Development Cooperation Handbook/Issues/Sharing knowledge and resources

77px|right Issue 10 Sharing knowledge and resources 27px ⇒ Episode 7 - MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability 27px ⇒ playlist on YouTube In other sections of this handbook 17px Learning and Knowledge Management 17px Communication Skills 17px The Vrinda Project 14px Article on Wikipedia ⇒ Knowledge management ⇒ Knowledge ⇒ Knowledge community ⇒ Knowledge ecosystem Prolegomena Cooperation actions are valued as much as they "produce results", i.e. achieve the expected objectives of improving the development opportunities of the target populations. And this is generally measured in improved food security, sanitation, improved health services, improved political representation of marginalized communities, etc. What often goes underestimated is the learning that cooperation projects produce. And without an adequate system of collection and sharing of such learning, this asset may not be available to those who need it most, i.e. the local communities who are supposed to continue and expand with local resources the activities started with external support. This project has made knowledge collection and sharing its central objective. And in order to serve well the our purpose we have asked the development stakeholders to tell us what what kind of knowledge that is most required by those who work to remove poverty. We also wanted to understand what are the challenges in collecting and organized learning from projects and what is the communication style that facilitates intercultural understanding. We have learned that in spite of the fact that development actors have fully recognized that knowledge constitutes an essential resource for development, knowledge sharing constitutes a major challenge because many organizations consider their specialized know-how as a strategic asset and want to maintain their competitive advantage on others that compete in fund raising. Testimonials 40px|right We asked different stakeholders to share with us their experiences of knowledge management and how we can contribute in filling the knowledge gap among development cooperation actors. We also want to compare the aptitudes of the peoples of different nations in assuming responsibility for global development and inter-cultural dialogue. Below are the answers we collected. The work is in progress and you are welcomed to contribute. Click on the name of the contributor to go to the page with the full interview. Julian Parr thumb|Agencies do not have resources to disseminate information though electronic media which are hugely expensive - Julian Parr thumb|left|Changing People's Behavior is the greatest challenge - Julian Parr Manoj Kumar thumb|centre|The knowledge cycle process gap - Manoj Kumar Dialogo tra Silvia Costa e Francesco Brancatella thumb|Sarebbe importsnte dare piu' fondi ai progetti perche' possano comunicare meglio -- Dialogo tra Silvia Costa e Brancatella 17px thumb|left| Lasciamo i giovani senza gli strumenti per capire e per vivere - Dialogo tra Costa e Brancatella 17px thumb|centre|Occorrerebbe creare l'anno della lotta contro la poverta' del linguaggio - Dialogo tra Costa e Brancatella 17px Etikwa Ikutu and Rilli Lappalainen thumb|thumbtime:17|left|Communication stereotypes (by NGOs and by media) about international cooperation - Ikutu and Lappalainen thumb|centre|Communication stereotypes (by NGOs and by media) about international cooperation (2)- Ikutu and Lappalainen Jyoti Sapru thumb|centre|Knowledge and Social Harmony as Resources - J. Sapru Catherine Ray - Spokesperson for EuropeAid thumb|left|The challenges in giving visibility to the work done by EuropeAid - Ray How to inform the EU citizens of the development work done with their money. Montek Singh Ahluwalia We have to distinguish between embodied and disembodied knowledge. thumb|centre|Shared goals and reciprocal trust create the "social capital" - Ahluwalia Rajendra Kumar Pachauri TERI thumb|The imporance of environmental education at school level - Pachauri thumb|left|The only reason why we are not changing unsustainable habits is because the people are not informed - Pachauri Shiva Kumar thumb|centre|Good evaluators are generally not good communicators - and that is where civil society should step in - S.Kumar C.B. Rao UN Officer There is a moral duty thumb|Setting goals is easier then achieving them - C.B. Rao thumb|centre|What is being humane- C.B. Rao Lucas Lai thumb|centre|I use my network to use my opportunities to highlight an issue, inform and try to make a change - L.Lai Danièle Smadja thumb|left| Knowledge and Social Harmony as Resources- Danièle Smadja Education is a fundamental right and that is very important. If you say that social cohesion is a resource to go up the economic ladder in the sense that it has to be available for all and it everyone should have the possibility to have it. Even though we have a number of problems in Europe, even though we have a number of disparities in our society; social cohesion has been for many years in the heart of the architecture of the European Union. Social inclusion and social coherence has been in the heart of Europe and European policies. We are directly putting money in the big envelope of the government. But this is not limited in just signing a cheque to the government. We are a very important party in a number of discussion of the steering committee which is in charged of the implementation of the program. But we are also helping in designing and monitoring the program. Through our presence we can influence, but this does not mean imposing a model but offering our experience, proposing technical assistance, showcasing are lesson learned and also bad experiences from where they can learn and be a source of inspiration. Roberto Gualtieri thumb|thumbtime=7|Comunicare ai cittadini europei i processi di cooperazione internazionale - Roberto Gualtieri 17px Rajesh Kumar Jha thumb|left|Farmers understand when the community understands - R.K.Jha 25px 17px Conversation amongst Western and African journalists thumb|left|Come superare lo stereotipo delle paure occidentali ed essere vero - Francesco Brancatella - F.Brancatella - Dialogo con i giornalisti di Konu, Sierra Leone 17px thumb|Perche' i media occidentali danno una immagine cosi' negativa della realta' africana? - F.Brancatella - Dialogo con i giornalisti di Konu, Sierra Leone 17px ____________ Back to the ⇒Table of Content /Issues