how can outcome mapping help strengthen knowledge and learning strategies? ben ramalingam...
TRANSCRIPT
Why are knowledge strategies so popular?
• Evaluation lessons being ignored• Consultant reports getting buried• Research being bypassed• Operational / field experience being lost when staff move
on• Organisational learning being blocked by hierarchies or
internal structures• Agencies not knowing what each other are doing• Local stakeholders being left out of the loop
In an ideal (corporate) world knowledge and learning initiatives would look something like this…
“…The idea is not to create an encyclopaedia of everything that everybody knows, but to keep track of people who ‘know the recipe’, and nurture the techniques, technology and culture that will get them talking…”
Goals ResultsUsingKnowledge
UsingKnowledge
Learn During
Learn After
Learn Before
Knowledge Bases e.g. self, colleagues, systems, networks
But development agencies are a little different…
• Development sector organisations“…dealing with the most complex, ill-
defined questions facing humanity…”• The re-branding of the World Bank as the
Knowledge Bank was very influential• Rapid growth of KM / OL strategies across
agencies of all sizes and functions• ODI has done research on knowledge strategies
in a range of organisations
Findings• Knowledge initiatives are still largely focused on products and systems (outputs) as opposed to
processes and behaviour changes (outcomes)
• A few tools are being applied, but none in a widespread or systematic way
• Knowledge initiatives are distant from or in conflict with processes, functions and existing culture
• High-level buy-in and leadership is rare
• “Knowledge is power” but knowledge strategies often sits on top of existing inefficiencies and power imbalances, rather than resolving them
• Inter-agency knowledge flows are not covered in any knowledge strategies
• With the South, dominant modes are “transfer to” or “extract from”, rather than a process of mutual learning
• Objective, evidence-based M&E of learning is weak
Constraints• Much knowledge is highly specialist and not of organisation-wide interest
• Lack of time– Underlying priorities?
• Internal processes don’t provide contexts for knowledge sharing
• Lack of a learning culture and incentives– individualistic cultures and funding structures– Knowledge is power
• Multiple objectives can blur the imperative for knowledge and learning activities– In private sector, coherence of KM is matched by coherence of objectives
• The incremental nature of behaviour change + relatively new area of work
• Initiatives over-laden with high expectations and too many activities– At least partly due to “knowledge evangelism” – shopping lists, not strategies
Colleagues; networks; tools
And so the initiatives we looked at were less like this picture…
Goals ResultsUsingKnowledge
UsingKnowledge
Create
Share Store
And more like this picture…
Learn to get all your feet on the ground before trying to move!
Outcome Mapping has already helped in (at least!) six ways
Low
High
ProgramBeneficiaries/Indigenous Actors
Lesson one: focus more on contribution to outcomes, rather than attribution!
Influ
ence
Time
Inputs Activities Outputs Outcomes Impacts
= BPs
Partners
IT
HR
Knowledge & Learning Program
Library
EvalDepts
= SPs
Field staff
Admin staff
Desk officers
Senior Mgmt
Donors
Media
Comms
Lesson Two: understanding the boundary partners and strategic partners attitudes and approach is essential
Lesson three: move from boundary partners to outcome challenges to progress markers to strategy maps in a
participatory fashion
Outcome Mapping: Main Elements
Boundary Partners
Vision
Mission
O.C. OutcomeChallenge
O.C.
Progress Markers
Strategies
Lesson four: Use Organisational Practices systematically to ensure strategies are tailored to existing
organisational contexts• E.g.1. Prospecting for new ideas, opportunities, & resources2. Seeking feedback from key informants3. Obtaining the support of your next highest power4. Assessing & (re)designing products, services, systems, and
procedures5. Checking up on those already served to add value6. Sharing your best wisdom with the world7.Experimenting to remain innovative
8. Engaging in organizational reflection
Lesson five: Use journals to address the crucial M&E gap
Lesson six: use the flexibility of OM to combine with other compatible
methodologies
1. Competency frameworks2. Social network analysis3. Force field analysis4. Most significant change…and more…
Problem 1: OM is a little like farming – you have to have faith, be
persistent, and adapt to circumstances…
Problem 2: top-down decision making on issues relating to
boundary partners feels incongruous with a commitment to OM
Problem 3: The role of knowledge and learning specialists is not as a
technocrat / doctor but as a sparkplug
FINAL THOUGHT
Focus on contribution, not attribution is particularly important
in the context of knowledge for development
- “whose knowledge counts”
