establishing effective knowledge exchange structures for africa’s development stakeholders
DESCRIPTION
Establishing Effective Knowledge Exchange Structures for Africa’s Development Stakeholders Steffen Janus March 27, 2011. APDev aims to be:. A multi-stakeholder forum. A knowledge base & mutual learning hub. An integrated community of practice. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Establishing Effective Knowledge Exchange Structures for Africa’s Development
Stakeholders
Steffen JanusMarch 27, 2011
APDev aims to be:
● A multi-stakeholder forum
● An African-country-led mechanism with an active role for RECs
● An integrated community of practice
● A knowledge base & mutual learning hub
● A network for knowledge, policy & practice links
APDev consists of two basic inter-related building blocks:
EXPERTISE
Knowledge Repository(online database)
Community of Practitioners working for Africa’s
Development
Reports, Statistics, Case studies, guides,
check lists, etc.
Knowledge sharing and collaboration, in
both virtual and physical spaces.
Collaboration and Experience Sharing between Africa’s Institutions
● Not a new thing. Has been around for many years
● But often ad-hoc, bilaterally or focused on specific sectors
Need for more systemic and regular knowledge exchanges amongst Africa’s development stakeholders
Knowledge Exchange: Mutual learning from Practice on what works and what does not.
● Institutional capacity needs assessment needed
● Both cross-sectoral and sectoral expertise required
Knowledge SupplyDemand for Knowledge
Knowledge Exchange: Mutual learning from Practice on what works and what does not.
● African stakeholders have a lot of experience to share
● Much of this experience and expertise is directly relevant to other stakeholders on the continent
Knowledge SupplyDemand for Knowledge
The APDev Knowledge Exchange Initiative
● Systematic Knowledge Exchanges between Practitioners and Policy makers
● Focus both on institutional capacity constraints and thematic issues
● Both virtual and face-to-face dialogues, many facilitated by video conferencing technology
Who are the stakeholders?
● Very inclusive process: All APDev stakeholders can participate
● Initial focus on RECs as key drivers of regional integration on the continent
SADCGaborone, Botswana
COMESALusaka, Zambia
EACArusha, Tanzania
IGADDjibouti
ECCASLibreville, Gabon
ECOWASAbuja, Nigeria
CEN-SADTripoli, Libya
UAMRabat, Morocco
NEPADMidrand, SA
ACBFHarare, Zimbabwe
AUC and UNECAAddis Ababa
AfDBTunis, Tunisia
Map of future virtual regional sites for Knowledge Exchanges via video conferencing
Linking in national-level stakeholders
● Involvement of national governments, civil society, private sector and academia
● Use of Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) to facilitate knowledge exchanges through distance learning technology
APDev Online Community Platform / Knowledge Repository
F2F VC
APDev Dialogues
Monthly Dialogues addressing institutional capacity constraints
Regular thematic knowledge sharing dialogues
• Regular dialogues addressing institutional capacity constraints
• Thematic KE dialogues
Two parallel Knowledge Exchange Tracks
Immediate next steps
● First video-conference based knowledge exchange pilot addressing knowledge management as a key institutional capacity constraint reported by RECs (end April)
● Consultation on pilot thematic knowledge exchange track on Trade Facilitation (May 5-6)
● Subsequent knowledge exchanges (1-2/month)
Linking back to APDev’s objectives
● A multi-stakeholder forum
● An African-country-led mechanism with an active role for RECs
● An integrated community of practice
● A knowledge base & mutual learning hub
● A network for knowledge, policy & practice links
APDev Knowledge Exchanges are BY you and FOR you
● Invitation to contribute additional thematic tracks
● Invitation to sponsor knowledge exchanges● Invitation to participate in all APDev
knowledge exchange activities, both actively and passively
Thank you!