Here we are again at the start of yet another year. A new year filled with new goals, new challenges and new opportunities. At the ICT-KM Program, the mood is one of expectancy. After all, 2009 heralds the beginning of a new era in the CGIAR, and we are excited to be part of the change process that our organization will face over the next 12 months. We are already exploring how best to model the Program to suit the new CGIAR.
These new beginnings also mark the end of a year that saw the Program participating in a number of ground-braking activities. In 2008, we launched CGMap, a home-grown, System-wide application that takes knowledge management to a new level; and conducted workshops with our partner organizations, thereby benefiting participants and, at the same time, fostering stronger ties with other organizations; clearly, last year was the year of collaboration.
This year sees the conclusion of the Program’s current Investment Plan, with most projects coming to an end during this first quarter. We look forward to furthering the lessons learned from our activities.
2009 starts strong: we are busy co-organizing the first Knowledge ShareFair: a highly interactive event that will take place in Rome. 180 projects presented, 100 sessions, 40 training opportunities…stay tuned, we will have loads to report!
As we close the door on 2008, as usual my thanks go to everyone who has worked side by side with us throughout the year. There are too many people to mention individually, but without their participation, the Program would never have been able to move ahead in the way that it has done. I look forward to working and collaborating with everyone again in the future.
This issue of ICT-KM News looks back at some of our highlights of the last quarter of 2008.
All the best in 2009!
We hope you enjoy learning more about the activities the ICT-KM program carry out with our partners.
Best,
Enrica
Leader, ICT-KM Program and
Chief Information Officer, CGIAR
Main News
CGMap: A New Revolution in Knowledge Management and Sharing
CGMap, a System-wide, web-based application that consolidates data from across the CGIAR Centers and makes it available via an easy-to-use interface, was recently showcased at the CGIAR Annual General Meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, where it was enthusiastically received by Centers and System units.
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The Triple-A Framework to Make Research Available and Useful
If you look behind the production of high quality science, you will likely find people who are propelled to do what the do, day in and day out, by a passion for science and a dedication to improve the livelihoods of others. The work of a researcher often entails a strict attention to detail that might frustrate lesser-dedicated people. But think how much more frustrating it must be for a scientist to discover that the output of his research hasn’t reached all of the people who could benefit from it. Research outputs should be made easily available to all potential users, but the reality is that such outputs are often used once by the organization instigating the research, and then left to idle on a computer’s hard drive or in a database with restricted access or in a seldom-read publication.
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Collaborative, Flexible and Fun
FAO and the ICT-KM Program recently joined forces for the second edition of an innovative three-phase, capacity-building opportunity that gives participants an understanding and appreciation of the value of knowledge sharing (KS) in research and institutional settings. The Knowledge Sharing Workshop was conceived by the Program’s Institutional KS Project, which later teamed up with FAO to offer a second edition, giving staff from FAO and CGIAR as well as their research partners an opportunity to explore and experiment with KS principles and methods.
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KSinR Synthesis Workshop
More than one year after the Inception workshop for the ICT-KM Program’s Knowledge Sharing Project, many of the Knowledge Sharing in Research (KsinR) Pilot Projects have completed their activities and piloting periods. From 17 to 18 November 2008, a synthesis workshop for the KSinResearch Project took place on the ILRI Campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and brought together all six Pilot Project Leaders to discuss their activities and capture lessons from their piloting activities.
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AGCommons and CGIAR Improving Farm Productivity and Profitability
A typical scenario
Kenyan farmer Mary relies on her own instincts and local sources of
knowledge to decide which crops and varieties to plant, how best to grow
them, and when to harvest them. Like more than 70 percent of rural Africans
who live in poverty, Mary depends on agriculture for her family's food
and livelihood.
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Knowledge, Education, and Learning Workshop, Maputo, December 08: Social Report Outline
"Social reporting is where a group of participants at an event interactively and jointly contribute to some form of reporting, in text, photos, images or video. The resulting "social report" is made accessible, usually online, as soon as possible, sometimes as a half-product. This allows others to join in, to extend, to adjust or remix." – Josien Kapma, Social Reporter
The ICT-KM Program, along with the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD) and other partners, successfully conducted a workshop during the CGIAR AGM08 in Maputo, Mozambique. Held on 4 and 5 December, the Knowledge Management, Education and Learning Workshop saw about 40 participants coming together to discuss priorities and develop an agenda for action through global collaboration to improve agricultural knowledge management, education and learning.
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We welcome feedback on the ICT-KM News, so please feel free to contact us at ictkm@cgiar.org