Despite a growing body of literature on how to scale innovations to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, there has been little attention for how scientists and programme managers engage with the scaling process in practice. Through 36 interviews we found that the dominant understanding of scaling was output and beneficiary-focused, rather than outcome and society focused as the latest literature suggests. This has implications on how scaling is approached in projects on the ground, and on the role of an agricultural Research for Development (R4D) organization such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in bridging science and development. . We recommend more reflection on the scaling process and make more use of scaling capacities and tools to better link scientific knowledge to results on the ground.
To address the issue of integration and employment of young people in rural areas, the government of Mali with the financial support of the International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD), initiated the Vocational Training Project for Intergation and Support of Rural Youth Entrepreneurship (FIER) in 2014. The FIER project aims to facilitate the access of rural youth to attractive and profitable employment and integration opportunities in agriculture and related economic activities. The economic integration of rural youth goes through a process made up of three main stages, namely (i) support for the identification of the idea of an economic project or choice of project idea, (ii) support for preparation of a bankable business plan and (iii) support for the implementation and consolidation of the economic project. After three (3) years of implementation, the project has inserted 3,216 (FIER, 2018) rural young people, 47% of whom are women in agricultural sectors and related activities. The challenge initially overcome was above all the adhesion of young people to microfinance institutions (IMFs) or decentralized financial systems (SFDs). The adaptation of the financing mechanism of IMFs to the cycle of agricultural sectors chosen by young people and the loyalty of young people to IMFs through the mobilization of their savings remain the challenges to be overcome.
20 years after its foundation in 1996, IICD, the International Institute for Communication and Development, definitively closed. Over the years, IICD proved that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can accelerate socio-economic development and that a methodology based on principles such as multi-stakeholder engagement, demand-driven approach and local ownership, is key to integrate and sustain ICT-enabled activities. IICD investments in enabling individuals, organisations and networks to adequately serve the ICT needs of local stakeholders resulted in conducive environments with experienced partners well suited to offer cost-effective and locally relevant ICT-enabled solutions. Based on the experience of the writer this paper explores the impact of the organization, after five years in a fast changing environement. It also expresses her opinions and shares ideas related to the importance of knowledge sharing for preparedness in a post-pandemic world.
Knowledge retention (KR) can be considered a broad practice within the larger field of knowledge management (KM). KM has many frameworks and maturity models to support itself, and by correlation, knowledge retention has an opportunity to create frameworks and maturity models. Following a peer-reviewed process, Rocio and John offer their thoughts and experiences drawn from their efforts to create a knowledge retention framework and a knowledge retention maturity model. The framework aims to create a shared definition for knowledge retention, and the maturity model aims to create an approach for assessing a team or organization’s knowledge retention maturity. The maturity model outlines steps to increase the maturity of knowledge retention, based on data and evidence to support action. Overall, this paper presents a vision of an ecosystem in which knowledge retention is institutionalized practice, embedded in everyone’s tasks and part of the way we work.
For decades Western development projects have been intervening in Africa?s agriculture with the aim to reduce poverty and hunger. Since colonization and beyond the political independence of Africa, the West, primarily but including other countries, has practiced exclusion, systematic and structural suppression of African ways of knowing and doing. This constitutes epistemic injustice. In this paper I address a central question that has gained little attention so far. It is: do Western agricultural development projects in Africa maintain, reinforce, or even cause epistemic injustice? To answer this question, I draw on studies in African philosophy, Western philosophy and Western sociology. To empirically study epistemic injustice, I reflect critically on a livestock development project in rural Mozambique (2011-2013) via qualitative analysis of 27 project documents. The findings show that the answer to the main question is affirmative. The findings of this study are deeply concerning, because it means that epistemic injustice towards Africa continues, but is covered under benign concepts like 'reducing poverty' and 'reducing hunger.' The thesis defended here is that restoring epistemic justice is an essential part of social justice for Africa.
In this Special Issue, we focus on the legacy and impact of such organizations and their projects and programmes, but also on how other organizations are coping with personnel changes related to current trends. We would also like to explore how individuals and networks, like Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev), act as a pool of knowledge which remains, even when organizations have closed their doors.
In Ghana from 2000 to 2011, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute for Scientific and Technological Information (CSIR-INSTI) with technical and financial support from the EU-ACP Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), implemented the Question and Answer Service (QAS) to contribute towards the country?s developmental goal of achieving national food security and sustainable livelihoods. The overall objective of the QAS was to contribute towards improved agricultural productivity, food security and rural livelihoods through effective management and dissemination of agricultural information. This paper presents an overview of the Ghana-QAS, documents the achievements which ensured that stakeholders (farmers, research scientists, lecturers and students) were better served with timely, relevant and accurate information, the lessons learned from implementing the QAS in Ghana and experiences gained by working with the CTA.
Learning from experience has been recognized as an essential source of organizational growth, particularly for the multilateral organizations working on development issues across the globe. Within these organizations, collective learning happens when their members: (a) understand the strategic value of documenting lessons, (b) share the lessons widely within and beyond the organization, and (c) invest in incorporating and using the lessons in future situations. Keeping these three principles in mind, this case study explores key practices and challenges from UNICEF’s effort in documenting its response to COVID-19 and seeks to contribute to the global dialogue on organizational learning.
In emergency response investing in learning is often seen as a luxury that will take resources and focus away from the people most in need. However, in COVID-19, building on learning from the Ebola outbreak in 2014, and from previous experiences responding to Ebola, was critical to getting an effective response mobilized quickly. The time and investments in documenting lessons learned and in building learning and collaboration spaces allowed many countries in West Africa to quickly respond to COVID-19 in more effective ways. In particular, we were able to quickly apply lessons about communicating risk more effectively, about engaging with community leaders to reinforce healthy behaviors that would protect people, and about collaborating across partners to develop tools and resources that would support the government?s public health response. We are applying the lessons from Ebola about how to learn and document good practices to our COVID-19 response. This includes special attention to working with communities to document learning and understand what is and is not working.
Knowledge and data management have gained recognition as critical factors for organisational and project success. In development organisations, knowledge management (KM) has been in place from the early 80?s while its importance in project management emerged in the early 2000 and has become increasingly relevant for decision-makers in the development milieu. Knowledge is the foundation for equitable and sustainable development. Owing to the need for reliable data and major developments in the area of data management for instance, access to IT platforms to put data in context, access to data storage and analysis capabilities at low cost. More and more development organisations have realized the importance of incorporating data management into organisational and project management programmes. At the same time, well established developmental organisations are faced with an urgent need to adjust their knowledge and data management approaches due to improvements in technology, availability of data and data analysis tools. Additionally, some developmental organisations are facing institutional changes that will either see them changing their management approaches while some might even close their doors. This was the case of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), which started as a knowledge broker to driving wider investments, promoting innovation exchange on technologies, digital solutions, business models and relationships that have been critical to the sustainable transformation of ACP agriculture and the improvement of food and nutrition security. After 37 years in operation, CTA is coming to the end of its mandate as the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the ACP countries, the legal and financial framework within which CTA functioned, has ended. These decades of investments have yielded knowledge and data which is extremely useful to the development sector. Though the Centre adjusted its approach from being a sole knowledge broker to driving greater sustainable agriculture development, the agenda of knowledge and data management remained key throughout its lifetime. This article aims to discuss CTA?s knowledge and data management approaches during project execution and its orderly closure phase and, hopes to serve as an example to other development organisations.
Private sector actors bring expertise, resources, and new perspectives to agricultural development, but the tendency to short-term approaches and market-based orientation has been unable to drive a systemic change in the development agenda. We explore how multi-stakeholder dialogues can capitalize on and trickle systemic change through private sector involvement. Analysis from the farmer-led irrigation development multi-stakeholder dialogue space (FLI-MDS) in Ghana shows the need for a physical and institutional space to cater for and merge different stakeholder interests. For all stakeholders, the institutional space is a multi-level-playing institution which can trickle systemic change by leveraging the private sector’s investments with multi-stakeholders’ collaboration, interactive learning, and potential support for commercial scaling of FLI. For private sector actors, a physical space for collaboration is crucial. It enables them to envisage their commercial interests, opening up opportunities for collaboration and mobilization of resources. Ensuring long term sustainability of an FLI-MDS requires catering for the private sector needs for a physical dialogue space to trickle systemic change and accelerate commercialization in farmer-led irrigation development.
CARE Bangladesh has long worked with the private sector to find market-based solutions to help the extreme poor, especially women and girls, graduate out of poverty. Social inclusion into market systems is critical to this graduation. Similarly, the integration of information technology has potential for impact at scale. In two of the most successful experiences?the Agricultural Extension Support Project and Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain?unlocking partnership with the private sector, understanding needs and expectations among CARE, private sectors and communities helped to co-create innovative information usage and manage knowledge transparently. Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain?with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation?used new Digital Fat Testing machines to make milk quality very transparent to producers and buyers, and pay a premium for higher quality milk. To do so, the project combined field collected data on milk quality, farmers? profile, including geographical locations over google map, which enabled private sectors to have detailed supply chain information including quality milk, volume and female farmers? as active producers., This also helped private sectors understand which female farmers needed capacity building support to strengthen their ability in business planning and productivity. This gender focused experience was transformative in the sense that this enabled Aarong dairy (the second largest dairy company in Bangladesh) to work in a targeted manner in scaling smallholder women?s participation in their supply chain from 2% to 55% in just 4 years. Brokering knowledge between different private sector actors?from smallholder farmers to large scale companies?was a turnkey solution that unlocked broader inclusion of poor women farmers in fresh dairy sector. In a highly gendered society like Bangladesh, women?s mobility, voice, control over asset, financial decision making are limited. When these multiple forms of discrimination are coupled up with poverty, the intensity of marginalization is much deeper and have inter-generational impact requiring dynamic multi-stakeholder approach to be addressed. The Agriculture Extension Support Project?with support from USAID?s Feed the Future?worked with banks and communities to get new agricultural financing to women who normally would not be able to access them due to various constraints. Combining digital technology, local agro-dealers, and new knowledge about a potential customer base, the project was able to facilitate the information and knowledge process in a way that allowed banks to engage a new customer base and co-create an innovative practice that helped transforming the financial inclusion of small holder women farmers. The pilot phase allowed 3,100 people?more than half women?to access USD190,000 in loans to improve their agricultural productions, at less than half of the interest rate they would have been charged with other sources.
Based on a recent outlook on the food and nutrition security, the zero-hunger goal is unlikely to be achieved by 2030. To improve the situation, there is a need for transformational changes not only by producing high-quality knowledge and innovations on food and nutrition security but also by ensuring their uptake and upscaling. On this challenge, the private sector is increasingly seen to play a critical role. However, the underlying factors and dynamics supporting such private sector mainstreaming in knowledge processes and partnerships are poorly known. This paper, therefore, contributes to the knowledge gap and learns from the Dutch Food and Business Applied Research Fund (ARF) programme to explore the role the private sector has played. We found that for-profit actors can bring value to research processes and knowledge development. However, the collaborations come with challenges related to goals and interests, implementation approach, and marketing strategies. The outcomes of such collaborations may be mixed and, in some cases, lead to results that are not inclusive for the most food insecure. Partnerships that include the private sector should be cognizant of the possible challenges and proactively define approaches that leverage the private sector to add value to food and nutrition security outcomes.
Depuis la crise alimentaire de 2007-2008, les acteurs prives internationaux (multinationales et fondations philanthropiques) sont consideres comme des partenaires cles dans la conception, le financement et la mise en ?uvre des politiques agricoles et alimentaires, aussi bien par les dirigeants africains que par les donateurs. L?implication des acteurs prives internationaux a fait evoluer l?architecture de la gouvernance de la securite alimentaire et nutritionnelle, desormais marquee par la multiplication d?espaces hybrides dans lesquels les firmes internationales et les fondations philanthropiques jouent un role de premier plan. La tres forte connexion des acteurs impliques dans ces plateformes multiacteurs et la declinaison de ces plateformes aux differentes echelles (internationale, regionale, nationale) assure la diffusion d?un consensus sur les modeles de developpement. S?affirme ainsi un schema de modernisation des agricultures africaines base sur l?agriculture commerciale, et un modele de ?revolution verte?? a forte mobilisation de capitaux et rentable financierement. Bien que contestee par une multitude d?acteurs, cette vision peine a etre mise en debat.
Although the private sector?s engagement in sustainable international development is receiving increasing emphasis, its role in knowledge brokering has probably not yet received enough attention. Drawing on the Glegg and Hoens? (2016) meta-framework of knowledge brokering we analysed the role of the private sector in knowledge brokering in Europe and Africa. Of the 702 records identified, 13 studies, representing 44 case studies and two surveys were included. The private sector?s roles are versatile, extending beyond connecting research evidence to potential users, to connecting researchers to funding opportunities and to other researchers, and to hosting platforms for using identified journal articles from 5 bibliographic databases collaborative research and policy making. The private sector actively invests resources to facilitate knowledge uptake, however this is to a large extent driven by self-interest. Perceived self-interests remain a barrier to knowledge brokering with the private sector not always being a trusted partner. Our results demonstrate that ?lobbying and advocacy? should be an additional role included in the meta framework of knowledge brokering.
Knowledge networks are a key element of the entrepreneurship environment. It is claimed to provide entrepreneurs with information, resources, and knowledge likely to positively impact the performance of their firms. In the African context, where agricultural entrepreneurship is rapidly evolving in adverse conditions, knowledge networks are presumed to be critical for entrepreneurs. However, it is still unclear if and how knowledge networks can improve the performance of firms. This study empirically investigated that question in Benin where 819 agricultural entrepreneurs were interviewed. Descriptive statistics were used to evidence the participation in knowledge networks, and an ordinal logistic regression to assess the effect of participation on the firm?s performance. Findings showed that agricultural entrepreneurs use both formal and informal knowledge networks with more intensity towards the informal ones. Participation in these knowledge networks is influenced by age, gender, education level, and sector of activities. Moreover, entrepreneurs who can access advice or information on resources from organizations in their networks or actively participate in professional events displayed higher performance. This study provides critical information for institutions that are active in encouraging or crowding out the involvement of the private sector in agricultural and rural development.
Achieving impact at scale in the agricultural sector demands the contribution of all stakeholders for transformational changes. However, although smallholders form most agri-food value chains, actors, in developing countries, their voices and idiosyncrasies are little consulted and accounted for in policymaking. Yet, co-creation knowledge processes efforts to improve such situations are ongoing but face operational challenges, usually context-specific, that the literature fails to point out. Our thought piece addresses the knowledge gap and discusses how to effectively engage smallholders in critical discussions regarding the sustainable transformation of agriculture. We showed that when discussing with smallholders about their livelihoods and economic activities, they often demonstrate poverty and misery to entice policy interventions; falsifying responses, if necessary, is part of the strategy. We thought that the reason justifying such a situation might be because many knowledge processes consider smallholders as passive information providers; therefore, we made a call to researchers to ensure smallholders understand the research purpose and contribution to policymaking. However, there is still a risk of information falsification in the other way around, bringing to the attention that there is no easy solution. We, therefore, suggest that researchers be cognizant of the risk and deal with it in two possible ways: using indirect objective questions in place of direct subjective questions and triangulating information.
Between 30 March and mid-June 2020, the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) listserv was host to an online discussion on KM & Coronavirus, moderated by Chris Zielinski. Over 30 participants submitted some 80 contributions to the discussion. A Knowledge Cafe was held on 14 May 2020 in which the topic was further discussed (https://vimeo.com/420811042). The present paper seeks to organize this rich material thematically and summarize the discussions. The KM4Dev wiki contains the complete set of emails received (http://wiki.km4dev.org/Talk:KM_and_Coronavirus). The principal contributors to the discussion are named in this summary, and the full list of discussants is given in the acknowledgements.
Actors involved in developing and scaling agricultural technologies in developing countries ? specifically publicly funded research institutions and private sector businesses ? operate according to different sets of motivations and perspectives. Their objectives, however, can be complementary and, with the right incentives, align to create synergies leading to innovative products and services for smallholder farmers. The exchange of knowledge among these actors plays a catalytic role in aligning motivations, perspectives, and objectives to advance innovations. Its role can aid in the initial stages of shaping public agricultural research priorities to the later stage of scaling-up a resulting product, service, or technology through commercialization. This case study illustrates this dynamic in a multi-year agricultural technology partnership between Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded program implemented by Fintrac Inc., and Purdue University. The partnership aimed to scale use of an improved grain storage bag, known as PICS (Purdue Improved Crop Storage), to reduce postharvest loss among smallholder farmers in Kenya and Rwanda. The case study draws on lessons learned from this partnership, as well as from analysis conducted by Partnering for Innovation, notably Success Factors for Commercializing Agricultural Research: Lessons from Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation. The case presents a set of knowledge exchange touchpoints to facilitate collaboration between publicly funded research institutions and private sector businesses in successfully and sustainably scaling innovative agricultural technologies.
This paper explores a number of ways used to quantify the realisation of systemic and diffuse benefits in public and private settings, including return on investment (ROI), social return on investment (SROI), relative return on investment (RROI), and cost benefit analyses (CBA). The paper explores the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach, discusses a number of modelling approaches, and looks at factors to weight when determining the most appropriate technique to use.
