribute significantly to prevention, diagnosis and cure. Some of the widely used nuclear techniques in medicine are:

Radiotherapy
In-vivo and in-vitro nuclear medicine
Human nutrition

Radio therapy is widely used to treat cancer, with over 5000 treatment centers worldwide, treating millions of patients worldwide. In Ghana, the radiotherapy centers in Accra and Kumasi have contributed significantly to cancer treatment in the country.

Nuclear Medicine is playing a key role in both diagnosis and cure. Pharmaceuticals tagged with radioisotopes play a unique role in targeting specific organs, for both imaging and treatment. It is estimated that medical radioisotopes were administered to one-third of the 31.7 million patients admitted to hospitals in the United States in 2000

Nuclear techniques are also used to identify lack of micronutrients and microelements in infants and adults alike in order to plan remedial action.

Nuclear Applications in Industry

A broad and diverse array of nuclear applications today finds routine industrial use. These include:

Radiation processing (for example, plastic and rubber curing to optimize cross linking of rubber molecules)
Industrial radiation sterilization ( e,g medical products).
Non destructive testing (NDT) in manufacturing, auto, air, rail, and electronic industries.
Physical measurement ganges
Humidity/density meters
Oil well logging tools

Nuclear Applications in hydrology

Today, more than one billion people lack access to a steady supply of clean water. The Millennium Declaration resolved to “halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water by 2015 “ and to stop the unsustainable exploitation of ground water. Nuclear techniques in isotope hydrology can play an important role in addressing this problem. Nuclear methods have distinct advantages over conventional ones with regard to studies on:

Ground water charge and recharge mechanisms
Surface water and ground water pollution
Geothermal resources

Water samples have specific isotopic fingerprints that tell age, origin and climatic conditions.

Nuclear Power

In the developing world, 1.6 billion people – about one quarter of the human race- have no access to electricity. Moreover, population increases., rapid industrialisation and dramatic economic growth in countries such as China and India, are putting a lot of pressure on energy demand. It is estimated that the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today. Yet the fossil fuels on which the world still depends are finite and far from environmentally friendly.

The need for a coordinated action on the identification and use of alternative energy sources and related issues (especially climate change and poverty alleviation) have never been more acute. The nuclear option should not be ruled out in view of its numerous advantages.

Globally, about 16% of the total electricity generated originates from nuclear power plant, ranging from 78% in France to just 2 % in China. 439 nuclear power plants operating globally avoid the release of nearly 3 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, the equivalent of the exhaust from more than 428 millions cars. Of the 30nuclear power plants under construction, none is in Africa.

In the Africa continent, the only country with operating nuclear power reactors is South Africa, which produces about 7% of its electricity requirements from two nuclear power plants. Egypt and Nigeria are currently studying the possibility of establishing nuclear power reactors.

Moreover, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are considering the possibility of setting- up nuclear desalination plants.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE NUCLEAR FIELD

Like any highly technical endeavour, the use of nuclear technology relies heavily on a vast accumulation of knowledge combined with a vast assortment of people with the requisite educational background and expertise. The effective management of nuclear knowledge includes ensuring the continued availability of this essential reservoir of qualified personnel.

National Responsibilities

The availability of infrastructural and institutional nuclear facilities in a country will not be of much use without the necessary trained human resources to man such facilities. It is therefore necessary for every country where nuclear techniques are used or envisaged to design, develop and implement a national strategy to guide its efforts in nuclear knowledge management. It is important for such efforts to be sustainable. Reliance on outside experts is short-term and certainly not sustainable. Moreover, outside experts are not the most appropriate persons to understand the local conditions and cultures.

National training programmes should reflect the sectoral needs of the country and unnecessary wastage of resources should be avoided. Fellowship and training programmes should also match the priority needs. The key word is “relevance”.

Although optimal use should be made of existing national nuclear institutions, all countries stand to gain through the sharing of information nationally and regionally.

A regional Approach to Education and Training

To ensure sustainability in the application of nuclear technologies, it is necessary to achieve the most appropriate training to meet the specific needs of countries in Africa in the most cost effective and efficient manner.

In view of the specificities of Africans countries in certain sectors, the type and level of training available in industrialized countries may not be totally appropriate for the African region. The problem of tsetse and trypanosomosis is specific to Africa. Communicable diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS are more prevalent in Africa than in other regions. Other priorities include combating malnutrition, rehabilitation of saline lands, water resources management and the development of high-yielding and disease- resistant crops.

In view of the above, it is crucial to promote and strengthen regional collective self- reliance. Exchange of experience as well as the pooling, sharing and utilization of technical resources available in the region should be consolidated.

Regional organizations such as the African Union (AU) and SADC have a crucial role to play to promote TCDC in the region. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a pledge by African leaders to eradicate poverty and to promote sustainable growth and development. Moreover, the African Union has taken the initiative to coordinate the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC). These are excellent initiatives, which could lead to the sustainable socio-economic development of Africa, provided a large component is devoted to appropriate human resources development and capacity building.

Role of the IAEA

Over the years, the IAEA has contributed significantly to the development of qualified human resources and building national and regional capacities in various fields of nuclear science and technology.

More recently, the IAEA has made a special effort to promote Technical Cooperation between Developing Countries (TCDC) through support to Regional Designated Centers (RDCs). So far 7 such RDCs have been established in the areas of non-destructive techniques, mutation breeding and biotechnology, radiation oncology and medical physics, radioactive waste management, irradiation processing and maintenance of scientific equipment. The RDCs could greatly assist African countries in consolidating their manpower capabilities in the nuclear field.

For decades, the IAEA has given considerable support to its African Member States in the utilization of nuclear techniques for socio-economic development. Such support will certainly continue for along time to come. However, Member States should ensure that the technical co-operation programme of the Agency meets their priority needs.

Availability of Nuclear Information

Updated information in the nuclear field is readily available through the Internet. Several dedicated networks already exist and can be readily accessed. For example,

INIS – The International Nuclear Information System has been operated by the IAEA and can be accessed on http://www.iaea.org/inis/inis.htm
DIRAC – The Directory of Radiation Centers can be accessed on http://www.iaea.org/programme.nahunet
IARC – The IAEA has collaborated with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to create a network of various institutions (including all relevant African institutions) involved in this field.
AFRA – Network of Scientists and institutions have been established under all AFRA projects.
NNIs - Projects have already been initiated to share information between National Nuclear Institutions in the region on the experiences and lessons learnt from taking nuclear technology to the market place.
IAEA/NUS - The national University of Singapore (NUS) has taken the initiative to start distant learning in radiation processing and tissue banking. The relevant website is http://citamed.nus.edu.sg/tissuebank

The above is by no means exhaustive.

Retention of Qualified Staff

To ensure the sustainability of nuclear capabilities, it is necessary to retain qualified and experienced staff. Adequate steps have to be taken to minimize the negative impact of brain drain.

Moreover, the smooth transfer of knowledge, skills and responsibilities should be ensured whenever there is a change of staff.

CONCLUSION

A well-known French Scientist, Ilia Pirigone, once said “the future cannot be predicted, but it can be designed”.

It is high time that African policy makers, with the assistance of competent scientists, industrialists and other stake holders, start designing the future of the African Continent.

Africa is endowed with considerable natural resources and there is no reason why we should not view the future with optimism.

However, the sustainable socio-economic development of Africa largely depends upon mastering various technologies, which includes the implementation of appropriate knowledge management strategies in the relevant fields.

One such technology deals with the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Nuclear techniques have wide applications in the sectors of health, agriculture, industry, hydrology and the environment. The optimal use of such techniques can have a significant impact on the socio-economic development of the region.

KM & Governance

Challenges and opportunities for African academies of science in generating knowledge to promote evidence-based policy advice

KMAadmin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:40:51 -0600

By: Dr Xola Mati - Xola@assaf.org.za,, Mr Takalani S. Rambau Simon@assaf.org.za Academy of Science of South Africa

Abstract:
Scientific policies cannot be formulated in a scientific vacuum, it is essential that the government must ensure that its science-related policies and decisions are based on scientific evidence. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss ways that can contribute towards the development of Academies of Science in Africa so that they can play an important role towards the generation of evidence-based policy advice to their governments and the public. It is necessary to ensure that the best practices on providing ‘good advice’ are embedded in the now established African Academy bodies that have capacity to provide evidence-based science advice.

This paper will draw from the experience of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)’s initiatives within Africa which include coordinating the IAP Programmes such as GMO challenges and opportunities, Water Resource and Management, Science Education Best Practices in the sub-Saharan Africa, a capacity building workshop aimed at developing a framework that would assist in strengthening the existing academies and facilitating the establishment of other academies in the African continent where none exist and the continent wide online scientific writing training programme.

With these initiatives, African Academies can play a significantly special role with regard to the provision of independent evidence-based advice to their governments within the continent. However, sustainable funding becomes a deterrent for the established academies to play such a meaningful service oriented role.

The paper recommends an African Academy framework to ensure that more synergistic initiatives aimed at addressing poverty, health, education and other social challenges are implemented within Africa.

INTRODUCTION

The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) was inaugurated in May 1996 by the then President of South Africa and patron of the Academy, Nelson Mandela. It was formed in response to the need for an academy of science congruent with the dawn of democracy in South Africa – activist in it mission of using science for the benefit of society.

The mandate of the Academy encompasses all fields of scientific enquiry and its Membership includes the full diversity of South Africa’s distinguished scientists.

The Parliament of South Africa passed the Academy of Science of South Africa Act, Act 67 of 2001, which came into operation in May 2002.

ASSAf is the official national academy of science of South Africa and represents the country in the international community of science academies.

Since its inception, ASSAf has grown progressively from a small, emergent organization to a mature and well-established academy.

ASSAF VISION AND MISSION

Vision

The vision of the Academy is to be the apex organization for science and scholarship in South Africa, internationally respected and connected, its membership simultaneously the aspiration of the country’s most active scholars in all fields of scientific enquiry, and the collective resource for the professionally-managed generation of evidence-based solutions to national problems.

Mission

The mission is summarized as follows:

To become increasingly associated with the highest levels of scholarly achievement and excellence in the application of scientific thinking for the benefit of society;
To consolidate its infrastructure and capacity;
To expand and mobilize its membership to include scholars from the full disciplinary spectrum;
To proactively and reactively embark on a programme of systematic studies of evidence-based issues of national importance;
To develop a sound and robust methodology for constituting study panels, producing authoritative reports that are well- disseminated and have significant impact;
To publish science-focused periodicals to promote a national interest in the sciences;
South African Journal of Science – multidisciplinary journal of the highest quality and international standing;
- Quest: Science for South Africa – science magazine that showcases the best of South African research to a wide national and international audience;
- Strategic Reports – policy advisory reports that seek to influence national decision- and policy-making;
To promote the development in South Africa of an indigenous system of research journals of internationally recognized quality and usefulness;
To develop and maintain productive partnerships with government departments;
To develop and maintain collaborative linkages with science councils, non-government organizations (NGOs), higher education institutions, etc. with a view to the building of capacity in science and its applications within the National System of Innovation (NSI);
To create new and diversified sources of funding for the sustainable functioning of an independent national Academy;
To communicate effectively with general and specific publics, as well as with partners and sponsors;
To expand activities in partnership with national science academies of other countries, including the contracted partnership with the US National Academies;
To play a significant role in the international science system, particularly in Africa, through organizations such as the IAP, IAMP, IAC & G8+ 5 Academies; TWAS; ICSU; and NASAC; all within the context of NEPAD.

The values of the Academy are independence; using evidence and knowledge as drivers of thinking to attempt to resolve problems via the generation of sound, rigorous and evidence-based solutions; multi-disciplinarity and consilience; the highest ethical and moral norms; and recognizing the essentially developmental nature of our society.

The benefits the Academy aspires to bring to South Africa (and the wider world) are the sustainable provision of a professionally-managed organization that can mobilize the best intellect, expertise and experience to investigate and provide evidence-based solutions to national problems; inspiration and example in science and technology, applied for the benefit of society; international connectedness at the highest level of knowledge and insight; and facilitation of public understanding of the nature, scope and value of the scientific and technological enterprise.

The relevance of the Academy in the context of national policy frameworks and initiatives is that it strives to achieve the purposes of its enabling Act of Parliament through a public-domain, multi-year strategic plan; subscription to the intentions and recommendations of the White Paper on Science and Technology and the National Research and Development Strategy; the Ten Year Innovation Plan; and a role in meeting national priorities such as Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JipSA).

GOALS

Corporate Objectives

The overall corporate objectives of the Academy in the coming year are to:

exercise governance responsibly;
promote the mobilization of Academy Members in the service of the Academy’s aims;
establish the Academy as the apex intellectual organization of science;
increase the understanding of the Academy’s existing and potential partners of its specific niche in the NSI;
deliver products of high quality and value;
strengthen and expand systematic evidence-based studies of national importance;
ensure that its multilateral and bilateral international linkages are functioning well and complementary to those of government and other institutions;
strengthen links with national institutions and government departments.

Financial Objectives

The financial objectives in the coming year are to continue with efficient and effective financial operations, performing appropriate internal audit and risk management, reporting correctly and transparently as needed, and continuing with our unbroken record of unqualified external audits. Diversification of sources of income is a further key imperative.

Key Challenges and Opportunities for 2009/2010

Key challenges in the coming year are to:

improve the impact of the many study reports in the policy arena;
increase the participation of Membership in ASSAf activities;
successfully implement an open access platform for South African scholarly journals;
achieve the goals of the Scholarly Publishing Programme;
successfully implement the new SAJS editorial model and firmly establish the journal as Africa’s premier multi-disciplinary scholarly journal;
increase the reach and impact of Quest among its target audience;
consolidate and strengthen the service offered to Members by the ASSAf secretariat;
improve ASSAf’s profile through increased communication activities;
ensure diversified income streams as funding from the US National Academies through the African Science Academies Development Initiative (ASADI) draws to a close;
strengthen interactions with key policymakers and stakeholders;
ensure delivery of high quality reports and recommendations based on evidence-based project activities;
address the needs and aspirations of young scientists;
secure new office space for the ASSAf secretariat.

Opportunities include the following:

Continued funding and support from the US National Academies of Science; Hosting of the Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS) conference;
Hosting of the InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) conference;
Membership of the InterAcademy Council (IAC) Board from 2009 to 2013;
Project-related collaboration with other African academies;
Role in NASAC;
Participation in the G8+5 academies meeting.

FORGING A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NETWORK OF AFRICAN SCIENCE ACADEMIES (NASAC)

The Academy of Science of South Africa is a member of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) which was formed on December 13, 2001 with the following founding member-Academies:

African Academy of Sciences;
Cameroon Academy of Sciences;
Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences;
Kenya National Academy of Sciences;
Madagascar’s National Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences;
Nigerian Academy of Sciences;
Académie des Sciences et Techniques du Senegal;
Uganda National Academy of Sciences; and
Academy of Science of South Africa.

The AAS, having initiated the process of forming the Network, agreed also to host the NASAC Secretariat. NASAC membership currently stands at 13 member Academies with the following four Academies as new members:

Tanzania Academy of Sciences;
Zambia Academy of Science;
Zimbabwe Academy of Science; and
Sudan Academy of Science.

The general objective of the Network is to: act as an independent African forum that brings together Academies of Science in the continent to discuss the scientific aspects of problems of common concern, to make common statements on major issues relevant to Africa and to provide mutual support to Member Academies. In pursuing this objective the Network collaborates with other Academies inside and outside the continent as well as with regional and international organizations concerned with African problems.

Derived from the general objective, the specific objectives of NASAC are to:

Facilitate the provision of advice to governments and regional organizations on scientific aspects of issues of importance to Africa's development;
Promote cooperation between Academies in Africa by exchanging information on programs and experiences, and sharing common visions;
Assist in building the capacities of Academies in Africa to improve their role as independent expert advisors to governments and to strengthen their national, regional and international functions;
Assist science communities in Africa to set up national independent Academies where such bodies do not exist; and to
Organize conferences, workshops and symposia, and issue statements or reports on topics of major African concern.

The NASAC membership is drawn from African countries and member Academies are independent, non-governmental, non-political and non-profit scientific organizations, but above all, are merit-based and national in the scope of their operations. NASAC is governed by a General Assembly which consists of the Presidents of all member Academies, and an Executive Committee consisting of the President, three Vice- Presidents and the Secretary-General.

Visits and consultations

Between 2001 and 2006 NASAC has grown in terms of the number of member Academies, but also with respect to its activities. Significantly contributing to the development of those activities were two working visits of the Presidents (or their designated substitutes) of NASAC member Academies and NASAC staff to, respectively, the US National Academies of Sciences (US NAS) in April 2003 and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in February 2006. A third visit to the Royal Society of London is scheduled for October 2006.

The US NAS-visit culminated in the African Science Academy Development Initiative (ASADI), which is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Under this initiative, all nine founding NASAC members receive support to strengthen their strategic planning capacities, while three Academies (those of Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda) are more intensively supported for purposes of capacity building.

At the end of the visit to the KNAW - with all 13 members participating - participants formulated a number of action items for possible follow-up and requested the KNAW to support NASAC in developing these ideas into a “NASAC Strategic Action Agenda”.1 This was followed by consultations among the NASAC President, the NASAC Secretariat and the KNAW team that organized the February visit.

STRATEGIC ACTION ITEMS

Context and impact

The “NASAC Strategic Action Agenda” presented below is of course about NASAC – and at the same time it is not about NASAC at all. Yes, it is about NASAC insofar as NASAC is the agent that will drive the implementation of the Agenda. No, it is not about NASAC as the most important aim of the project is not so much to strengthen NASAC, as it is to strengthen the thirteen national Academies of science that are member of NASAC – and beyond that: through these Academies to contribute to science itself. Accordingly, the strengthening of NASAC as such is not the purpose of the “NASAC” Strategic Action Agenda, nor is the purpose of that Agenda to invest in the NASAC member Academies as a goal in itself, that is: without regard to the role and position of these Academies in relation to science, scientists and national research systems.

There is great variety among the world’s science Academies, both in terms of history and organization, as well as in terms of their mandate and the functions they perform within their respective countries. The same holds true for African Academies of science that are members of NASAC. Some NASAC member Academies are established organizations with strong ties to active scientists and government – others are still very young and have a long way to go to establish the same ties.

For this reason, it is essential to articulate some overarching considerations that should guide not only the content of the Strategic Action Agenda, but also its implementation.

First, an Academy of science is not a purpose in itself. Of course, it should bring scientists together – also socially – but this is not enough: an Academy should also be able to play a role in strengthening science and in advising decision-makers.
Second, an Academy can achieve these expectations only if it makes sure that its membership is not only of the highest quality, but also includes in large part scientists who are actively involved in research at the cutting edge of science.
Third, an Academy and the larger science community are mutually dependent: an Academy needs a high quality science community from which to recruit members and a science community needs an Academy to enhance its visibility and impact.

One implication of these considerations is that the best and most effective way to strengthen an Academy may well be to invest in the quality and quantity of the science being carried out in country or region: better science requires better scientists, the best of whom can then be inducted in an Academy. Yet, this is not the approach taken in this NASAC Strategic Action Agenda presented below. That Agenda opts for a more modest approach – also financially – by focusing on the question of what specific actions can help the NASAC member Academies to become better and more effective in helping to improve science in their country or region (“policy for science”) and in advising decision-makers and society on the scientific aspects of societal issues (“science for policy”).

Priorities and timeline

There are several categories of actions and activities that are inherent to NASAC as a network of African science Academies. NASAC is not NASAC if it is not involved in:

Supporting the scientific leadership in countries with no national Academies of science to create new Academies;
Strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of existing Academies in Africa, both individually and collectively;
Developing effective and appropriate links with other African and non-African science organizations or initiatives;
Supporting member Academies with efforts to enhance public awareness of the potential of science for national development; and
Serving as a platform for the exchange of information on best practices in respect to the core functions of Academies.

However, although inherent to NASAC, each of these categories of activities is so broad and long term that priorities must be set. This is indeed what the NASAC Strategic Action Agenda is all about: the setting of priorities within the overall framework of the categories of activities that were just mentioned. This implies that, within these overall categories, specific actions must be identified that are do-able with limited resources and within a relatively short period of time. Identifying and adopting such action items does not imply that NASAC will do nothing else. On the contrary: ongoing activities will continue, while there may also be unexpected opportunities to seize or problems to address.

TEN ACTION ITEMS

Within the overall framework outlined in the preceding two paragraphs, ten specific action items have been defined.

Support new NASAC members with developing a strategic plan and promote the adoption of concrete work plans As was mentioned before, ASADI supports the development of strategic plans by the nine Academies that founded NASAC, while three of these Academies receive additional support for capacity building. This leaves out the four new NASAC member Academies. These Academies will receive support from NASAC to also develop a strategic plan. This not only for their own benefit, but also as NASAC and its members can only move ahead in a coordinated manner if all NASAC member Academies have a strategic plan. For this reason NASAC will also support member Academies that do not yet have such a plan to develop a concrete work plan that indicates the specific steps to be taken by an Academy for the purpose of implementing the strategic plan.
Organize for member Academies a series of workshops on best practices for merit-based science Academies Each Academy is unique. Even so, much can be gained by sharing experiences and insights. For this reason NASAC will organize a series of multi-day workshops on best practices in areas like: membership election and mobilization, fundraising and resource mobilization, reporting and advisory functions, outreach to the general public, relations with the press and other media, participation in international science cooperation, etc. A first workshop may focus especially on Presidents and other elected Officers, while subsequent workshops will focus on Academy executive officials and other members of staff.2 A limited number of outside experts may participate, but the core agenda of each workshop is to stimulate discussion among the participants from the NASAC member Academies.
Develop, and share with member Academies, expertise on funding opportunities for African research One of the greatest challenges facing African scientists is to obtain adequate funding, both from sources within their respective countries and from worldwide donor organizations. NASAC member Academies are best placed to help address that challenge in their own country, but NASAC can help by making available to its members the expertise that is required if an Academy or (a group of) African scientists seeks funding from non-African sources. The European Union (EU) is a key actor here, especially as its Framework Programs are also open to African scientists. NASAC will mobilize expertise to tap into the EU funding system and make that expertise available to its member Academies so that they may support African scientists whose research qualifies for EU funding.
Request a study on re-vitalizing the role of African universities in national innovation systems from the InterAcademy Council (IAC) Currently, the InterAcademy Council (IAC) is exploring the feasibility of a study on the question of how to re-vitalize African universities so that they can better contribute to national innovation and development. Representing all African Academies of science, NASAC is ideally positioned to act as the requesting organization for such a study. In order to strengthen this request, NASAC will approach the African Union (AU) and the Association of African Universities (AAU) to express their support for the IAC study. As with previous IAC studies, this study will most likely have much international visibility, while the outcome of the study will be of interest to all NASAC member Academies, their governments and the international donor community. As the requesting organization, NASAC and its members will take the lead in defining follow-up initiatives. IAC itself will provide all funding for the study itself.
Develop a website to inform the general public of NASAC and its activities and to facilitate information exchange among NASAC member Academies NASAC will develop as soon as possible a high-quality website with up-to-date information on NASAC and its activities. The website will also provide information on NASAC member Academies that do not yet have a website of their own, while the NASAC site provides links to the sites of Academies that already have a site. Part of the website will be accessible to NASAC members only. Initially, this members-only-section of the site will be an archive where members can find information that should not be available to the public at large (for example, on plans and initiatives under consideration). At a later stage the members-only-section may evolve into a virtual office allowing member Academies to work together without physical travel.
Stimulate scientific networking between African and non-African scientists and enhance visibility of African science Excellent science is performed in Africa. NASAC will support its member Academies to make this visible, both in Africa and elsewhere. An important way of increasing the visibility of African science is to stimulate scientific networking, exposing scientists from Africa and the rest of the world to each other’s work. More specifically, NASAC will collaborate with the European Science Foundation (ESF) and other partners to organize a series of Europe-Africa research conferences on selected areas of research that are of interest both to Africa and European scientists. In addition, NASAC will support its members in issuing from time to time Statements on some of the critical issues facing African science or society.
Support member Academies with undertaking a fore-sighting exercise designed to a set research priorities at the national level In many countries fore-sighting is an important instrument in determining research agendas and priorities. Its outcomes are used not only by the scientific community itself, but also by governments and donor organizations. NASAC will support member Academies in initiating a national fore-sighting exercise, both for the purpose of developing expertise and experience with the methodologies of fore-sighting and for the purpose of defining research priorities in consultation with the science community, government and, where appropriate, the private sector and other stakeholders. NASAC will ensure that the lessons learned in these fore-sighting exercises are available to all NASAC member Academies.
Identify criteria and best practices for successful research collaboration between African and non-African scientists. Although almost always unintended, research collaboration involving African and non-African scientists is often of greater benefit to one party than to the other. If the disadvantage falls with African scientists, African science as a whole loses. Using the expertise of its member Academies, NASAC will therefore take the initiative for a study to analyse actual examples of joint research projects in an attempt to identify structural criteria or practices that are essential to secure a balance of benefits. If such criteria and practices are found, NASAC member Academies and donor organizations can use them to ensure that any future partnerships are indeed of mutual benefit.
Position NASAC as an attractive partner in matters of Africa-wide policy making and collaboration Once (most of) the above action items have been successfully completed, - and not any sooner - NASAC may be in a position to become the first port of call for institutions outside Africa that are looking for a partner on Africa-wide science and technology issues. Such a role for NASAC must complement and support the role of NASAC member Academies. Of special importance is the development of cooperative relationships with the EU, the global science donor community and organizations like the InterAcademy Panel (IAP), the InterAcademy Council (IAC) and the International Council for Science (ICSU). Within Africa NASAC must seek to establish strong and constructive links with the ICSU and TWAS Regional Offices and with bodies like NEPAD and the AU.
Support initiatives to develop concrete plans and proposals for the creation of and African Science Foundation Building an African Science Foundation is a major undertaking that cannot be driven by any organization on its own. For this reason NASAC and the NASAC member Academies will seek to support efforts to launch such a Foundation, recognizing that the most critical factor for the Foundation’s success will be its ability to generate structural financial support from African sources. In this process NASAC and the NASAC members must represent the voice of the science community – nationally and regionally - especially by mobilizing the voice of active African scientists that work at the cutting edge of their respective disciplines.

INTERNATIONAL LIAISON ACTIVITIES OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA

Network of African Science Academies (NASAC)

The Academy is a founder Member of NASAC, and is currently a Vice-President. The Secretariat of NASAC is at the African Academies of Science (AAS) in Nairobi. ASSAf will devote much energy to playing a leading role in NASAC activities in 2009-2010 and will partner with NASAC on a variety of activities.

African Science Academies Development Initiative (ASADI)

The African Science Academies Development Initiative (ASADI) programme funded by the US National Academies has provided an effective vehicle for improving cooperation between African science academies and their Members/Fellows. The fourth annual conference and training sessions of the ASADI members, and other NASAC members, was held in London in November 2008. The 2009 ASADI annual meeting, with a focus on “Improving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Africa”, is scheduled to take place in Ghana in November 2009. ASSAf is taking responsibility for the production of a policy-makers booklet on the topic and to this end will be organizing a series of workshops of national and international experts.

ASSAf will also host the 2010 ASADI annual meeting and will embark on planning for this activity during the coming financial year. It is anticipated that the focus of the meeting will be on energy.

The workplan and budget for Year Five (equivalent to the financial year 2009-2010) of the project will be submitted to the U S National Academies by 31 May 2009.

The ASSAf partnership with the US National Academies through the ASADI development programme continues to make a major contribution to the development and recognition of the Academy.

InterAcademy Panel (IAP)

ASSAf is one of over 100 member Academies of the IAP, head-quartered in Trieste, Italy. ASSAf can thus enhance its national science academy role within our country by drawing on the experience and capacity of the world’s science academies for South Africa’s benefit. Significant funding of projects has been obtained from IAP.

InterAcademy Council (IAC)

The President of ASSAf has been elected to serve on the Board of the IAC for the period 2009 to 2013. The work of the IAC is described as follows: “The InterAcademy Council (IAC) produces reports on scientific, technological, and health issues related to the great global challenges of our time, providing knowledge and advice to national governments and international organizations”. ASSAf intends during its period of membership of this council to participate fully in its activities.

InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP)

ASSAf’s membership of the IAMP provides valuable contact with the main medical academies world-wide and a focus on health problems of the developing world. Professor Anthony Mbewu, Presdient of the Medical Research Council (MRC), is currently a Vice-Chair. ASSAf will host the IAMP General Assembly in 2009.

The Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS)

ASSAf is an active collaborator of TWAS, which has programmes to stimulate scientific development in developing countries and co-sponsors ASSAf’s Young Scientist Award. Discussions are underway to establish a TWAS chapter in South Africa and to further promote TWAS fellowship schemes in South Africa. The hosting of the 2009 TWAS Conference in Durban will significantly increase ASSAf’s profile and role in TWAS.

G8 + 5 Academies

A significant outflow of ASSAf’s membership of the IAP has been its continuing inclusion in the annual meetings of the G8 + 5 academies, where the national science academies of the 13 countries discuss key issues of common interest and provide evidence-based advice to the heads of state at the G8 summit meeting. In addition, they issue Consensus Statements to international bodies and the world media/public. In March 2009, the meeting will take place in Rome and the statements to be issued are on migration and energy.

RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR AFRICAN ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE IN GENERATING KNOWLEDGE

The goal is to enable existing national science academies based in the SADC region to participate in a workshop with representatives from universities in SADC countries which do not (yet) have such academies, in order to jointly explore the ways in which academy functions may add significant value to the university system in each country and regionally. This value in the modern era consists mainly of creating a professionally managed, impartial, multi-disciplinary, high-merit and transparent system of providing evidence-based policy and planning advice in the country concerned, through the effective mobilisation of the best-available expertise (which resides largely in the universities). At the same time, national academies are amongst the most powerful incentives for academic performance, thereby providing universities with an external driver of intense and sustained effort on the part of their academic staff, in a system equally open to all institutions. As a “voice of science”, academies can also promote the development of research and education networks, and provide a reputable forum for multi-party consensus.

Therefore this goal accords very closely with the first action item of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) Strategic Action Agenda. Specifically, this action item states: “Help create new academies and support existing members with developing strategic plans and concrete work plans”.

Therefore this paper al seeks to align these two initiatives and to chart a way forward by suggesting a regional approach to the creation of new academies and using the SADC region to initiate this process.

At present, there are five national science academies in the SADC region that are members of NASAC, the secretariat of which is at the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) in Nairobi, Kenya. These are from Madagascar, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Academies of Science have recently been established or are in the process of being established in Mauritius, Mozambique and Botswana. The SADC countries without national science academies are Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, and Swaziland.

ASSAf is the only academy in the region which is part of the African Science Academies Development Initiative (ASADI), now in its fourth year of partnership with the US National Academies. ASADI seeks to develop the capacities of African national science academies to generate evidence-based advice in their countries, while simultaneously fostering receptiveness on the part of policy-makers to use the advice proffered by academies.

The individual universities of the SADC countries in both groups are all members of the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA), which has informally indicated its interest in promoting a more purposeful and planned exploitation of academy functions.

An important aspect of African science academies is that while they can learn much from successful practices and contributions of the established academies of developed countries, they have to create their own adaptations that may be better suited to the circumstances of states which are in various stages of development and contexts.

Some of the outputs which might come from the workshops include models for establishing new national science academies by leap-frogging steps already taken in other countries; cross-representation in panels generating evidence-based advisory reports; productively linking university-based scholars into key agencies for African development; jointly developing and enhancing core academic resources such as scholarly journals, indexes of research outputs, and technology-enhanced information access; making NASAC a well-regarded voice in African policy-, making; maximising the benefits of the honorific function of academies, within countries and the region.

KM & Governance

Towards a model resolution tracking mechanism for parliament and provincial legislatures

KMAadmin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:22:07 -0600

By: Kgabo Masehela and Isaac Nkuna, Limpopo Legislature

Background

The Republic of South Africa is a democratic state as stated in the Constitution of South Africa of 1996; it therefore has an obligation to ensure the maximum realization of the values of accountability, transparency, effective oversight agencies and institutions, agencies that are accountable to the public. In terms of the Constitution, parliament and legislatures as one arm of government at the provincial spheres play a crucial role in ensuring amongst others:

Conduct oversight S 114(2)(b)/133(2)5 and-the-PPMA;
Hold the executive accountable -S 114 (2)(a); and
Protect and ensure maximum realization of the values of transparency, accountability, and open democratic process with respect to parliament itself

The above constitutional provisions empower the Parliament and Legislature to provide ‘mechanisms’ to maintain ‘oversight’ of any organ of state and Legislatures have responded to this key mandate by establishing portfolio and standing committees to play an oversight function over the executives.
This paper reviews the extent to which resolutions are implemented by the executive. Data shows that there gaps in the implementation of committee resolutions and therefore proposes a resolution tracking tool. The paper is located within the Limpopo Legislature’s Standing committee of Public Accounts (SCOPA) for the Financial Year 2006/07. We firstly analyze the level of implementation of resolutions and secondly, we propose a comprehensive guide for resolution tracking mechanism. The proposed model should be read within the broader framework of deepening democracy, oversight, accountability, evaluation of committee work, knowledge construction and bringing efficiency in the Legislative sector.

The concept of oversight

One of the most important roles of parliament is to exercise oversight over the executive (Murray and Nijzink 2002). Oversight means supervision, watchful care, management or control. It suggests a watchdog function over ongoing activities of an agency. This is in line with the assertion by (Scruton 1996) which defines oversight as "action or an act of overseeing something; supervision, inspection; charge, care, control."

According to Corder et al (1999) there is a tendency to view oversight in a limited way which it is seen as the role of the opposition ‘designed to police and expose maladministration and corruption’. Senay and Besdziek (1999) defines ”Oversight as a proactive interaction initiated by a legislature with the executive and administrative organs … that encourages compliance with the constitutional obligation on the executive and administration to account to the public’s elected representatives, and which advances the ideals of good government, development and cooperative governance’. This further entails: 'review, monitoring and supervision of the executive and other organs of state, programmes, activities and policy implementation.

Literature Review

Constitutional institutions such as Parliament are in their 15year in South Africa and as a result are still putting new systems and programmes in place. This include amongst others; resolution tracking mechanism by Committees - a system that should ensure that committee resolutions are implemented by the executive.

The current practice of resolution tracking is varied, complex and has limitations. Firstly, after committees pass resolution/s, and a copy of the resolutions is sent to the Department for implementation. Progress as to how far the implementation takes place with Departments concerned is largely left for implementation by the department. An oversight model (SALSA, 2007) with regard to tracking of committee resolutions proposes the following procedure.

Tabling of Committee reports in the House
Submission of House resolutions to Office of the Premier for referral to relevant executive department
Resolutions & recommendations may also be referred directly to relevant executive departments
Cabinet processes (ideal)

The above SALSA report (2007) falls short of outlining a detailed model on how resolutions should be implemented. Griffith (2005) argues that in order for the Committee deliberations and recommendations contained in Oversight Reports to be taken forward and make an impact as far as government performance is concerned, resolution tracking and evaluation (in terms of compliance) is required.

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature has developed a resolution tracker form which simply records committee resolution but doesn’t show whether the executive implemented the recommendation. It is not a mechanism to track but is an administrative tool for compliance.

Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) developed a similar tracking mechanism for expenditure by comparing budget and programme objectives with quarterly financial reports. PSAM continuously tracks how government service delivery departments spend the money allocated to them. PSAM also tracks compliance with public finance regulations and legislated financial reporting requirements (including those governing the production of annual reports, audit reports and financial reports). Its emerging monitoring methodology consisted of undertaking a comparison between corrective steps taken and the regulatory provisions governing the discipline, ethics and accountability of public servants in post-apartheid South Africa. PSAM’s tracking tool focuses on monitoring expenditure and this paper argues that majority of Committee Resolutions are not just confined to financial accountability.

The above tools fall short of outlining a comprehensive mechanism that ensures resolutions which are pursue developmental priorities are implemented.

Methodology

Interviews and documentary analysis were the two main data gathering techniques. Documentary data was found a very important source of information. The main source included SCOPA documents on resolution implementation of all provincial departments for the FY 2006/07. Interviews were conducted with committee secretaries of Committees in the Limpopo Legislature. A method of unstructured interviews was utilized as means of validating whether there are existing models for resolution tracking. This tool proved to be most useful in extracting personal experiences from secretaries who had worked in the Legislature for more than 5 years each.
The data was converted into quantitative format for each of the 12 departments (Education, Health and Social Development, Sports, Arts and Culture, Economic Development and Tourism, Agriculture, Roads and Transport, Safety and Security, Local Government and Housing, Public Works, Treasury, Office of the Premier and Legislature ) and was analyzed to get a ‘get a sense of the whole’.

Findings

The state of resolution implementation

The legislature passes a number of resolutions every financial year which the executive is expected to implement. In this section attempt will be made to assess the level of implementation of resolutions and the implications thereof, especially with regard to resolution tracking by the relevant sections in the Legislature.

Figure 1 below indicates the distribution of resolutions passed by the Legislature across Departments in the year under review. The percentage of resolutions passed is a proxy of challenges and problems that a particular Department was faced with during the year under review. For instance, it is clear that out of the total of 164 resolutions passed by the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), the Department of Health had most of the resolutions compared to all Departments at 20% (33). The above number reaches 49 (30%) when the social development section (16 [10%]) of the Department is taken into consideration. This is by comparison a very high number, especially given the fact that the passing of resolutions is indicative of problems and challenges facing the Department at a particular period.

As illustrated in Figure 1, another Department that had more challenges and problems in the year under review was the Department of Transport which had 18% (29) of the resolutions passed by the Legislature. Also worth noting with regard to the implementation of resolutions, there were 7 resolutions (Department of Transport and Office of the Premier) that were to be implemented by agencies (AG, Treasury) other than the affected Department itself. The successfully implementation of these types of resolutions need the commitment of both the Department and agency.

Figure 1:

As can be seen in Figure 2 below, most Departments struggled to implement SCOPA resolutions. For instance, out of the total of 164 resolutions passed for the year under review, only 38 (23%) were fully implemented. This is a small number given the number of resolutions passed. If resolutions are not fully implemented it means that the weaknesses in Departmental operations will not be corrected and hence problems are likely to recur. A general overview of Figure 2 shows that almost all of the Departments are lacking when it comes to the implementation of SCOPA resolutions with the average implementation rate at 0.3.

Figure 2:

Partially implemented resolutions consist of resolutions which have not been implemented in full as per Legislature recommendation. What it means is that certain aspects of the resolutions have not been addressed thus leaving outstanding issues which are likely to recur if not dealt with in full. The total number of partially implemented resolutions in the year under review were 44. This constitutes 27% of the total number of resolutions passed during the year under review. Figure 3 shows the distribution of partially implemented resolutions per Department. Worth noting is that it is important for resolutions to implemented in full as per recommendation by the Legislature. It is worrying to note that the number of partially implemented resolutions was at a significant percentage of 27%. It is crucial that this number should decrease in the future.

Figure 3:

As figure 4 illustrates Departments had resolutions that were not properly implemented in the year under review. The Department where this problem was most prevalent was the Department of Transport (13). These types of resolutions occur as a result of failure or negligence from Departments to implement the resolutions as per requirement. What emerged from the public hearings with Departments was that the reason why most of the resolutions were not properly implemented was the attempt by some Department to challenge the resolution or the findings of the Auditor-General. It is of concern to note that these type of resolutions made a significant chunk at 32 (20%).What makes this act to be unacceptable is that Departments often have time during and after the hearings to make follow ups on matters that affect them. In fact, clarity can be sought during the hearing is to what is expected from a Department or why a Department is not agreeing with the findings of the Auditor- General.

Figure 4:

Another problematic area that emerged during the hearings was the tendency by some Departments not to respond to resolutions. Often a Department is given the opportunity to submit its responses in writing. It is at this stage that it becomes clear that some resolutions have not been responded to. Figure 5 illustrates the total number of resolutions per Department and the prevalent or non-prevalence of the act of not responding to resolutions. It is clear from Figure 5 that not all Departments had this problem except for three Departments (the Departments of Public Works, Transport and Treasury). It is encouraging to note that the number of ‘not responded to’ resolutions was 4 (2%). Worth noting is that notwithstanding the minimal number of these type of resolutions, it is crucial that this problem must be avoided in the future as it makes the work of the Committee difficult and raises questions on the commitment of the Department concerned to address problems and challenges facing it.

Figure 5:

Resolutions that were to be implemented by an agent outside the Department were 12 (7%) in the year under review (Figure 6). The outside agent in most instances was the Office of the Auditor- General. For instance, the Committee may recommend that the AG follow up on the certain matters. The implementation of these types of resolutions involves both the Department and the agent (i.e. the Auditor General, SASSA). Each one of them has a role to play: the Department must cooperate with the Office of the AG while the AG has the duty to conduct his or her job as effectively as possible. The challenge with this type of resolutions is that if not monitored are likely to fall within the cracks.

Figure 6:

Another critical factor in resolution implementation is the tendency by some Departments not to implement resolutions passed by the Legislature. As illustrated in Figure 7, this anomaly was prevalent in three Departments [the Departments of Health (12), Office of the Premier (10), Social Development (9) and the Legislature (8)]. This is a disturbing phenomenon that needs to be dealt with.

Figure 7:

An overall examination of resolution implementation in the year under review shows that there are serious gaps which need to be closed. As can be seen in Figure 8, it is of concern to note that only 23% of the resolutions passed by the Legislature were fully implemented. This means that 77% of the resolutions were implemented, partially implemented or not responded to. The above scenario shows that there are serious gaps with regard to resolution implementation within Departments.

Figure 8:

Reasons for failure to implement resolutions by Departments

Data indicates that departments have somewhat failed to implement the majority and important resolutions which renders the parliamentary oversight ineffective. Reasons for the failure to implement resolutions by Departments are as follows:

Challenging the findings of the AG.
Not taking disciplinary action as proposed or applying a standard procedure to disciplinary matters which are completely different.
Failure to recover money from responsible officials or agencies.
Tendency to institute lengthy and unfocussed investigations.
Lacking a sense of urgency even when dealing with resolutions with specific timeframes.

Concluding summary

Seeing that there are serious gaps in resolution implementation as indicated by the data provided, it is therefore important to ensure that an effective mechanism is put in place to track and monitor all resolutions that are passed by the Legislature or Parliament. The proposed model should not only add to knowledge production but should play a critical role in addressing matters pertaining to oversight and accountability to enhance service delivery. The model could inter alia be inclusive of the following aspects/elements:

It should have an electronic resolution tracking device for effective, timeously and continuous tracking of resolutions. The device must be managed by the administrative staff of the legislature or parliament who handle all reports and submissions by government Departments.
The model should clearly outline by when, by whom and how resolutions should be implemented.
There should be a clear direction about the disciplinary measures that should be taken against negligent officials as per PFMA.
The relevant committees of Parliament should note all resolutions that apply to them in their minutes and constantly check on them.
There should be continuous hearings and report back by Departments to check/assess the progress made.
A joint venture and collaboration among committees is essential for effective implementation of resolutions.
There should be a buy-in from the executive to ensure that resolutions are effectively implemented.

It should be noted that although the decision to pass resolutions is a political process done by members of the legislature, however, the follow up with regard to the implementation involved checking and assessing progress reports (which is mainly an administrative exercise). It is at this level that effective knowledge management is needed. As part of the information society, effective knowledge management in this case should entail: using the right tools, devices or software to enhance resolution tracking as suggested above. Given the number and size of provincial Departments that committees deal with, it is possible that the information submitted could be overwhelming and complex to deal with. Complicating the situation is the fact that Departments submit their information in the form of hard copies. Scanning through the documents remains a challenge which could even be more frustrating if the data is not properly organized or converted into a user friendly format.

Finally by effectively managing knowledge emanating from resolutions, decisions and programmes, parliamentary committees will contribute to oversight, accountability, development and service delivery. In order to effectively exercise their oversight roles, parliamentary committees need knowledge which must be properly channeled and handled in order to achieve the intended results.

References

Caparine M “Challenges of control and oversight of intelligence services in a liberal democracy” Paper presented at the workshop on Democratic and Parliamentary Oversight of Intelligence Services Geneva 3-5 October 2002.
Corder et al (1999) Report on Parliamentary Oversight and Accountability. Prepared by Parliament UCT.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act no 108 of 1996.
Griffith,G (2005) Parliament and Accountability in the 21st Century: The Role of Parliamentary Oversight Committees, ASPG Conference, Sydney 6-8 October 2005.
Murray, C and Nijzink, L (2002) Building representative democracy South African Legislatures and the Constitution. Cape Town, Parliamentary Support Programme.
Public Service Accountability Monitor oldwww.ru.ac.za/community/PSAM
Senay, C and Besdziek, D (1999) Enhancing Oversight – The role of Provincial Standing Committees in an Open, Transparent and Accountable Democracy. Unpublished report
Secretaries Association Legislatures of South African (2007). Oversight Model, Unpublished report.
Scruton, R. 1996. A Dictionary of political thought. Macmillan: London

KM & Governance

Implementing the social vision of an egalitarian society: intellectual capital and the production of social policy analysts

KMAadmin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:49:52 -0600

Corresponding author: Dr Lulama Makhubela - Intellectual Capital, Development Bank of Southern Africa, 1258 Lever Road, Headway Hill, Midrand; lulum@dbsa.org
Dr Robert Van Niekerk Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy, Oxford University, UK; Robert.vanniekerk@socres.ox.ac.uk

Abstract
This paper offers an analysis of intellectual capital as “intellectual action” in the social sphere, or the application of knowledge for social purposes. It is specifically concerned with the production of social policy analysts who can implement the social vision of an egalitarian society in the African context. The paper uses the case of South Africa to raise questions about knowledge-production and social policy. The paper begins by discussing the existing intellectual capital which has informed the creation of a social vision of an egalitararian South African society. These include foundational documents such as African Claims (1943), the Freedom Charter (1955), the RDP base document (1994) and the Constitution (1996). These foundational documents suggest a particular relationship between economic and social policy – that social policy should not be subsumed into economic policy and thus undermine the achievement of social goals such as inequality and poverty reduction. There has though not been sufficient attention paid to the production of social policy analysts which can give effect to the social vision – either through directly informing policy or reflecting on current knowledge and its production in the social sphere – and the degree to which such knowledge informs the implementation of the social vision of an egalitarian society. Crucial to the production of such social policy analysts is the institutional context within which knowledge is produced (such as universities from a disadvantaged as opposed to a privileged background) and the race, gender and class characteristics of the knowledge producers. We argue that engaging issues of representivity is important for not only issues of redress but to also ensure that a diverse range of voices are heard and can contribute to implementing the social vision. This will require concerted and intentional action. The paper outlines strategies to its achievement – including the development of social policy analysts skilled in meta-analysis who can evaluate existing knowledge in the social sphere, and the degree to which it informs the implementation of a social vision of an egalitarian society with due consideration to concerns of race, gender and class diversity. The paper concludes by considering some practical recommendations for producing the desired social policy analysts, based on the South African case of social policy and knowledge production.

Introduction

The paper offers an analysis of intellectual capital as “intellectual action” in the social sphere, or the application of knowledge for social purposes. It is specifically concerned with the production of social policy analysts who can implement the social vision of an egalitarian society in the African context. The paper uses the case of South Africa to raise questions about knowledge-production and social policy. It begins by discussing the existing intellectual capital that has informed the creation of a social vision of an egalitararian South African society. These include foundational documents such as African Claims (1943), the Freedom Charter (1955), the RDP base document (1994) and the Constitution (1996). These foundational documents suggest a particular relationship between economic and social policy – that social policy should not be subsumed into economic policy and thus undermine the achievement of social goals such as inequality and poverty reduction. There has though not been sufficient attention paid to the production of social policy analysts which can give effect to the social vision – either through directly informing policy or reflecting on current knowledge and its production in the social sphere – and the degree to which such knowledge informs the implementation of the social vision of an egalitarian society. Crucial to the production of such social policy analysts is the institutional context within which knowledge is produced (such as universities from a disadvantaged as opposed to a privileged background) and the race, gender and class characteristics of the knowledge producers. We argue that engaging issues of representivity is important for not only issues of redress but to also ensure that a diverse range of voices are heard and can contribute to implementing the social vision. This will require concerted and intentional action. The paper outlines strategies to its achievement – including the development of social policy analysts skilled in meta-analysis who can evaluate existing knowledge in the social sphere, and the degree to which it informs the implementation of a social vision of an egalitarian society with due consideration to concerns of race, gender and class diversity. The paper concludes by considering some practical recommendations for producing the desired social policy analysts, based on the South African case of social policy and knowledge production.

Implementing the social vision of an egalitarian society: intellectual capital and the production of social policy analysts

Recent evidence suggests that Africa is at development cross-roads. A report of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Africa Steering Group reported that achieving the Millennium Development Goals held “the promise of saving millions of lives; empowering women; addressing the scourge of illiteracy, hunger and malnutrition; and ensuring that Africa’s children have access to high-quality education and good health to lead productive lives” (MDG, 2008: 1). In achieving these significant development goals the MDG Steering Group reported however that the “continent as a whole is lagging behind on each Goal despite a very encouraging rise in the rate of economic growth, an overall improvement in the policy environment and strong macro-economic fundamentals” (MDG, 2008:1) The report of the MDG Steering Group suggests that successful economic development has not translated into improved social development, at least to the degree desired. The question that this paper aims to address is the relationship between social policy and economic policy and the production of capacity for social policy analytic decision-making which can advance the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In explaining the relationship between social policy and economic policy it draws on the seminal work of Mkandiwire (2004) and Adesina (2008) on the need for a “transformative social policy” that engages with problems of economic development while preventing the traditional subsuming of social policy to economic development. The paper uses the case of South Africa to examine historical inequities and deficiencies in knowledge-production that have prevented the development of social policy analysts who have the necessary skills to address the new knowledge challenges of “transformative social policy” and who are demographically representative of the wider society. It examines historical thinking on egalitarian social policy in South Africa and discusses an institutional model of mentorship that can produce the type of social policy analyst with the knowledge creation and management skills necessary for realising this egalitarian and historical vision of an inclusive, transformed society. Some broader lessons for African countries confronting questions of analytic capacity for social policy and development are discussed.

The framework for new knowledge-creation and analytic capacity: re-examing social policy and economic policy in Africa

A myriad of definitions on Intellectual Capital have been advanced leading to different interpretation of the concept – in part because of the problem of how to measure and give value to a qualities that are intangible such as the tacit knowledge which is embedded in an individual and which, unlike explicit knowledge, becomes difficult to codify . In the literature on intellectual capital and policy making the original definition of Galbraith provides however a provocative insight on the purposive, social intent of knowledge-creation. Galbraith argued that intellectual capital was more than “pure” intellect but included “intellectual action, a progression from possessing knowledge to applying it and which implied relationships and processes which are needed to transform knowledge into value (Swart, 2006). Mkandiwire’s (2004) observations on the history of the relationship between social and economic policy in recent African development and the need for a “transformative social policy” represents an intellectual action with far reaching implications for African development policy and actions to achieve development goals. Recently reviewing the history of the relationship between economic and social policy he argues that social policy has been relegated to a “social safety” net for those who cannot participate or benefit from the proceeds of economic development (Mkandiwire, 2004). In this context social expenditure is seen as a drain on fiscal resources that should be supporting economic development. The consequences of this policy approach translated into action are the structural adjustment programmes which wreaked havoc with African development for two decades (Adesina, 2008). A re-balancing of the relationship between economic and social policy is now required – one where “social policy should be conceived as involving overall and prior concerns with social development, and as a key instrument that works in tandem with economic policy to ensure equitable and socially sustainable development. Social policy must be designed not only residually, to cater for social casualties, but also integrated as a central component of policies, to ensure the wherewithal for their sustainability (Mkandiwire, 2004: 3-4). The question which emerges is how are these insights on the need for a transformative social policy to be applied so that it influences social policy debates and their outcomes? Who will the agents of this new intellectual capital and how are they to be produced?

South Africa: The context of social policy fifteen years into the post-1994 democracy

Since 1994 South Africa has recorded significant outcomes from many of its social policies aimed at overcoming the deeply rooted legacies of apartheid and colonialism. Government figures1 on access to basic services indicate for example that households’ access to water increased from 62 percent in 1996 to 88 percent in 2007. In the same period access to sanitation increased from 52 percent to 73 percent. These indicators of successfully implemented social policies need to be set however against the difficulties of many social policies to achieve their inclusive and poverty alleviating intentions. In the area of housing the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, while commending the legal provisions in the constitution that guaranteed the right to adequate housing nonetheless reported that despite the socio-economic right to adequate housing, evictions are a “regular occurrence” with 2 million people displaced since 1994” (United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, 2008: 2). According to the Children’s Institute of the University of Cape Town ten million children continued to live in households earning less than R800 per month, considered an ultra-poverty or “indigent” poverty line (Children’s Institute, 2006).

At the level of policy these social indicators demonstrate a rapidly growing need in South Africa for social policy analysts with the analytic and conceptual skills to evaluate and monitor the progress and implementation of the government’s social policy reforms. Indeed the importance of such skills has been recognised by the government itself, with the Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, of the ruling African National Congress government commented that “social policy is at the very centre of the vision of the type of society we want to build. Social policy is a way of thinking about the interventions and solutions for the many social and economic problems we face… We must find solutions to the malnutrition, the infant mortality, improve our education and health systems and make sure that our social and economic policy leads to real and positive outcomes for the millions of our children and young people” (Skweyiya, 2008). Dr Skweyiya’s comments are consistent with a history of thinking within the ANC on social policy and its utility as an agent for social transformation.

In 1943 the ANC produced “African Claims”, a document which set out a range of social policies based on the social rights concomitant with political enfranchisement. These rights, contained in a Bill of Rights, included the establishment of free medical and health services for all sections of the population; the right of every child to free and compulsory education and of admission to technical schools, universities and other institutions of higher education and equality of treatment with any other section of the population in the State social services, and the inclusion on an equal basis … in any scheme of social security and the extension of all industrial welfare legislation to Africans engaged in Agriculture, Domestic Service and in Public institutions or bodies (African Claims, quoted in Karis and Carter, 1987, 217 – 222).

In 1955 the Freedom Charter, the ANC’s historical programme for transforming South Africa, was adopted. The Charter contained a series of ‘demands’ framed by the primary citizenship demand that the ‘People Shall Govern’. In addition to civil and political rights, it (like Africans’ Claims before it) contained demands for social rights, including rights related to income maintenance, state-provided free and universal education, rights to housing and rights to free, state-provided medical care (Freedom Charter, quoted in Karis and Carter, 1987).

The other significant milestones in ANC thinking on social policy were the Reconstruction and Development Programmes (RDP) base document of 1994 and finally the Constitution adopted in 1996. The RDP set out as its five key policy programmes to achieve its objectives, ‘the meeting of basic needs, developing … human resources, building the economy, democratising the state and society and implementing the RDP (RDP, 1994: 7). The RDP located an interventionist role for the government in the economy. It further argued for a strong role for public sector investment, including nationalization as an option to achieve an expanded public sector (RDP, 1994: 80). With regard to health care policy, the RDP advocated a National Health Service based on the “complete transformation of the entire delivery system” (RDP, 1994: 13). The imperative of transformation was also reflected in its education proposals, which called for national, integrated system of education that met development needs. The RDP base document was principally concerned with building the human resources that would allow African citizens to have expanded life chances in the post-apartheid era, including opportunities in the labour market which had been racially differentiated. The radical, re-distributive impetus in the pre-election social policy proposals of the ANC reflected an intention to break with the racialised social policies of the apartheid era. These social policy proposals of the RDP base document, based on an ethic of social justice and acknowledgment of constitutionally guaranteed social rights were ideologically compatible with a social democratic approach to social policy and reflected a continuity with thinking since the 1940’s on the need for an interventionist state that prioritised social policy based on social rights of citizenship whilst simultaneously meeting imperatives of economic development. These imperatives were concretized in the Constitution of South Africa adopted in 1996, which guaranteed entitlements to socio-economic rights such as health, housing and education within available government resources.

This review reveals that the idea of a “transformative social policy” that locates social policy as central outcome and not subordinate to the objectives of economic development, as deeply embedded in the policy discourses of the ruling ANC. The problem has been how to successfully translate these intentions into practice, reflected in the uneven social indicators of development progress fifteen years into democratic rule.

Social Policy analysts, knowledge creation and the system of higher education

A key mechanism for ensuring that transformative social policy informs policy debates on development and as well as the discourse of development is through the training of future social policy analysts. In the medium-to-long-term it is essential that local academic and research institutions in particular are able to provide for the training of future social policy analysts who can independently undertake rigorous, critically informed research in the tradition of transformative social policy. Moreover, it is important that the education and training of such social policy analysts simultaneously redresses educational inequality in the system of higher education, in particular the educational privileging of a minority white elite historically through a racialised system of schooling and higher education. In the context of the constitutional imperative to promote equality through “legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination” it is necessary for African social policy analysts to be purposefully produced and who are demographically representative of the wider South African society most effected by poverty and inequality. This includes purposive action to educate and develop more African women social policy analysts and those from the working class. The concern that requires to be addressed here is that the imperative for deracialisation of political institutions in South African society needs to also extend to the de-racialisation of the production of knowledge and related processes of policy decision making, including social policy. The constitutional imperatives of equality require more-over that the government should play an active and not passive role in ensuring that targets for the production of social policy analysts are met. The government should establish an independent body that can review progress on transforming the academic culture at an institutional level. This body must ensure that there are no institutional obstacles to African academics playing the fundamental role in intellectual leadership of their institutions. This will ensure the longer term sustainability of education and training programmes aimed to develop a new cadre of social policy analysts as conceived in the discussion above.

Obstacles to the production of African social policy analysts

There are a number of obstacles that mitigates against production of African social policy analysts. Amongst the key obstacles which need to be considered are:

the institutional capacity in the South African higher education system to provide education and training in social policy;
the institutional culture in academia and its ability to nurture a new generation of African academics who can lead on the development of social policy as an area of academic study; and
the potential constraints on African students in the social sciences undertaking a career path as social policy analysts in contrast to other competing career trajectories.

The three obstacles are further discussed below:

Educational capacity in the higher education system. Internationally social policy is studied in academic departments as one of the areas in the academic social sciences with a distinct empirical focus on the support for the well-being of citizens provided through social action. This distinguishes the study of social policy from other areas of social sciences such as Sociology, Development Studies, Economics and Political Science (Alcock, 2003)... South Africa has a long academic tradition of study in Sociology, Political Science and Economics, all of which have contributed to the analysis and critique of social problems in the apartheid and post-apartheid era. A review of social policy in academia in South Africa reported however that due to historical reasons there does not exist an established tradition of studying social policy as a separate academic discipline (CASASP, 2005). The apartheid regime discouraged the development of such a tradition by making it difficult to routinely collect centralised data and thus enable meaningful comparison of social indicators across race, class and apartheid geographical boundaries. In the post-apartheid era concerns with delivery during the transition led to a focus on developing practitioners who could implement government policy. While this was undoubtedly necessary, it was at the expense of developing evidence-based analysts who could critically reflect on why social policies were successfully implemented or not. The study further observed that the study of social policy was conflated with development studies, a different academic discipline, and that content on three areas critical to social policy was not provided in the curriculum. These related to content on welfare regimes, and the location of South Africa in such a theoretical framework; content on citizenship both from an historical and comparative international perspective, incorporating comparable middle-income developing countries and thirdly the comparative theorisation and conceptualisation of poverty and social exclusion from an international social policy perspective (CASASP, 2005).
The institutional culture in academia and its ability to enable African academics to take a leading role in the academic development of social policy. The education and training of future social policy analysts will be dependent on those academics that can provide appropriate education and training in social policy. The institutional culture in academia is arguably pivotal to developing a cohort of such skilled social policy academics who can take the lead in developing social policy as an academic area of study. The current institutional culture in South African higher education arguably undermines this development however, a consequence of the persistent racial inequalities in the composition of the academic workforce. If social policy is to take root and flourish as a relevant paradigm and subject of academic study it will need to be embedded in the new generation of academics who can research and teach social policy to future generations of students interested in becoming social policy analysts. Furthermore if the constitutional imperative of equity in higher education is to be realised, meaning substantively that the majority of future academics will be African in a manner consonant with the demographic profile of the country, then African academics will need to lead and staff future programmes and departments of social policy in higher education institutions. The evidence of continuing inequality in higher education suggests real concern however for the ability of the higher education system to develop such a cohort of African social policy academics who can be the bedrock of a distinctive South African tradition of social policy. As revealed in a recent study whilst African South Africans comprise nearly 91 percent of the population they make up only 38 percent of academics. The position is particularly stark in the case of African Africans who comprise 80 percent of the population but comprise only 24 percent of the academic workforce. Women who comprise 51 percent of the population comprise only 42 percent of academics (Badat, 2008). The fact that knowledge production is thus still “predominately the preserve of white men” (Badat, 2008) radically inhibits the possibilities for African academics taking academic leadership roles at departmental level. The possibilities for a social policy academic tradition to emerge which is rooted in a new generation of academics demographically and substantively reflective of the ideals of a post-apartheid society are thus diminished. The possible exception to this trend is the historically disadvantaged academic institutions (HDI’s). The HDI’s have an academic culture that does encourage the development of African academics into leadership positions. They are also significant for their location in provinces which experienced the worst forms of poverty and inequality and are thus ideally located to develop a cadre of social policy academics (and students) who can address social policy concerns at a provincial level. Compared to the historically white universities the HDI’s however are constrained by comparative lack of financial and human resources to develop new, innovative teaching and research programmes. The academics in HDI’s also have greater teaching commitments due to their comparatively higher intakes of students with a much smaller academic staff complement compared to historically white institutions. This diminishes the ability of many academics in historically disadvantaged institutions to undertake high quality research, a necessary ingredient for developing social policy as an academic area of study. Addressing these fundamental institutional, financial and human resource concerns will thus be necessary if African social policy academics are to be produced who can lead the development of social policy as an area of study and the production of a future generation of social policy analysts.
Potential constraints on African students undertaking careers as social policy analysts As argued in the previous sub-section the future education and training of social policy analysts will be significantly dependent on African academics who are enabled to undertake rigorous teaching and research in social policy and who can lead the institutionalisation of social policy as an academic discipline in higher education institutions. Constraints on African students pursuing careers as social policy analysts need to be considered however. With regard to student enrolment on courses a study by Breier and Mabizela (2008: 285) suggests that national targets for headcount enrolments in the social sciences are being broadly met, with 41 percent of target reached against national target of 40 percent in 2004. The concern is less enrolment than the sustaining of such students in education programmes for the duration of their studies. Evidence based on Department of Education sources suggest that 50 percent of first time undergraduates dropped out before attaining a qualification. Reasons cited include poverty and the insufficiency of bursaries and loans to cover fees (Breier and Mabizela (2008: 290)
There is a further set of factors that potentially constrain students taking up studies in social policy that will lead to them becoming social policy analysts. The remuneration for a career trajectory as a social policy analyst may be significantly less than options of employment in the private sector. For African students from working class and rural poor backgrounds, often with families to support, this can become a significant opportunity cost. The other consideration is career pathways and prospects for career development. If there is not a clear pathway for entry into a professional career as a social policy analyst for students on graduating, either in government or the non-government sector, then the incentive to become social policy analysts diminish.

Preferred policy alternatives to address obstacles in the development of African social policy analysts.

The first key goal for addressing the obstacles identified above is to enhance the institutional capacity to deliver social policy teaching and research programmes through redressing inequalities in knowledge production. This can be achieved through a comprehensive mentorship scheme aimed at supporting African academics to enable them to lead the development of social policy as an academic discipline in their institutions. The mentorship scheme should be an institutional model – meaning that it will not only aim to re-dress inequalities of access of African academics to high level expertise in social policy but simultaneously enable individual departments to enhance and build their capacity in social policy teaching and research. The mentorship scheme will thus be dependent in particular for its success on full institutional support from the relevant academic department in which the candidate academic is employed. Without such institutional support the candidate academic on the mentorship programme will be unable to meet their assigned mentorship tasks and obligations. The mentorship programme will pair a local academic with an established international social policy academic who will confer their social policy analytic skills through an intensive social policy educational programme. This is intended to create a foundation for developing a programme of social policy teaching in the academic institution and which can be lead by the candidate academic on the mentorship programme.

The second key goal for addressing the obstacles identified above will be to create incentives for committed African students to enrol and sustain their participation in social policy education programmes. This can be achieved through the provision of adequate financial and pastoral support to ensure completion of the course. Support will be contingent on good quality results and supervisor reports. In addition a career entry into the civil service as a social policy analyst will be negotiated – commencing for a probationary period but which can then be made permanent on the successful completion of the probationary period.

Measurement of policy success

In regards to the mentorship scheme aimed at developing African academics in social policy the successful completion of 90 percent of the mentorees in the programme over the five year period will be the measure of success.

In regards to the African students enrolled in courses of social policy the successful completion by 90 percent of the selected students in the course and their entry and completion after the probationary period of employment into the civil service will be the measure of policy success.

The DBSA in the social vision of an egalitarian society: implementation modalities

Unlike commercial banks, the DBSA, has an additionality function of being a knowledge institution. This is occasioned by the fact that matters of development are not events but processes that go beyond initial transactions between the bank and its client. Further, and more important, the success of a development bank cannot be measured on the basis of its transactional or financial outputs, but on the impact of those outputs in the development agenda of a country, a region, a continent or the world itself.

For this reason, the DBSA has to have a reservoir of capacities (including human), processes, structures, platforms and networks within which it stores masses of knowledge that could be used to increase its outputs and more especially to assure its impact.

Intellectual Capital has been put to the forefront of an enterprise-wide activity in the DBSA, strategically linked to the Bank’s value position. As a key asset of the Bank, intellectual capital and the management thereof, must add value to the Bank’s core business and enable the Bank to be responsive to environmental changes and challenges, enhance its efficiency as a financial institution, and be a leading expert and change agent. The DBSA, as a Development Bank, must galvanise the most pertinent elements of the acquired knowledge to find solutions to development challenges in order to contribute to an improved quality of life, especially for the poor and marginalized within our nation and the broader region.

Poverty alleviation, narrowing of stark wealth inequalities, unemployment reduction, environmental sustainability, and countering the HIV AIDS scourge are only some of the key and pervasive development problems that both South Africa and the region are faced with. It is widely acknowledged that any attempts to resolve development challenges will be time-consuming; and similarly research, as a systemic enquiry to render value-adding and usable outcomes, especially to address the development challenges that besiege us, needs to be undertaken with a far-sighted approach. This in turn will lead to the requisite knowledge base that can adequately feed into insightful and innovative development solutions for local and regional applicability. Accordingly, the DBSA has devised the 2014 vision that is aligned to the Millennium Development Goals and that recognises delivery of relevant knowledge products that can contribute significantly to the improvement of the quality of life of people in the region.

The intellectual Capital Agenda seeks to align with the Bank’s position that the “DBSA is not just a money bank, it is a development bank” and the associated view that places people at the very centre of every development activity or intervention2, in an attempt to improve the quality of life and living conditions of ordinary citizens. This markedly informs the approach to development measurement which will incorporate elements of both economic-based assessments and equally importantly, social development.

The above foregrounds the DBSA Intellectual Capital function as centrally poised to facilitate the development of socially policy analyctic capacity through the research capacity development programme. The details of the programme are not given here, suffice to say that the basic tenets of such a programme acknowledges the critical skills shortage in both social and economic meta-analysis.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa and implementation modalities

The key founding principle of the Knowledge Management Africa biennial conferences was the recognition on the urgent need for the creation of endogenous knowledge solutions for the development agenda of Africa. The DBSA has been in the forefront of pushing this agenda through its articulation of its knowledge management programme. The third KMA conference therefore builds on the development gains achieved thus far but also identify gaps in sustainable development that hamper greater progress in Africa.

A huge gap exists in implementing the social vision of an egalitarian society, the intellectual capital and the production of social policy analysts within the South African university system as articulated in the paper. The Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), in executing its additionality function, should make funds available on a tender basis for developing targeted knowledge areas in the departments of academic institutions. One such targeted knowledge area is the development of social policy analysis grounded in the paradigm of transformative social policy and skilled in meta-analysis and systematic reviews. The production of skills in meta-nalysis and systematic reviews will allow for a policy engagement that assesses the strengths and shortfalls in current social policy in realizing the egalitarian vision of a transformative social policy. Such skills allow for an evidence-based assessment based on clearly defined criteria of knowledge short –falls in social policy. This is an underdeveloped knowledge function – an overdue focus on the production of “new” policy knowledge has left unattended a systematic assessment of the quality of the knowledge and the degree to which it provides insights and pathways to realizing the goals of transformative social policy.

The DBSA tender would specify the knowledge area requirements and the criteria for tender assessment would include the number of African graduates in social policy analysts produced who demonstrate the desired knowledge and skills. The criteria would also include the degree of participation of African academics at departmental level in the education and training of social policy analysts – or plans to equip African academics to perform a leadership role in such training which would include mentorship schemes for such academics. The agreement would be with the individual department and with commitments undersigned by the university. The will ensure that the production of future post-graduate analysts and the development of academics equipped in social policy analysis occurs simultaneously. With regard to the monitoring function the governments Department of Education should perform an active role in evaluating progress in achieving agreed upon goals with an independent assessment of changes to the institutional culture in which such goals are delivered upon. This will ensure the production of African social policy analysts is sustainable and is based on a model of African intellectual leadership with clear steps to its achievement where this is absent. The Department of Social Development, which has a significant amount to gain from such social policy analysts, should create career pathways for incoming graduates, to be integrated into the social policy knowledge-creation and evaluation functions of the Department. This model is reproducible into other African contexts – albeit without the particularly racialised specificities of the South African case – and a regional clearing house should be created that allows participation of the SADC countries in this initiative.

Conclusion

The paper has discussed the context of knowledge production and social policy in South Africa. The need for social policy analysts skilled in the paradigm of “transformative social policy” who can ensure implementation of the historical vision of an egalitarian society will require a fundamental transformation of the institutional culture of academic institutions. This transformation should be achieved through a combination of incentives and monitoring of academic institutions undertaking academic activities in social policy.

A set of concrete recommendations to the DBSA and other key role players e.g. lead universities such as Rhodes and Fort Hare in South Africa & others in the SADC region for instance, and key government departments e.g DSD and DOE in implementing the social vision of an egalitarian society, the intellectual capital and the production of social policy analysts within the broader KMA project still needs to be problematised further.

Bibliography

African National Congress (1943). ‘African Claims in South Africa’, includes the “Atlantic Charter from the Standpoint of Africans within the Union of South Africa” and “Bill of Rights”. Adopted by ANC Annual Conference. Document 29b in T. Karis et al. (1987) From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882–1964: Volume 2: Hope and Challenge 1935-1952, Stanford University: Hoover Institution Press.
Adesina, J (2008). Transformative Social Policy in a Post-Neoliberal African Context: Enhancing Social Citizenship presented at RC19 Conference Stockholm 2008: The Future of Social Citizenship: Politics, Institutions and Outcomes, http://www2.sofi.su.se/RC19/pdfpapers/Adesina_RC19_2008.pdf
Alcock, P (2003). The Subject of Social Policy” in Alcock et al The Student’s Companion to Social Policy, 2nd Edition. Oxford: Blackwells
Badat, S (2008). Producing, Transforming the Social Composition of, and Retaining a New Generation of Academics: The Rhodes University Programme of Accelerated Development, Rhodes University. University Leaders Forum: Developing and Retaining the Next Generation of Academics, 24 November 2008, La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana
Breier, M and Mabizela, M (2008). Higher Education in Andre Kraak, Karen Press (eds.) Human Resources Development Review 2008, Education, Employment and Skills in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC
Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy (2005). A Review of Social Policy Training in Academia, Key Report 1, March
Children’s Institute (2006). South African Child Gauge. Cape Town: UCT Department of Social Development (2008). Keynote address by Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya at the Social Policy Colloquium: 'Social Policy in Southern Africa: Exploring a new research agenda', University of Fort Hare, Bisho campus, Department of Social Development, 23/01/2008
DBSA Development Agenda.2007. DBSA, Midrand
Mkandawire (2005). ‘Introduction’ in Makandiwire, T (ed.) Social Policy in a Development Context, London: Palgrave Macmillan
The Presidency of South Africa, (2008). Towards a 15 Year Review, Synthesis Report. Government Printer: Pretoria.
Republic of South Africa (1996). Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, as adopted on 8 May 1996 and amended on 11 October 1996 by the Constitutional Assembly, Act 108 of 1996, Pretoria: Government Printer
South African Congress Alliance, (1955). "The Freedom Charter" in Karis, T. and Carter, G.W. (1973) From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882-1964, Volume 3, pp. 205 – 208. Stanford University: Hoover Institution Press.
Swart, J (2006). Intellectual capital: disentangling an enigmatic concept. Journal of Intellectual Capital Vol.7 pp. 136-159.
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KM & Governance

Integrated Development [IDP] Service Delivery Impact Assessment Study: A case study from Buffalo City Municipality [BCM]

KMAadmin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:03:47 -0600

By: Jack Fine and Thembisa Norushe

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Director-General: Provincial and Local Government, Msengana-Ndlela, (2006), identified that the provision of basic service delivery and infrastructure still has to face the challenge of the slow pace and poor quality of service delivery. Specific mention was also made of the water, sanitation, and housing backlogs (Msengana-Ndlela, 2006:28).

BCM has made significant progress in meeting the basic needs of the majority of its population through the provision, expansion, upgrading and building of the necessary services. However, service delivery still has to overcome a number of challenges and setbacks in order for BCM to fully realise its aims and objectives to service the entire population within its jurisdiction.

In such a context, it is crucial for the municipal authorities to market the successes achieved to date in service delivery development. It is vital for people to see the extent to which BCM’s Management lives up to the long-term vision of the municipality as outlined within the context of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) (2006/07:14) to ensure ”A people centred place of opportunity where the basic needs of all are met in a safe, healthy and sustainable environment.” The Municipal IDP necessitates that service delivery plans coincide with the strategic plans for the municipality as articulated in the annual objectives of the IDP of the Municipality. BCM (2006/07: 72) has explicitly maintained that it aims for a municipality that is “… well structured, efficient and (which) supports sustainable human settlements, thus enabling residents to meet their physical, social, developmental, cultural and psychological needs” in progressing towards basic services for the 30% of households that still lack adequate transport, social services, economic opportunities and an enriching environment.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

South Africa has recently seen a number of often violent Community protests targeting local Councillors and Councils in a number of municipalities across the country, amidst claims by Communities of non-existent or slow service delivery and the perceived failure of Councillors to meet the expectations of the local Communities they serve. BCM has not been immune to such actions, with a number of instances where calls for the dismissal of Councillors believed to have failed the local Communities, and concurrent demonstrations reported in the local media. While the objects of protest, including education and crime, are often matters outside the legislated competencies of Local Government, and within the jurisdiction of Provincial and National government, such behavior clearly points to the importance of meeting the needs of all the Communities comprising BCM

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research aimed at answering the following questions from Communities:

Mention the positive impact that service delivery from BCM has made on your Communities’ lives in your Ward?”
“Tell us about the challenges that still exist (if any) with respect to service delivery in your Ward?”
“How can service delivery be accelerated in your Ward?”

Ward and Proportional Representation Councillors, and BCM Officials were required to present relevant Projects while being filmed. The study aimed at answering similar questions:

What impact will this Project have on the surrounding Communities?”
”What problems have been experienced with this Project?”
“What progress has been achieved with this Project “
“What are the sources of funding and the costs involved in this Project?”

OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study were to:

To explore and describe the extent of service delivery in BCM
To describe how BCM Communities view municipal efforts at service delivery
To investigate and describe how BCM Ward and Proportional Representation (PR) Councillors see the progress made in delivering on the mandate to provide their constituencies with basic service delivery
To provide BCM employees with a marketable visual record of the progress made by BCM in service delivery
To make recommendations with regard to strengthening support for improved service delivery to BCM Communities.

The scope of this study in particular, looked at service delivery developments surrounding; housing; water and sanitation; primary municipal health services Electrification; transport and traffic engineering; local economic development and tourism, agricultural development; urban renewal programmes roads; and community services facilities

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD

The research design of the study included two phases. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was employed to get a deeper understanding of the impact of service delivery in BCM (Polit & Hungler, 1999:194-196; Babbie, 2004: 89, 370).

Method

SettingThe study was conducted at BCM which falls under the Amathole District Municipality (ADM) in the Eastern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa (RSA). This municipality has 45 Wards, a population of 724 312 and 208 389 households in 2007 (Statistics South Africa, 2008) and a staff complement of about 4 600.These Wards include urban, peri-urban and rural areas.

Population and Sampling
The sample was chosen from the research population consisting of 3 main groups, on the basis of non-probability purposive and convenience criterion- based sampling. The Population consisted of:

Members of BCM Ward Communities
BCM Officials
BCM Ward/PR Councillors

The following criteria had to be met for inclusion in the study:

Group 1: BCM Ward Communities

Residing in relevant Ward
Wiling to participate in the study
Both genders to be included
Representatives of main cultural groups predominant in BCM
Representatives of Urban, Peri-urban and Rural Communities
Set of age categories

Group 2: BCM Officials

Relevant ability to explain and describe their IDP service delivery Projects
Relevant Programme Managers related to IDP and service delivery Projects

Group 3: BCM Ward/PR Councillors

Official representatives elected in each Ward
Official PR representative assigned to some Wards
Knowledge to explain and describe IDP service delivery Projects

Collection Method

The interviews of Community members took place in a series of Community meetings, convened and facilitated by Councillors and Ward Committees in Community halls. Meetings either comprised individual Wards or a cluster of Wards, with an attendance ranging between 10 to 250 Community members, together with Ward and PR Councillors and BCM Officials. A total of 905 Community members participated.

The data collection method included observation, semi-structured and in-depth interviews as well as un-structured conversations on a group rather than individual basis by the researchers to facilitate broader discussion and greater engagement with the issues raised (Kvale, 1996:81-107; De Vos, 2000:25). Data was collected by means of a Video Camera. Muller (1995:69) states that these methods of data collection enrich data. The interviewer created a context where the research participants could speak freely and openly by utilising interviewing strategies such as paraphrasing, probing, summarising, clarification, minimal verbal as well as non-verbal ques (Wilson & Kneils, 1996:110-131). During the interviews, the researcher used bracketing (placing preconceived ideas aside) and intuition (focusing on the lived experiences of the various participants regarding impact assessment of IDP service delivery).

While the interviews were in progress, another researcher took descriptive, observational, theoretical and personal field notes since memory cannot be trusted (Babbie, 2004:305). The observations included seating arrangements of the participants, the order in which people spoke to aid voice recognition, non-verbal behaviour of the participants, themes that were striking as well as personal thoughts, hunches, impressions and ideas, environmental factors, and any problems experienced. Taking the foot notes assisted in transcribing and was the first step of data analysis. Interviews were conducted until data saturation occurred, as this was demonstrated by repeating themes. Saturation of data therefore determined the sample size (Chakalane-Mpeli, 2004:27; Burns & Grove, 2007:348).

From a total of 175 IDP and Executive Mayoral related Projects initiated over the past 3 years at various stages of development and implementation, the research team in consultation with representatives of Senior Management identified a total of 115 new and ongoing operational Projects for site visits with Officials and Councillors. Projects still in the planning phase, and the numerous Settlement and Forward Planning and Survey activities were discounted as there was no physical evidence to illustrate visually. Such consultation also enabled the identification of relevant Officials to provide the details of their Projects. These Officials were mandated by Senior Management to represent the municipality in highlighting these Projects

A pilot study was conducted in the 10 Wards that comprise Mdantsane, in the same BCM to test the research design and method, so that adjustments could be made to the tool if necessary. Following the Pilot study, adjustments were made to the semi-structured questionnaire.

Data Analysis

In order to categorise, order, manipulate and summarise data to obtain answers to research questions (Kerlinger 1986: 23), the transcriptions and field notes formed the data base. The data was transcribed verbatim during the 24 hours following each interview. The data were analysed using Tesch’s method of descriptive analysis (Krefting 1991, [in Creswell, 1998]; Marshall & Rossman, 1995).

An independent coder was used to analyse data and, through consensus discussion, the themes and sub-themes were finalised. Literature control was used to verify these findings.

ETHICAL AND LEGAL MEASURES

Permission to conduct the study was obtained from BCM. Consent was also obtained from research participants. A high quality of Ethical Standard (Strydom, 2002:64) was adhered to throughout the study with due regard to the quality of the research, issues of informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, to ensuring the freedom from harm for participants, to not deceiving participants and in releasing findings to relevant stakeholders.

TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE STUDY

Guba & Lincoln’s Model (1985:290) of Trustworthiness was utilised to ensure trustworthiness (Krefting, 1999:212-216). The criteria used from trustworthiness were credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

1. BCM COMMUNITY MEMBERS

With regard to the Themes relating to: POSITIVE IMPACTS RE-SERVICE DELIVERY IN THEIR WARDS, four Major Themes emerged:

Improved infrastructural development and provision
The following findings concerning infrastructural development and provision were made:
- Roads:
  Participants pointed to recent interventions by BCM in improving the quality and accessibility of roads and pavements in their areas, through the repair, reconstruction, and tarring of main roads, the fixing of potholes and the provision and/or repair of gravel roads. There was however the feeling that much more still needed to be accomplished in this respect.
- Housing:
  Developments surrounding the construction and hand-over of new houses were also viewed as positive in at least providing for some of the shelter needs of the local Communities, and lessening the tension and conflict inherent in the house sharing scheme introduced by the former homeland government, through enabling more families to possess their own houses.
- Sanitation:
  The provision, replacement and improvement of sanitation facilities within individual households and the improvement and expansion of sanitation infrastructure was also regarded as a manner in which the lives of BCM Communities had improved. The dismantling of the Bucket System, the provision of toilets at the level of the household, and the work done on new and existing pipelines were also specifically mentioned.
- Electricity:
  Community participants praised BCM for the introduction of high mast street-lighting, thereby increasing and improving the safety in these areas during the night. The electrification of houses was also mentioned
- Free Basic Services:
  A major positive development across the municipal area has been the introduction of free basic services – 600 litres of water and 60KW of Electricity- to the indigent and poorer sections of the BCM client base.
- Recreation:
  Mention was also made of the improvements in Youth Recreational facilities, in upgrading and fencing current sports facilities, and providing new sports facilitates
- Water:
  The advent of a regular, consistent and quality supply of water through the provision of water tanks and taps was also raised as an important achievement, as was the timely response to rectifying water problems on complaint.
- Community Facilities:
  Improvements and expansion of Community facilities - halls, clinics and crèches - were furthermore noted.
Increased employment and higher skills levels
BCM LED Projects, skills and small business development programmes and employment opportunities were also hailed for their efforts at reducing the levels of poverty in BCM, even though the employment opportunities were often only temporary.
Better mechanisms for communication and engagement to improve the situation at the Ward level
Improved communication and engagement mechanisms for communities and individuals to contribute to the city were noted with respect to:
- The IDP process along with the Executive Mayoral “Imbizo” schedule of meetings.
- The accountability and accessibility of Ward Councillors.
- Improved customer service at counter level and the promptness of BCM in responding to complaints and problems, and various natural and human made disasters.
- The R100 000 Ward-based grants allocated by the Executive Mayor for Projects which prioritise local needs.
Unique themes emanating from the study
Certain Wards revealed unique and different patterns and issues such as:
- The assistance provided by BCM in improving agricultural Projects, mostly through the purchase of tractors and other implements, the fencing of farming land, plot allocation and provision of land for grazing and watering of animals and agricultural produce in rural areas, and
- Improvements in the lives of people with disabilities, public transport facilities and heritage Projects in township areas

With regard to the CHALLENGES THAT STILL EXIST RE-SERVICE DELIVERY IN THEIR WARDS, four Major Themes emerged:

The lack of an effective and efficient system of Monitoring and Evaluation [M and E], feedback and accountability

The most significant finding related to the lack of an effective and efficient system for monitoring, evaluation, feedback and accountability, most noticeably in the housing arena, but also apparent in other areas of municipal delivery, participants pointed to challenges surrounding:

Human resources and labour issues in contributing to delays in or non-completion of Projects,
Poor processes of engagement and communication and
Confusion over the division of roles and functions of the three spheres of government- Local, provincial and national. Respondents for example mentioned challenges surrounding schooling and crime-fighting as significant problems in their communities. These are however, national and provincial competencies rather than municipal level concerns.
The tendering process, again with severe negative consequences for effective and efficient service delivery.
While a number of Projects had been initiated, and work commenced, the progress towards completion was often slow and delayed due to the lack of coherent and consistent system of holding contractors and service providers accountable. In some instances, these Projects had even been abandoned before they were completed.
Processes of engagement and communication with BCM officials and Councillors also necessitate significant improvement, due to the:
- Lack of material benefit actually accruing to communities despite promises of improved services, facilities and performance,
- Lack of follow up on Projects, the inaccessibility/ invisibility of some BCM Officials and Councillors,
- Slow rate of response to complaints,
- Lack of periodic review of the needs of individual communities,
- Divide and rule tactics employed by some Councillors, and
- The concurrent high degree of antagonism shown by Community Members towards BCM Officials and Councillors

Limited delivery regarding Infrastructure development

The major challenges presented related to the same functions as those where progress was noted- infrastructure development surrounding roads, housing, sanitation, and street lighting-leading to the conclusion that although there has been positive momentum, the quality, pace and extent needs to be increased.

Roads:
The challenges posed by low quality, narrow untarred access and internal roads, full of potholes and cracks and without speed humps, for emergency services, police, funeral processions and refuse collection were particularly severe, as was the issue of safety on these roads. The limited provision of pedestrian and/or motor vehicle bridges connecting Communities to other parts of the city also presented with negative consequences.
Housing:
Housing was identified as the most important infrastructural challenge, with the large backlog, problems surrounding the sharing of houses, slow pace of resettlement and contractor problems-uncompleted Projects, labour and financial issues, Project management, low quality of workmanship- raised as major issues.
Safety and Security:
Action is also warranted to solve the potential health, safety, crime and security problems through increased streetlighting, expanded upkeep, increased electricity distribution, and cleaning and maintenance of public spaces.
Water:
The efficient and effective provision of safe and clean water to Communities was also less than optimal, with Communities pointing to a limited number of taps provided by BCM, an ineffective and inefficient water supply system where a single fault could negatively affect a number of neighbouring units, areas, suburbs and villages, the inaccessibility of water services and the limits on the amount of water provided to households.
Sanitation:
The obstacles blocking service delivery in the wastewater and sanitation sector included sewerage infrastructural problems, payments for sanitation services and limited household toilet facilities.
Community Facilities:
The lack of sufficient Community Halls, Clinics, Crèches and other Community facilities, as well as limited maintenance of existing Community facilities were also mentioned as a factor curtailing effective and efficient service delivery.
Sports Facilities:
Challenges were also noted in the problems posed in relation to the role of sports and recreation facilities in youth development and anti-crime programmes.
Financial Constraints:
Participants also revealed a number of financial constraints and problems, limiting effective and efficient service delivery throughout BCM, including the administrative and bureaucratic difficulties in the accessing, application and implementation of the indigent policy system for free electricity, water and sanitation in all areas in a uniform manner.
Uneven Service Delivery
It was also clear that the levels and type of service delivery differed considerably across type of settlement-urban, rural and peri-urban, across political environments and across the township-suburb divide.
Rural Areas
It was also apparent that the problems and challenges of service delivery noted in urban areas were magnified in rural areas. People in the rural areas were also more likely to advance agriculture-related concerns, particularly in relation to the failure of agricultural Projects, grazing and fencing issues

Decreased mechanisms for employment opportunities

Developments surrounding the creation of employment opportunities were thought to have only made a slight dent in the high unemployment figures in BCM, with criticism also leveled against the system of temporary employment utilised by BCM, and hiring of people from outside the immediate area.

Unique Themes emanating from the study

A number of Wards identified challenges unique to their area,including:

Lack of access for people with disabilities at BCM offices,
Insufficient utilization of tourism potential,
Delays in removal of large stones blocking roads,
Non payment of Liaison Officer,
Classification between urban and rural areas,
Lack of benefits for youth forum, and
Payment for use of BCM hall facilities.

With regard to the Themes relating to: HOW SERVICE DELIVERY CAN BE ACCELERATED IN THEIR WARDS, three Major Themes emerged:

Increase levels and systems of coordination between BCM and Communities

It is necessary to increase levels and systems of coordination, communication, interaction and cooperation. In addition, participants pointed to the need for an improved system of cooperation between the three spheres of government, through strengthening of Intergovernmental relations. Better Service Delivery would therefore require:

Mechanisms for answering questions and dealing with grievances,
BCM to get to know the communities and their needs first before beginning Projects,
Advance communication,
Strengthening cooperation between BCM and the Local Community, and Increasing transparency.

Accelerate pace of service delivery by improving financial/funding systems

Research participants suggested the following mechanisms to accelerate the pace of service delivery in BCM:

Improved the budget system;
Use volunteers/local people;
Budget according to Ward priorities and needs;
Basic servicing;
An integrated budget; and
Speeding up of infrastructure provision.
Accelerate the pace of service delivery particularly through the funding regime

Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation Systems through establishment of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit

Participants pointed to the need for a well-planned, coherent, effective and efficient system of monitoring and evaluation of Projects, programmes and service providers to rectify this shortcoming. Such a system should be made an integral part of service delivery at BCM, and would ensure:

High quality service delivery Projects completed timeousely,
That Projects were followed through,
That progress could be measured and
That remedial and rectification actions could be taken to handle problems before it was too late, and ensure that BCM officials,
Councillors and service providers would be held accountable for the Projects concerned during the Service Delivery process.

COUNCILLORS/ BCM OFFICIALS

The interviews and site visits with Councillors and BCM officials revealed similar generalised patterns concerning the achievements and challenges with service delivery. These groups confirmed Community Members’ notions that challenges are evident in relation to:

The pace of service delivery,
Non-completion of Projects
The low quality of developments, particularly in the realm of housing, illustrating the cracks and defects of houses only a few years old and
The uneven nature of service delivery developments, across the urban-rural divide and across different urban Wards.

Some Councillors however presented their own unique localised problems and challenges. Funding for these Projects is e sourced from a number of sources, including:

The equitable share governmental funding formula
Municipal Infrastructure Grant
Foreign donors
Relevant provincial and national government departments
The Vuna Awards
Buffalo City Metropolitan Transport
Capital Replacement Reserve
The Executive Mayoral Fund
External Financing Fund and
The Municipal Electricity Provider

The results of the site visits and interviews with BCM Ward and PR Councillors and BCM officials relating details of appropriate Projects can be seen on the DVD accompaniment to this report, which provides a visual showcase of these 115 Projects.

Positive Developments

BCM Councillors and officials tended to confirm the progress noted by Community members in building new facilities, and in the upkeep, maintenance and repair of existing facilities and infrastructure, with officials and Councillors pointing to the extensive effort shown, funding provided to and success achieved in the planning and implementation of Projects concerning:

Housing:
Completed and ongoing housing delivery as implementation agent for the Provincial Department of Housing
Water:
Progress in the construction of new Storage Reservoirs and new pipe infrastructure, and in the Bulk Water system.
Sanitation:
Eradication of the bucket system, the construction of new sewerage pumps, the improvement in the bulk sanitation system and the provision of VIP toilets in rural areas.
Sport/Recreation Facilities:
Upgrades and refurbishment of Sport and Recreation Facilities, including the Aquarium, local nature reserves, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and sportsfields and stadiums.
Solid Waste:
The beautification initiatives in high density residential areas, improvements in the standards of Public Conveniences and the closure of Waste Disposal sites, such as in NU 2.
LED
Local Economic Development, Rural Agricultural Development and Tourism Projects as IDP service-delivery related Projects.
Roads
Tarring and repairing of roads, potholes and paving of sidewalks
Community facilities:
Maintenance and upgrading of numerous community halls across the municipal area, and the development of Art and computer training centres, to the benefit of the local Communities.
Architecture:
Upgrading of and extensions to Primary Health Clinics, and the construction of Community Support Centres and the equipping of these centres with computers, furniture and other fixtures.
Traffic Engineering:
Improving facilities for pedestrians, commuters, cyclists and motor vehicle users, through additional traffic signals and signage, pedestrian and cycle paths, and the improvements surrounding taxi facilities.
Electricity:
Expansion of electricity provision, particularly with respect to the erection of new streetlighting, the electrification of schools, the electrification of low-income households and the construction of electricity substations.
Executive Mayoral Projects:
The ward-specific Executive Mayoral Projects, which each received R100000 in direct funding from the Executive Mayoral Projects Fund. This source accounted for the provision of grass cutting equipment, tables, chairs, and children’s playground equipment in a number of BCM Wards.
Second Creek Special Project:
The Second Creek Special Project, aimed at improving the nutritional, social and health needs of the Community of Second Creek informal settlement. This Project was singled out for special attention and focus by the Executive Mayor of BCM, with direct funding from the Executive Mayoral Fund.

Challenges in Service Delivery

The challenges presented by BCM Councillors and officials were similar to those outlined by the Community participants in the study and centred on:

The Quality of work undertaken by contractors responsible for the construction of new facilities and/or maintenance and repair of existing facilities, most noticeable in the structural defects evident in recently constructed houses, deviation from agreed specifications and design flaws seen in a number of housing Projects across BCM, as well as with respect to children’s playground equipment. Low quality of workmanship was also noted in relation to the potholes that have yet to be fixed and roads that had only been partially gravelled.
Delays, blockages in the completion and/or abandonment of Projects as a result of contractual, financial, design, capacity and human resource problems on the part of contractors and service providers. These obstacles need to be overcome to ensure efficient and effective service delivery that meets the needs of all members of the Buffalo City Community.

RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the research findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:

Establishment of a Monitoring and Evaluation Unit

It is clear that there is a vital need for a Monitoring and Evaluation (M &E) Unit dedicated to the regular consistent and coherent monitoring and evaluation of all Projects, processes and service standards at BCM, in the interests of effective and efficient service delivery, to ensure that Projects and processes are completed on time, within the required budget and to the requisite standard of quality.
In such a context, it is imperative that all aspects of BCM operations are monitored and evaluated, as to avoid irregularities and to counter and rectify any problems that arise.
The Organisational Development Department should Investigate the location of this unit

Strengthen the Intergovernmental Relations System

There should be structured communication channels between the three spheres of government. This is in line with contentions raised during the discussion process with Councillors surrounding the review of the White Paper on Local Government, where it was maintained that the MEC and Mayors’ Forum is not sufficient for this purpose.
Clear roles and responsibilities between the three spheres of government must be defined to avoid misunderstandings over roles and spheres of influence.
Funding should follow functions.
There should be an integrated programme and schedule of meetings between the Provincial, National and local politicians.
BCM should extend, formalise and expand the systems and structures of cooperation with the other two spheres of government- Provincial and National- to ensure the most efficient and effective utilisation of financial, physical and human resources.
With local government at the coalface of service delivery as implementation agent of Provincial and National government policies and programmes, it is crucial that there is formalisation of a closer, more coordinated working relationship between BCM line departments and the corresponding departments at provincial and national level.
There should be a greater alignment of budgeting and Project cycles in BCM between the three spheres of government, for example by ensuring that the financial years of the spheres are the same in order to streamline service delivery.
This approach should also lead to lower levels of duplication, waste, and greater attention to meeting the service delivery needs of the BCM population.

Regular Feedback, Communication and Interaction with Communities

The 8 guiding principles of the “Batho Pele” philosophy for South African public sector public representatives should be strengthened amongst all representatives of BCM These principle are:
- Consultation with communities,
- Reinforcement of service standards
- Increasing communities’ access to information,
- Ensuring courtesy through continuous, honest and transparent communication with citizens
- Providing communities with the necessary information,
- Open and transparent governance
- Redress when problems arise and
- Value for money
It is thus crucial that:
1. Systems and structures are established and implemented that facilitate and ensure regular feedback, communication and interaction with communities.
2. These systems and structures ensure that there is regular and coherent participation and involvement of the community as far as possible.

Expand skills development and employment opportunities

Current LED programmes should be expanded,
Further LED Projects should be developed to both provide employment, particularly to local Community members, and to increase the skills base of these Communities.
Concerns surrounding the high levels of unemployment in BCM, and the concurrent lack of employment opportunities as well as the limited opportunities for skills development should result in an expanded focus by municipal authorities to rectify the challenges posed in this regard.
An increase in skills development is likely to lead to an increase in the marketability of Community members, and their opportunities to obtain employment.
There should be a preference for local Community members in all BCM Projects, rather than sourcing labour from outside the BCM borders.
The expansion of such efforts should be an integral component in poverty eradication plans.

Align Projects with Community needs

Project planning should be expanded at Ward-level, rather than at the macro-institutional level, thereby aligning Projects with the needs of individual Wards.
Processes of considering the needs of Local Communities should be extended in the conception, design and implementation of BCM Projects and operations.
There should be further interaction and discussion between BCM and the Communities of individual Wards before Projects are decided upon and where Community voices are heard and acted upon, in order to ensure that Projects undertaken are the ones that are deemed necessary by the Communities.

CONCLUSION

The preceding discussion has illustrated significant progress made by BCM in improving the lives of the its people, and important challenges still affecting the delivery of services. The successful application of the recommendations provided should however facilitate efficient and effective service delivery to the people of BCM.

KM & Governance