Improving CGIAR Effectiveness through Knowledge Sharing (KS)

A project of the ICT-KM Program of the CGIAR Final Technical Report

Simone Staiger-Rivas, Project Leader, Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project Title - Improving CGIAR Effectiveness through Knowledge Sharing (KS): Integrating KS into Center Activities (Scaling Up) Summary The Institutional Knowledge Sharing (IKS) project has completed its second phase (January 2007 to April 2009) to improve the CGIAR’s effectiveness. It promoted collaborative learning and innovation. It also supported effective use of KS approaches and tools throughout the CGIAR and its R&D partnerships. The project assumes that knowledge-sharing (KS) principles, attitudes, and skills can support organizational development; that these would help build internal capacity so that staff can work more effectively towards their institutional missions and sustain their organizations over the long term. These assumptions led the project to work at three different CGIAR levels: system, center, and community. At the system level, the project demonstrated how KS methods and principles can open up meaningful spaces for face-to-face dialogues by enabling the establishment of explicit objectives and carefully designed group dynamics. The IKS also enhanced those virtual communications processes and products in the system that are related to current change processes. Furthermore, the project strengthened the capacity of CGIAR communications leaders in the area of innovative tools and methods. At the center level, the project supported three pilot projects in three centers—IRRI, WorldFish, and CIFOR—to experiment with innovative KS techniques. Each pilot project led to concrete outcomes or products that could be replicated in other centers or partner organizations. KS activities in six CGIAR centers, carried out by the IKS project during phase 1, were evaluated for progress, challenges, and lessons learned. Center communications staff also attended a KM strategy workshop to think about collective action in this area. The IKS project’s host center, CIAT, also benefited from project leadership and has incorporated KS tools and approaches into its communication plans and activities. At the community level, the project designed and delivered workshops on knowledge sharing and social media. So far, 110 CGIAR staff and partners have been trained; a KS Toolkit has been improved and expanded to become a key resource for knowledge practitioners; partnerships have been formed with FAO and other development organizations, as well as with KM4Dev, for capacity strengthening efforts; the Share Fair 09 at FAO demonstrated the project’s key inputs into the thriving KS movement. Through its network of 180 strong contacts, the project involves an estimated 9,000 users. The initial project framework was prepared, conceptualized, and widely shared among interested centers and partner organizations, who then identified the three possible entry points for KS, as described above. The project pioneered communications and documentation efforts that were relevant beyond the ICT–KM program. The use of social media has helped raise the profile of both project and

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program in the research-and-development arena. The project also delivered products such as leaflets, posters, and a peer-reviewed journal article with eight co-authors, all KS workshop participants. An end-of-project survey highlighted the project’s achievements, especially the usefulness of its workshops, KS Toolkit, and Web resources. Most of the 37 respondents considered the project’s achievements as excellent (36%) or good (53%). They (94%) also stated that project participation increased their understanding of KS issues and/or improved their ability to apply KS principles, methods, and tools to their work. The project leader’s effectiveness in supporting project participation was rated by 70% of participants as excellent, and 27% as good. Also, 97% stated they had made useful contacts during their participation in the project. All 37 respondents declared that as many as 1,850 people had been reached through the project’s activities or products as a consequence of their participation. If this ratio is upscaled to the project’s 180 strong contacts, then about 9,000 people have probably been reached through project activities. Principle lessons learnt The second phase of the Knowledge-Sharing project and its activities crystallized some important lessons:

Lever the multiple entry points: The project showed how effective working on three levels—system, centers, and community—is for mainstreaming KS and allowing bottom-up approaches and leadership support to confront challenges and create an amplifier effect. Clarify definitions: The phase 1 evaluation study revealed that the project had neglected to work continuously on the issue of KS definitions and to make explicit the evolution of those definitions. By doing so, KS could be better positioned and promoted. Learn by doing: At the center level, the pilot project approach delivered three products. However, the call for proposal and “classical” project implementation model was counterproductive to the KS principle of joint learning by doing. This made socializing and promoting the experiences difficult. Partner up: The project showcased how strong and successful involvement in related but external communities of practitioners (KM4Dev and FAO) can make a project stand out and thus raise its profile within its host institution. Adapt management: The ability to make needed adjustments and benefit from unexpected opportunities was crucial to the project’s success. It was relevant to have planned the budget accordingly. Facilitate: We are not experts, but facilitators for research for development. Hence, the effort to cultivate networks and relationships in accordance with relevant thematic inputs has paid off. The decision to share unfinished content was good: it encouraged dialogue; opportunely delivered useful material; and left time and space for adaptation, improvements, and adoption. Monitor and evaluate: The project consistently evaluated its activities. However, a more consistent M&E framework could have been identified and implemented from the beginning to increase the value of current M&E efforts.

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Future possibilities Opportunities were identified at all three levels of intervention:

System, for example, supporting consultations on change processes, and sharing knowledge on those in innovative and transparent ways

Center, in terms of capacity strengthening and collective action Community, through continuous improvement of KS resources and partnership

development Evaluation demonstrated the power of KS principles, tools, and methods for revitalizing the CGIAR. Indeed, they are crucial in times of globalization, networking, intense research and development, and CGIAR change. Hence, these principles and products will continue to be used, and to be strengthened as they are adopted, adapted, and improved.

1. Project Rational In 2004 the CGIAR started a Knowledge Sharing (KS) Project as part of its Information and Communication Technologies and Knowledge Management (ICT-KM) Program. The key objectives of the project were to contribute to the organizational development of the CGIAR and to improve the effectiveness of this diverse research system. The strategy was to promote collaborative learning and innovation and to support the use of KS approaches and tools throughout the CGIAR. The first phase of the project (2004-2006) concentrated on face-to-face interaction and in using KS-friendly meetings as an entry point for enhanced interaction among scientists and other staff (Russell et al., 2005)1. The second phase of the project (2007-2009) emphasized the need for more effective on-line collaboration within the CGIAR System. The project structured its activities around the concepts of action research, organizational development and knowledge management (KM). Knowledge sharing is related to action research, or ‘learning by doing’, in that it emphasizes emancipatory processes rather than a set of techniques (Reason et al., 2007)2. Furthermore, the project’s focus was specifically on the relationship aspects. Consequently, an important priority was to provide opportunities for staff and partners for reflection through dialogue in order to influence attitudes and skills (Pasteur, 2006)3 that might support organizational change. Knowledge management From the knowledge management perspective, the most important aspect for project structure and development was the assumption that “knowledge is the property of practitioners” and that staff and partners should be empowered to “act as practitioners of their knowledge” (Wenger, 2006)4. Previous efforts to foster collaboration among CGIAR centers and partners tended to

1 Russell, N., Staiger, S., Hewlitt, A., Horton, D. and Toomey, G. (2005) ‘Major meetings as entry points for knowledge sharing: a case from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research’, KM4D Journal Vol.1, no. 2, pp.47–60. 2 Reason, P. and McArdle, K.L. (2007) ‘Action Research and Organisation Development’, in T. Cummings (Ed.) Handbook of Organisation Development, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 3 Pasteur, K. (2006) ‘Learning for Development’, in R. Eyben (Ed.), Relationships for Aid, London: Earthscan 4 Wenger, E. (2006) ‘Knowledge management as a doughnut: Shaping your knowledge strategy through communities of practice’, Ivey Business Journal, Jan.–Feb. 2004, http://www.sc-eco.univ-

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focus exclusively on one end of the KM spectrum (Binney, 2003)5, namely better management of information flows and capture of codified knowledge resulting from agricultural research. Knowledge management should include the other end of the spectrum as well, and shift from data to people. People-centered and practical approaches to KM are thought to contribute more effectively to desired changes in behavior and organizational culture when they are gradual and “bottom-up”. They are also seen as more effective when they include participatory experimentation, capacity building and learning-by-doing – processes that may benefit from external facilitation and support, but which should be home-grown and evolutionary. Networks

The success of a project and the subsequent uptake of the research results depend largely on the team’s ability to create and expand networks that allow the information to flow from one node or user to the next in order to reach the end users, mostly poor farmers in developing countries (Douthwaite et al., 2008)

Research projects are nowadays executed by numerous and varied partners and stakeholders.

o

. Project design

he overall objective of this project was to improve CGIAR effectiveness by promoting d tools

Incorporate KS in strategic activities at the CGIAR System Level with the intended al

enters with the

eriences

with a set of intended outcomes: KS core team and project

rtual teams with enhanced on-line facilitation skills. oduced in

6. Scientists themselves have an increased responsibility tcommunicate their findings to their peers and through their own networks, and this happens mostly online because research teams are geographically dispersed. The effective use of new ICTs is crucial to achieving the uptake of research results, especially in international organizations. 2 2.1. Objectives Tcollaborative learning and innovation, and supporting effective use of KS approaches anthroughout the CGIAR and in its R&D partnerships. Specific Objectives of this second phase were:

1. outcome to help build an alliance of members, partners and international agriculturcenters strengthened through the introduction of KS tools and methods.

2. Introduce KS into organizational change management projects of CGIAR cintended outcome to have KS principles and approaches tested in the area of organizational change management projects of selected centers and those expshared and documented.

3. Strengthen KS champions teams strengthened through facilitated, transparent and inclusive communication • An extended network of KS practitioners for center-wide communication, information

and exchange. • Strengthened vi• Strengthened KS capacity in the CG; Innovative training materials pr

collaboration with KS practitioners of international development organizations.

nantes.fr/~tvallee/memoire/pratique/KNOWLEDGE%20MANAGEMENT%20AS%20A%20DOUGHNUT.pdf [Accessed 05/05/09] 5 Binney, D. (2001) ‘The Knowledge Management Spectrum’, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2001, pp.33–42, Bradford, UK: MCB University Press. 6 Douthwaite, B., Alvarez, S., Thiele, G. and Mackay, R. (2008) ‘Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis: A practical method for project planning and evaluation’, ILAC brief 17, Rome: Institutional Learning and Change Initiative, Bioversity International.

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• Strengthened KS capacity throughout the System. Resources optimized. Number of users increased.

• An expanded and widely used resource on KS tools and methods, including a pool of KS practitioners within the CGIAR who share their experiences.

2.2. Project Framework The project objectives and activities described in this report have been presented in a project framework that has been developed during the project execution. The project’s assumption was that knowledge sharing (KS) principles, attitudes and skills can support organizational development. They help build internal capacity so that staff can work more effectively towards their institutional missions and sustain their organizations over the long term. This led the project to develop the following planning and action framework (Staiger, 2008)7.

• Complexity–Empowerment: KS can help us recognize and deal with today’s complexities, while strengthening our skills and attitudes. It also supports organizational learning and evaluation processes. Activities in this area include capacity building of staff in KS tools, methods and principles, the engagement with communities of KS practitioners, like KM4Dev (www.km4dev.org) , and the monitoring and evaluation of participatory communications efforts.

• Power–Complexity: By incorporating KS tools and methods into strategic planning and change processes, management can promote involvement, buy-in and follow-up action by both staff and stakeholders. Examples are the use of online and face-to-face tools and methods, like e-discussions, and participatory staff meetings; and also innovative communication products that socialize those processes, like video or blogs.

7 Staiger, S. (2008) ‘Institutional Knowledge Sharing for Organizational Change’, poster. Cali, Colombia: International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

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• Power–Effectiveness: Systematic KS can make an organization’s day-to-day business more effective, visible and transparent. Under systematic KS we understand the availability of resources and products that staff can use or replicate, like a KS toolkit, the systematic use of wikis for research data management or a corporate interactive Web site.

2.3 Timeline

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Activities / month

Jan. 07 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

May. 09

CSO-Forum follow -up meeting

Science Forum Planning Meeting

Grant Scheme Inception w orkshop

Nancy White CIAT

Web 2.0 conf. Facilitation IM /IT meet ing.

Share Fair Rome

KM4Dev Workshop

Project Management

Start KS in research

Progress report. 6-month worplan

Review and panning meeting at AGM

Progress report

Mid-term AAR w ith pilot leaders.

Progress report

AGM08

Meeting Share Fair Rome

Final reporting

KM4Dev joins Toolbox

Member KM$Dev core group and editorial board KM4 Dev journal. Co-editor Vol.4 2008, part I and II

KM 4Dev meeting, Portugal

Toolbox promoted at Share Fair

Toolbox improvements and additions

social media and reporting proposal, Production Change Video, preps stakeholder froum AGM 08

Input to Change Process, participation in partnership w orking group

IRRI pilot

AGM08: Stakeholder Forum

Social

Media

Workshop

Strategic Communicatio

ns Worksho

p

KM Strategy Workshop

Evaluation Study KS project phase 1, edited, published, brief developpe

Call for proposals and selection and preps inception w orkshop

Project documented, leaflet printed, stories published on w eb and blog, leaflet distributed at AGM08 and Share Fair.

non-cost extension

Operational project budget and functional team. Workplan approved.

FAO joins Toolbox

2 KS Workshops May and October: design, call, execution

Translation toolbox Spanish, French

Joint w orkshop article for peer-review ed journal

Preps Second Social Media Workshop

Launch and updates Web site, Blog, Flickr, Tw itter, Delicious

Strengthening KS champions

Call for proposals for virtual team support

New toolbox development

SDC, Know ledge Expedition

Incorporate KS in strategic activities at the CGIAR System Level

Inception workshop

Support the Science Forum at AGM07

Support to CSO-Engegament Process

Introduce KS into organizational change management projects

Prepare the Call for proposals

CIFOR pilot

WorldFish pilot

3. Project Achievements at a Glance CGIAR Change Management The project leader worked over the two year and a half period with the CGIAR Secretariat with the objective to incorporate KS in activities at the System level which should help the System engage more effectively with its stakeholders and support the alignment process among centers.

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The launch of the change process was an opportunity to introduce tools like the Change blog, electronic discussion forums and an explanatory video, produced by the project in collaboration with the CGIAR Secretariat. Furthermore the project supported the organization of the Stakeholder Meeting at AGM08 in Maputo, Mozambique. Finally, the involvement in the strengthening of the CGIAR Marketing group through social media training and the design and facilitation of the strategic communications meeting led to a promising input from those professionals to communications aspects of the change process, specifically of the Transition Management Team. The CGIAR’s KS Toolkit ‘Tools’ refers to web-based software and offline physical tools that can be used with a variety of methods. Some examples: blogs, wikis, news feeds, instant messengers, tagging, podcasting. ‘Methods’ refers to group processes to help people interact effectively with each other, whether online or offline. Some examples: Appreciative Inquiry, Storytelling, Knowledge Fairs, Open Space. The KS Toolkit features a ‘context’ page. Users can search for appropriate tools and methods by defining the nature and needs of their work or by using keywords (tags). While anyone may use the Toolkit, it is targeted on professionals working in international development, with a special emphasis on those engaged in agriculture and agricultural research. As of April 2009, the Toolkit (http://www.kstoolkit.org) contained more than 80 tools and methods for sharing knowledge, and was receiving over 10,000 visits per month. 96 Members have registered since its launch and have contributed to the toolkit improvements with regular updates and the creation of new pages. In 2008 FAO joined the toolkit and is promoting its use actively. Most recently the KM4Dev community, a community of practice on knowledge management for development of more than 400 members joined the toolkit. KS Workshop The Institutional KS project staged two workshops, one jointly with FAO. The objective was to demonstrate the role and value of sharing institutional and scientific knowledge within research organizations. Participants learned how to apply KS concepts and approaches and to interact effectively with CGIAR staff and research partners. With this workshop design, CGIAR colleagues and partners collaborate during three phases (online, face-to-face, online). Together with facilitators, the participants jointly explore KS opportunities and challenges. They draw network maps to understand audiences, group dynamics, and knowledge sharing needs, and they experiment with different online tools and meeting techniques. All course materials have been developed as open access products and are therefore considered global public goods. Eight participants of the first KS workshop co-authored an article that will be published in 2009 in an international peer reviewed journal8. A third online workshop has been offered to CGIAR communications staff with a specific focus on social media. A total of about 110 people from 13 CGIAR centers and eight partner organizations attended the different workshops. A pool of facilitators, drawing on workshop participants among others, is being created for future events. Three Pilot Projects The project supported three pilot activities in three CGIAR centers with the aim to experiment with innovative KS Techniques. 1) A cookbook of good practices for research data managers. This IRRI project has developed, collected, recorded, and begun applying good practices in research data management under the leadership of Thomas Metz. The ‘cookbook’ that has been emerging from their wiki-based collaboration helps the research center preserve and organize their scientific data as global public

8 Staiger-Rivas, S., Galié, A., Hack, B., Jorge, A., Meadu, V., Salokhe, G., Tateossian, F. and White, N. (2009). ‘Learning to share knowledge for global agricultural progress’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. X, No. X, pp. XXX–XXX. (forthcoming)

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goods, ensuring they are available in an appropriate format for future secondary use. A user community has been created around the more than online 70 recipes through individual project support, helpdesk, internal seminars and presentations, eight research data management courses where 80 staff members have been trained. The project leader has been visiting CIMMYT and discussions are ongoing on the adoption and adaptation of the training methods and materials. Visit the cookbook at http://cropwiki.irri.org/everst/ 2) A ‘storymercial’ by WorldFish. “At the heart of the storymercial is the story – the oldest, best proven way humans learn and remember information,” says Helen Leitch who led this pilot project which examined the role that short, punchy video ‘storymercials’ can play in attracting investors, partners and media to support research and apply its outputs. The two-minute storymercial Fish for life: Rehabilitating lives after natural disasters, is available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALQX6KKay4A . The storymercial pilot project shared this innovative KS approach across the CGIAR through a “how to” guide which is available on the KS Toolkit: http://www.kstoolkit.org/How_to_Produce_a_Storymercial. WordFish staff also joined the ShareFair in Rome, organized by FAO, WFP, CGIAR, IFAD, in January 2009 to present their experience with this product. 3) Promoting staff and trustee participation in a center’s strategic planning. This pilot project at CIFOR used KS approaches, like Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space, in the context of the center’s strategic planning exercise during 2007. KS approaches were used to increase the participation of staff and trustees and help them identify and address common issues and concerns. The approach also includes a framework for monitoring and evaluating implementation of the strategy. All three pilot projects have been documented in a booklet that has been distributed in 450 hard copies at AGM08 and at the Share Fair in Rome, and is available online at: http://www.ks-cgiar.org/images/stories/pdf/iksleaflet.pdf Engagement with the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) community It’s impossible for any single person or organization to know everything about knowledge sharing. That’s why it’s so important to belong to professional communities of like-minded people, fueled by the enthusiasm of individual members. Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) is a community of international development practitioners interested in knowledge management issues and approaches. The community runs a journal, listserv, and website, and organizes face-to-face workshops to allow development practitioners to share their ideas and experiences. Here are examples of tangible results and mutual benefits from this continuous collaboration:

• Over the last two years our project sponsored CGIAR staff working on knowledge sharing to attend the annual community workshop. The KS project leader is a member of the core group of the KM4Dev community.

• The KS project has contributed and guest-edited one issue of the KM4Dev Journal, where various CG staff have already published articles.

• The KM4Dev community has helped create a pool of coworkers and consultants that ICT-KM can call upon when needed.

• KM4Dev joined the KS Toolkit in April 2009. Knowledge Sharing Website The project website (www.ks-cgiar.org) offers updates on, and resources for, both the Knowledge Sharing in Research and Institutional Knowledge Sharing projects of the CGIAR. It continues to incorporate Web 2.0 tools for a more interactive experience and to present content

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via the most appropriate media. The Website with its different components has received more than 300,000 visits since launch, 160,000 of those went to the KS Toolkit. The photo gallery9, homed in Flickr, contains more than 2,600 images (including photos and illustrations, April 2009) which received 35,000 views in total since launch. The most popular photo is the IKS framework10. The KS Web site received a total of 40,398 visits since launch and reached an average of 3,000 visits per month in 2009. As for the KS blog, more than 460 blog posts have been shared by the ICT-KM team11. The most popular blog post by far is the one that presents the video “The Revitalized CGIAR with more than 740 views and produced by the institutional KS project12. The blog started with some 200 views per month and it receives now more than 3,500 visits per month for total of 24,780 visits since its launch. In addition, more than 289 important resources are bookmarked and tagged on a Delicious account and shared dynamically on the homepage13. Site users can also subscribe to website updates via RSS feeds. The explorations of social media tools for the project Web site contributed significantly to the capacity strengthening of the broader ICT-KM team which then was able to launch the social media workshop, and to improve the KS Toolkit through a series of social media blog posts. Unexpected Opportunities The project could benefit from some unexpected opportunities. The submission of a social media / reporting proposal for AGM08 led to the development of the change video which proved to be a very useful communications tool, shared over 2,000 times online and in staff meetings. The fruitful working relationships led the CGIAR Secretariat to invite IKS to form part of the Change partnership working group. The participation in this group was useful in the sense that it helped to insist in the needs of KS for stakeholder engagement. The previous experiences within the CG in that area could also be included. Finally an interesting contact towards collaboration with GFAR was developed. The Social media workshop wasn’t planned but can be considered as a logical evolution of the KS workshop concept. Its combination with the Strategic Communications Workshop was an excellent opportunity to introduce and generate high-level interest in KS concepts and tools to a group of 30 CGIAR communications professionals. The KM, Agricultural Education and Learning event held right after AGM08 in Maputo was another opportunity to promote KS concepts and network with professionals from related areas, 40 in total. IKS project achievements in numbers Project Budget 500,000 Project Duration 29 months Professionals trained in KS 110 IKS project network expanded 180 people People exposed to KS methods and tools Estimated 9,000 Blog posts written 460, 150 by IKS IKS blog post comments received 80 Total blog post views 24,780 Tools on Toolkit 45 Methods on Toolkit 70 Toolkit visits since launch 160,000 Total number of photos shared (with KSinResearch)

2,600

Photos viewed 35,000

9 http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764209@N07/sets/ 10 http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764209@N07/2650050704/ 11 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/category/knowledge-sharing/ 12 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/revitalized-cgiar/ 13 http://delicious.com/ksproject

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Twitter updates 102 for 120 followers Online surveys hold 13 Partnerships / collaboration CGIAR centers

CGIAR Systems Office FAO KM4Dev SDC FARA GFAR IFAD WFP

KS references bookmarked 289 Publications 1 article in peer reviewed journal

150 blog posts 2 leaflets 1 poster 1 calendar 4 project reports 2 special articles on project Web site 3 pilot project stories 1 evaluation study

4. Achievement of the objectives, outputs and milestones

4.1 Incorporate KS in strategic activities at the CGIAR System Level What was supposed to happen? The activities in this objective were to represent 45% of the project’s overall effort and budget under the overall coordination of the CGIAR Secretariat. The key activities were to contribute to the CSO-CGIAR Initiative through a number of mechanisms and to support the Science Forum at AGM 2007. The intended outcome was to help build an alliance of members, partners and international agricultural centers strengthened through the introduction of KS tools and methods. What actually happened In the transition year between project phase 1 and two, in 2006, IKS supported very actively and successfully the CGIAR Secretariat (main contacts: Nathan Russell, Florencia Tateossian, Maria Iskandarani, Fionna Douglas, later also Laura Ivers) in its engagement process with Civil Society through the Virtual Conversation, and CSO–CGIAR Forum, both part of AGM06. In 2007, the project contributed to the design of the CSO engagement strategy and network approach of the Secretariat. The IKS also designed the Grant Scheme Inception workshop and facilitated it as planned in October 2007. The project experience in this area has been documented and shared on the web site14. The IKS successfully linked the CSO engagement work with KS in Research projects which claimed interest in this activity and took over leadership in early 2008. IKS furthermore supported and mentored Secretariat staff Florencia Tateossian in the facilitation of an online dialogue with civil society representatives on a Science Council partnership study. The outcomes of this discussion have been summarized and included in a Science Council brief distributed at AGM07. All the events—the Virtual Conversation, CSO–CGIAR Forum, the CSO–CGIAR Competitive Grants Program Inception Workshop, and the dialogue on the partnership

14 Giving Civil Society a Stronger Voice in the CGIAR and Fostering Mutual Learning in Joint Endeavors http://www.ks-cgiar.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=75&Itemid=125

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study—provided an opportunity to demonstrate how KS methods and principles can open up meaningful spaces for dialogue by establishing thoroughly explicit objectives and carefully designing group dynamics. Later that year, the context of the change process led GFAR to take the leadership of GFAR in the area of stakeholder engagement and IKS input was requested to the CGIAR change process. Nonetheless IKS kept connected to stakeholder engagement issues, particularly through the work with the partnership working group of the change process. IKS leader joined this group upon invitation from the Secretariat and attended several meetings and conference calls and contributed that way to the final working group report15. The project also participated in a set of conference calls between the Secretariat and the consultants in charge of the coordination of the change process during the first semester of 2008. Those calls aimed at preparing related communication plans as well as stakeholder engagement around AGM08. IKS encouraged the Secretariat to use a Blog16 as a way to update the wider audience more frequently on issues related to the change management process. A live blogger has been hired for important events. Most recently the Transition Management Team is frequently updating the blog. IKS developed a social reporting action plan for AGM08. One result of this plan is a short explanatory video17 about the change process that IKS produced in collaboration with the CGIAR Secretariat and which was projected during AGM08 in plenary at the beginning of the Stakeholder meeting. Since then shown in different CGIAR centers, and shared with stakeholders around the world. The video is available on the web and has been viewed more than 2000 times up to date. IKS worked with the Alliance (Steve Hall, Fiona Chandler) to set up the process and dynamics for the Stakeholder meeting, and supported its documentation. Furthermore, IKS supported the design and facilitation of the CGIAR Strategic Communications Workshop that was hold in Malaysia, Penang at WorldFish in March 2009. The success of the event was documented on the ICT’KM blog18. It brought together the Transition Management Team with CGIAR communications professionals and led to high-value input from this group to communication processes related to the Change. The project contributed to the capacity strengthening of the Secretariat staff: Florencia Tateossian took part in the KS workshop and was a co-author of an article on the experience that will be published later in 2009 in a peer-reviewed journal19. Laura Ivers, Nathan Russell, and Amelia Goh took part in the social media online workshop, and Maria Iskandarani, and Danielle Lucca subscribed to the second edition of this event to be held in May and June 2009. What worked well and what didn’t – and why

The project managed to incorporate KS in many activities at the System level, some in areas that were different from those originally planned. This has to do with a set of opportunities that arose around the CGIAR change process and the subsequent changes in priorities of the Secretariat. The context of change was an excellent opportunity to work towards the objective of strengthening the System through KS. Not only has IKS fostered knowledge sharing principles in the Secretariat. The project could take advantage of the need for transparent and frequent

15 http://www.cgiar.org/changemanagement/pdf/WG2_FutureofPartnerships_FINAL_Sept16_2008.pdf 16 http://cgiarchangemanagement.wordpress.com/ 17 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/revitalized-cgiar/ 18 http://en.wordpress.com/tag/cgiarcommpenang/ 19 Staiger-Rivas, S., Galié, A., Hack, B., Jorge, A., Meadu, V., Salokhe, G., Tateossian, F. and White, N. (2009). ‘Learning to share knowledge for global agricultural progress’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. X, No. X, pp. XXX–XXX. (forthcoming)

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communications to suggest innovative tools and methods. Knowledge sharing being a need and principle the Secretariat, the Alliance and GFAR are agreeing upon, the project could contribute to bring those actors closer together. While the IKS support to this activity was quite different from the original plans, it was nonetheless very effective in working towards a unified System. Opportunities As the project tended to its end, interest has been expressed from the CGIAR Secretariat, as well as from GFAR to continue collaboration with ICT-KM to promote and assure participatory communication processes and stakeholder engagement throughout the change process and up to GICARD (Global International Conference on Agricultural Research and Development) to be held in March 2010. 4.2 Introduce KS into organizational change management projects of CGIAR centers 4.2.1.Pilot projects The project has carried out three pilot initiatives in three selected centers to introduce KS approaches into such activities as organizational learning and change, strategic planning, impact assessment, project evaluation, business process reengineering, and ICT-related projects. Those experiences have been documented20 to facilitate sharing of effective practices across centers. The outcome is for selected centers to apply KS principles and approaches in their management of organizational change and to share and document these experiences. In addition the project suggested and led an evaluation project of Phase I project activities. The expected outcome is an additional resource to facilitate scaling up the use of knowledge sharing approaches, tools and methods within the CGIAR What happened Thomas Metz from IRRI led a KS pilot project about collecting, publishing, and sharing good practices in research data management. Thomas is building this information and capacity building resource in wiki format. He is also supporting the development a Community of Practice around the wiki. The user community has been created around the more than online 70 recipes through individual project support, helpdesk, internal seminars and presentations, eight research data management courses where 80 staff members have been trained. The project leader has been visiting CIMMYT and discussions are ongoing on the adoption and adaptation of the training methods and materials. Visit the cookbook at http://cropwiki.irri.org/everst/. The IRRI pilot project was completed on time and the work the wiki product continues beyond the scope of the pilot project.

Helen Leitch form WorldFish led a pilot project about producing a short and appealing video as a means of attracting attention to our center research work. The two-minute storymercial Fish for life: Rehabilitating lives after natural disasters, is available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALQX6KKay4A . The storymercial pilot project shared this innovative KS approach across the CGIAR through a “how to” guide which is available on the KS Toolkit: http://www.kstoolkit.org/How_to_Produce_a_Storymercial. WordFish staff also joined the ShareFair in Rome, organized by FAO, WFP, CGIAR, IFAD, in January 2009 to present their experience with this product. Feby Litahamaputty led a pilot project on CIFOR’s Strategic Planning Process. This pilot project at CIFOR used KS approaches, like Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space, in the context of the center’s strategic planning exercise during 2007. KS approaches were used to increase the 20 http://www.ks-cgiar.org/images/stories/pdf/iksleaflet.pdf

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participation of staff and trustees and help them identify and address common issues and concerns. The approach also includes a framework for monitoring and evaluating implementation of the strategy. All three pilot projects have been documented in a booklet that has been distributed in 450 hard copies at AGM08 and at the Share Fair in Rome, and is available online at: http://www.ks-cgiar.org/images/stories/pdf/iksleaflet.pdf

What worked well and what didn’t – and why

As mentioned in the previous report IKS realizes that the call for proposal and “classical” project implementation model was counterproductive to the principle of joint learning that was stated in the since the beginning. The invitation for joint learning has been perceived as an additional project requirement by the pilot leaders and the amount of interactions involved seems too heavy compared to the allocated funds. After some discussion on an eventual end-of-project activity it was agreed to abandon the idea of a face-to-face or virtual evaluation meeting and instead a journalistic article will be produced in case study format and promoted in printed and electronic format throughout the second semester. With the printed booklet, a special effort has been undertaken in sharing the experiences widely, and uses them to generate interest for adoption and replication. 4.2.2. Phase 1 Evaluation Study In addition to those projects the idea of an evaluation study of Phase I of the KS project (2004-2006) has been formulated and further developed. A consultant was identified and the report is currently being edited. A brief is currently being developed from the report and a publisher looked for. The Project Team of the first phase undertook a self –assessment21 at the end of project activities, which provides the background for the proposed study and can be considered as its starting point. The study author conducted telephone interviews with 14 CGIAR staff and consultants – all practitioners, users and promoters of modern KS methods. The author, an independent consultant, concludes that while the participating centres were able to introduce alternative KS tools and methods and continue to use them, in some instances organizers of annual staff meetings have reverted to traditional formats. Nevertheless, three-quarters of the interviewees were convinced that KS approaches had, on the whole, improved the effectiveness of their centre’s activities and processes. Among the study’s other lessons and recommendations is the need for clearer definitions of knowledge sharing and related terminology since interviewees’ descriptions of KS varied widely. The study results will be of interest to other development organisations wishing to introduce their staff to modern approaches to KS. 4.2.3 KM Strategy Workshop After having being exposed and experimented with KS tools, principles and methods, many centers have started to look into developing KM/S strategies. That is why ICT-KM and the KS project have been suggesting a one-day workshop, on December 4, In Maputo, Mozambique where AGM08 took place. The objectives of the workshop was to get together and learn from each other, from practitioners, from ICT-KM’s and centers experiences and see what works, what does not work and areas we can collaborate in. While the project started to prepare the event an opportunity arose to merge this event with a workshop that was scheduled on Agricultural Education and Learning. The event became quickly a workshop entitled: Improving Knowledge

21 The CGIAR Knowledge Sharing Project: Results of a Self-Assessment (1240 kb)

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Management, Agricultural Education and Learning through Collaboration and Partnerships. The ICT-KM Program of the Consultative Groups on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Young Professionals' Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD), along with other partners facilitated a workshop to discuss priorities and develop an agenda for action through global collaboration in improving agricultural knowledge management, education and learning on 4 and 5 December 2008 at Maputo during the CGIAR AGM08. The outcomes of this meeting were to feed into a planned high level conference on improving investment in agricultural research and innovation in 2009 being organized jointly by GFAR, FAO, IFAD and the CGIAR. Rational for a joint event While the CGIAR is going through a mayor change process, it became quickly clear that this is a huge opportunity for cross-cutting issues to become better integrated through the CG centers, with its partners and stakeholders. KM is a crucial vehicle for learning and education: We need to build in better learning processes into our agricultural research process as well as in our institutional settings, and we also need to think and act more towards dissemination of agricultural knowledge through education and capacity strengthening. In this way both learning processes and education are part of the way in which we manage and share knowledge. By joining efforts between GFAR, Commonwealth of Learning and the CGIAR this workshop was a great opportunity to touch base on our experiences and explore opportunities for joint action. Main objectives of the event for the KM Strategy group Many centers have started to look into developing KM/S strategies. The time was ripe to get together and learn from each other, from experts, from experiences of centers and the ICT-KM program and its KS project and see what works, what does not work and areas we can collaborate in. What happened 40 participants from 15 different organizations participated in the event. While it was yet another opportunity to promote KS concepts and to network with professionals from related areas, the merger with the agricultural learning and education event and the related compromises in the agenda left little space for the actual KM strategy discussions. Those didn’t result in concrete plans or follow-up. IKS support consisted firstly in the planning of the event jointly with the event planning team. A wiki was used to share progress. IKS led an online survey among CGIAR communications professionals to understand their priority issues related to KM strategies. IKS also suggested using social reporting for event documentation. The proposal was accepted the consultant co-financed by the organizers. The result was a series of blog posts and videos that formed a live report22 of the event. The project also designed most of the workshop dynamics and facilitated the workshop with support from Nadia Manning (Leader, KS in research) and Peter Ballantyne (consultant ICT-KM). IKS invited Steve Song23 from the Shuttlworth Foundation to give a key-note speech24 on the importance of social media for improving knowledge management, agricultural education and learning. 4.2.4 Activities at the host center CIAT

22 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/knowledge-education-and-learning-workshop-maputo-december-08-social-report-outline-2/ 23 http://manypossibilities.net/ 24 http://blip.tv/file/1591284

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IKS project leader cultivated good relationships with CIAT, its management team, and communications unit. Here are some examples of services provided and involvement: • Member of strategic communications committee that was created in 2008 • Member of support group of strategic planning process in 2008 • Contribution to an internal brief on innovation and KS in 2008 • Internal seminar held on Social Media25 • Meetings designed and facilitated: CIAT’s knowledge sharing weeks 2006, 2007, 2008; 2

Amazon Initiative Meetings in 2008; Harvest Plus Team Building Meeting in 2009, PRGA meeting in 2009.

4.3 Strengthening KS champions In this objective we aimed at strengthening the CGIAR KS community, expand it to include a minimum of 30 professionals throughout the System, and enhance its relationships with external partners. The expected result was an emerging network of KS practitioners capable of helping their and sister Centers enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their internal operations and collaborative efforts, and Centers that are able to develop their own action plans for promoting KS and for further developing in-house capacity to implement those plans. Many achievements have been made in this area and the network went far beyond the 30 professionals to include approximately 180 strong contacts. Unexpected opportunities have emerged, and planned activities have been re-focused as the learning experiences unfolded. New center staff has been reached and involved into IKS activities, i.e. IRRI, WorlFish, ICARDA, ILRI, ICRAF, Bioversity, and IFPRI. New partners have been actively involved, like FARA and FAO. The project strengthened champions by focusing on the following activities and outcomes: • Joint activities with international development organizations in the area of capacity

building and training. The intention of the KS Workshop initiative has been to strengthen KS capacity in the CG and produce innovative training materials in collaboration with KS practitioners of international development organizations.

• Further develop the KS Toolkit so that it is expanded and becomes a widely used resource on KS tools and methods including a pool of KS practitioners within the CGIAR who share their experiences.

• Active participation in KM4Dev activities. • Engage staff of the KS projects (KS in R and IKS) in virtual communication, and

promotion as well as teamwork with the intent to strengthen project communication, public awareness, as well as our team through facilitated, transparent and inclusive communication.

What happened Capacity Building

The two KS Workshop held in 2008 have been evaluated and documented and those successful results have been shared in a previous report, and in a series of blog posts. Since the end of the first workshop, a group of 7 participants worked together under the coordination of science writer and consultant Gerry Toomey to produce an article which comprises an overview and case studies – the personal accounts of six participants and one

25 http://www.slideshare.net/ictkm/lets-really-go-online-the-potential-of-social-media-for-improving-organizational-project-and-personal-impact

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facilitator of a 2008 workshop on knowledge sharing, sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. It lays out the rationale for, and lessons learned from, those efforts, as well as from a second workshop hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It explains why, in today’s culture of self-directed learning, group experiences remain essential. The authors describe their learning trajectories and application of knowledge sharing tools and methods in their work.26 This positive experience led IKS to offer a derived version of the workshop with focus on Social Media. The first group of 30 participants was composed by CGIAR communications directors and professionals, most of them meeting right afterwards in the Strategic Communications Workshop, held in WorldFish, Penang in March 2009. The workshop material is currently widely distributed in form of a social media blog posts series by the CGXchange team.27 A second social media workshop was organized and is currently ongoing with 35 participants from 15 organizations. See workshop documentation at: http://en.wordpress.com/tag/cgsocialmedia/ KS Toolkit www.kstoolkit.org

The context of the toolkit creation and improvement has been described in previous reports and in an article available on the web site.28 This resource is the result of collaboration with organizations like FAO, ODI, KM4Dev, CARE. It has been continuously promoted through the KS workshops, during the social media online workshop, as well as through a very recent series of social media blog posts coordinated by the CGXchange team. Having the toolkit as a center piece of the workshops and in “unfinished” format was an excellent way of fostering a toolkit user community and create a sense of ownership. It has now a stable 10,000 visits per month, the most used resource of the IKS project. The partnership with FAO gave an invaluable push to the product. FAO staff continue to promote KS tools and methods internally referring to the kit, and the Share Fair in Rome January 2009 was a dream opportunity for its promotion. More recently the Km4Dev community joined the toolkit and opportunities are explored to cross-fertilize between KM4Devs community knowledge wiki and the toolkit. GTZ featured the Toolkit in its bulletin “The participatory web – new potentials for ICT in rural areas”29 Consultant Nancy White has permanently updated and promoted the resource. In a recent effort the “Context” pages30 were improved and many tools added. The upcoming second social media workshop will be a next opportunity to promote, update the kit as well as to add to the existing user community See Toolkit related blog posts at: http://ictkm.wordpress.com/category/ks-toolkit/ KM4Dev

26 Staiger-Rivas, S., Galié, A., Hack, B., Jorge, A., Meadu, V., Salokhe, G., Tateossian, F. and White, N. (2009). ‘Learning to share knowledge for global agricultural progress’, Int. J. Web Based Communities, Vol. X, No. X, pp. XXX–XXX. (forthcoming) 27 http://en.wordpress.com/tag/social-media-tools-series/ 28 http://www.ks-cgiar.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=120&Itemid=126 29 http://www.crisscrossed.net/2009/01/11/the-participatory-web-–-new-potentials-for-ict-in-rural-areas/ 30 http://www.kstoolkit.org/What+is+Your+Context%3F

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The consistent efforts of IKS to support people outside the CG centers to do their work better are more and more feeding back positively into the CG. A main pillar of this principle is the continuous engagement in the KM4dev community. IKS took actively part in the KM4dev meeting in Portugal. The annual meeting was held from 18-21 June at the Pousada de Juventude Hostel in Almada, Portugal (just outside Lisbon). IKS promoted the KS toolkit and the workshop in one of the Open Space sessions. The further collaboration with FAO was discussed during the event. The core group meeting was attended. Most recently the KM4Dev Community joint the KS Toolkit, which is a promising step to get reach long lasting solid basis for this valuable resource. This is the fourth time the Institutional Knowledge Sharing Project is participating in this community gathering. Here are three examples of tangible results and mutual benefits from this continuous involvement: • Since last year, ICT-KM has been supporting CGIAR staff in attending this meeting. Petr

Kosina’s participation last year helped ICT-KM significantly in preparing and hosting the still on-going KS Workshop.

• The Institutional KS Project supported the participation of two CGIAR staff to attend the gathering. Andrea Pape-Christiansen, in charge of knowledge management at ICARDA, participated in phase 1 of the KS workshop and applied for sponsorship, an offer that was expressed to workshop participants as a means to support further capacity building of “KS champions” in CGIAR centers. Peter Shelton is an Information and Knowledge Management Specialist at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI has been engaging effectively with KS tools for its internal and external communication and has been a key contributor to the ICT-KM Program through the CGVLibrary project. From the Library and Knowledge Management Unit at IFPRI, Pete acts as an important resource person for many people in the CG and other agricultural organizations by providing pragmatic examples and implementations of web tools to give more visibility and access to CGIAR research. Furthermore, Peter has been contributing to promote KS thinking beyond IFPRI through training, blogs and social networking.

• Simone Staiger is a member of the core group of the KM4Dev community, and the KS project has guest-edited one issue of the KM4Dev journal, and contributed to the most recent issue31, where various CG staff have already published articles related to KS/KM.

• The KM4Dev community helped create a pool of co-workers and consultants that ICT-KM calls upon for the development of its interventions, such as recently, Nancy White and Lucie Lamoureux for the KS workshop and the KS Toolkit (http://kstoolkit.wikis.cgiar.org/)

• A summary of a long thread on the discussion list with relation to KS and impact assessment has been produced, shared with the community mailing list32.

• The Km4Dev community officially joined the KS toolkit. See KM4Dev related blog posts at: http://ictkm.wordpress.com/tag/km4dev/ Unexpected Opportunities

31 http://www.km4dev.org/journal/index.php/km4dj 32 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/a-discussion-around-km-and-impact-at-the-upfront-of-the-km4dev-meeting/

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In addition to the above, the project participated actively in the 2009 Share Fair33. This first Knowledge Share Fair for Agricultural Development and Food Security, held 20-22 January 2009 at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, illustrated how knowledge sharing is about working together creatively and helping one another learn and innovate. Jointly organized by Bioversity International, the CGIAR’s Information and Communication Technologies and Knowledge Management (ICT-KM) Program, FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Program, the event was inspired by the need to provide staff with opportunities to freely and openly exchange ideas, knowledge, good practices and lessons, so that they can create and nurture networks and build mutual trust and cooperation. Knowledge sharing supports collective action by providing better ways to share and learn, as well as better ways of working, both within organizations and when dealing with partners and stakeholders.

For the IKS project, the event was the culmination of 5 years’ effort, showcasing a number of projects supported by IKS. For example, the WorldFish Center shared its “storymercial” concept to effectively communicate key messages and two storymercials it produced using a grant awarded by IKS. The Knowledge Sharing Workshop, a training and experiential event developed by IKS and jointly organized with FAO for a second round, had given people from CGIAR-supported and other institutes an opportunity to explore, learn and try out various knowledge-sharing tools and methods. The fair itself was the realization of an idea and plan developed by Gauri Salokhe of FAO, who participated in the workshop. The achievements of other participants in this innovative training opportunity were shared as Maria Grazia Bovo presented the new and innovative FAO Permanent Representatives website and Vanessa Meadu, of the Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB) Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins, demonstrated innovative ways to develop and share newsletters.

The Knowledge Sharing toolkit was repeatedly recognized as a vital source of options, information, guidance and experiences around knowledge sharing.

5. Project Communication and Documentation IKS has been at the forefront in experimenting and implementing new Web-resources and forms of documentation. From wikis, blogs, twitter, flickr, to blip.tv, IKS has explored all the tools that ICT-KM then adopted for its Program communication. The Toolkit has been a major success and is the most visited Web resource. The constant active blogging behavior became a habit for KSinR and the ICT-KM team which tripled traffic and discussions at the blog. The project website (www.ks-cgiar.org) offers updates on, and resources for, both the Knowledge Sharing in Research and Institutional Knowledge Sharing projects of the CGIAR. It continues to incorporate Web 2.0 tools for a more interactive experience and to present content via the most appropriate media. The Website with its different components has received more then 300,000 visits since launch, 160,000 of those went to the KS Toolkit. The photo gallery34, homed in Flickr, contains more than 2,600 images (including photos and illustrations, April 2009) which received 35,000 views in total since launch. The gallery offers 36 photo sets that correspond to events that the Ks project attended and to photos representing KS tools and approaches in action. The most popular photo is the IKS framework35. The KS Web site received a total of 40,398 visits since launch and reached an average of 3,000 visits per month in 2009. As for the KS blog, more

33 http://www.sharefair.net/ 34 http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764209@N07/sets/ 35 http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764209@N07/2650050704/

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than 460 blog posts have been shared by the ICT-KM team36. The most popular blog post by far is the one that presents the video “The Revitalized CGIAR with more than 740 views)37. The blog started with some 200 views per month and it receives now more than 3,500 visits per month for total of 24,780 visits since its launch. In addition, more than 289 important resources are bookmarked and tagged on a Delicious account and shared dynamically on the homepage38. Site users can also subscribe to website updates via RSS feeds. The explorations of social media tools for the project Web site contributed significantly to the capacity strengthening of the team which then was able to launch the social media workshop, and to improve the KS Toolkit through a series of social media blog posts. The current statistics for Web resources, including KS in Research, are as follows (from Jul. 7):

Number of visits per resource and since their respective launch

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

Toolki

t

Website

Photog

allery

Blog

Number of views of ICT-KM Blog June 07 to April 2009

36 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/category/knowledge-sharing/ 37 http://ictkm.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/revitalized-cgiar/ 38 http://delicious.com/ksproject

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KS Web site: Number of visits to KS Web site since Launch

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

Ene 20

07

Mar-07

May-07

Jul-0

7

Sep-07

Nov-07

Ene 20

08

Mar-08

May-08

Jul-0

8

Sep-08

Nov-08

Ene 20

09

Mar-09

The Institutional KS project since it’s launch was at the forefront of social media exploration which led the project to lead ICT-KM to a set of capacity strengthening opportunities and achieve the desired stronger connection to the communications units of the CGIAR centers. The consistent sharing of the experiences with social media raised the Program’s profile outside the system.

6. Monitoring and Evaluation The project used qualitative and quantitative M&E tools and methodologies. • Events and capacity strengthening activities were systematically evaluated through survey

mechanisms or after action reviews. • Pilot projects were planned using the Participatory Impact Pathway Approach (PIPA). • Communications and documentation efforts have been monitored in terms of statistics (views,

downloads, comments). • Constructive dialogues among ICT-KM team members helped to evaluate and review project

progress and make adjustments as well as identify unexpected opportunities. • Six-monthly reports were developed and shared with ICT-KM Management.

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In total 13 online surveys were held, and the results shared through the blog, and reports. What worked well and what didn’t – and why

The learnings of the evaluation activities have been shared on the blog and helped improve follo-up work. Those were also discussed among the ICT-KM team. For future activities it would be useful to determine a clearer M&E approach such as PIPA at the beginning of the project which would allow a more in-depth and consistent evaluation. PIPA was suggested to the pilot projects but many of their leaders couldn’t really embed this approach into their larger projects where the pilot was only one component. KS End of Project Survey I final project evaluation survey has been designed and sent to over 200 people who had been involved with the project through the workshops, as consultants, and partners, ICT-KM team members, or users of project products. And independent consultant did the analysis and produced a short survey report. Full results are available in Annex 1. The survey got 37 replies. 60% of the respondents are from CGIAR centers, 17% are consultants (which doesn’t necessarily mean that they acted as consultants for the project), 9% are from partner organizations. Most respondent’s involvement (33%) was as workshop participants. In the survey we asked “What is knowledge sharing to you?”. Interestingly the earlier mentioned evaluation study of Phase 1 of the KS Project had also asked practitioners what KS is for them and concluded that:

“While KS practitioners themselves are quite clear about what KS means for them and what goals they work towards it is striking how widely differing definitions of KS were being offered. In the absence of commonly agreed on foundational concepts KS remains a contested and there is still a lack of conceptual clarity of what KS actually is and involves (Hack 2009).”

There is still not much common ground when KS practitioners try to define what KS means to them. Beyond the somewhat circular explanation that KS is about exchanging knowledge, ideas and perspectives, mentioned by nine out of 32 respondents, opinions diverge significantly. This question reinforces the evaluations study conclusion that much needs to be done to position KS clearly among our target audiences. The overall objective of this project was to "improve CGIAR effectiveness by promoting collaborative learning and innovation, and supporting effective use of KS approaches and tools throughout the CGIAR and in its R&D partnerships." We asked how respondents would rate the level of achievement. 89% considered the level of achievement as excellent (36%) or good (53%) 94% stated that after having participated in this project they had increased their understanding of KS issues and /or their ability to apply KS principles, methods and tools in your work. The 37 respondents declared that up to 1850 people had been reached by the project's activities or products as a consequence of their participation. If we upscale this ratio to the 180 strong contacts of the project we could estimate that 9,000 people have been reached through the project activities. Respondents also rated the usefulness of the following products, activities, and services with the following ranking:

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70% rated the project leader’s effectiveness in supporting your project participation as excellent, 27% as good. 97% made useful contacts during your participation in the project. When asked about the main strength of the project, sixteen out of thirty-one respondents mentioned the tools and methods, often specifically highlighting the toolkit. Five said the project’s main strengths were the project leaders and facilitator and three favors the workshops. Also mentioned were mobilizing a community, showing participants that they have something to contribute when they might think they don’t, and providing structures to ensure to ensure capture and use of knowledge. We finally asked respondents to share considerations about the main challenge for KS in agricultural R&D. Seven of the twenty-eight practitioners who responded to this question brought up the challenge of creating a culture of collaboration. This concern came in various guises: a preoccupation with the corporate culture of the CGIAR particularly its culture of hierarchies, inappropriate incentive structures, knowledge ownership issues, and the increasing complexity of collaborating in multi-stakeholder projects. Four respondents highlighted buy-in of senior management and lack of support. Also mentioned by four respondents were Funding, Finance and Investment early on in the process. Three were concerned about defining KS better, and about keeping up with the development of technology. Two thought the biggest challenge is showing the value of KS and two mentioned time. Other challenges mentioned were knowledge translation in vernacular languages, demographics of decision makers, and the digital divide.

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Annexes

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Annex 1: Evaluation Study lessons / challenges / recommendations Key Conclusions 1. More meetings All centers organized meetings using KS tools and methods and continue to do so. But not all managed to build on the initial gains and some have again turned to more traditional formats for their annual meetings. 2. Improved effectiveness Three-quarters of the respondents were convinced that KS approaches had, on the whole, improved the effectiveness of center activities and processes. 3. Uncertainty over KS time savings KS practitioners tend to believe KS can save time but are hesitant to make that claim. Some anecdotal evidence points to time savings because of better-run meetings. However, to date the time saved remains unqualified. [<DON'T YOU MEAN UNQUANTIFIED?] 4. Buy-in to KS? A definite claim that KS improves buy-in on all occasions cannot be made. On the one hand, a badly facilitated meeting can easily alienate people from KS tools and methods, leading to their rejection. On the other hand, a successful intervention may lead to more participation and ownership. 5. Increased collaboration Almost three-quarters of practitioners agree that KS has contributed to increased collaboration at their centers and beyond. 6. Management support KS enjoys relatively good management support throughout the CGIAR, individual experiences notwithstanding. More needs to be done, however, to demonstrate the utility of KS to senior management in order to get their buy-in. 7. Cooperation between change initiatives The various initiatives that promote innovation, learning, KS, and change in the CGIAR have to some extent been competing with each other. Practitioners, however, are by and large in favor of more coordination regarding their roles in system-wide organizational development.

8. KS strategies, policies, and procedures Few centers have explicit KS strategies. Most KS practitioners prefer to integrate KS into communications, human resources, and IT strategies as part of an overall business plan. It is questionable whether a separate KS strategy is desirable. Recommendations 1. Common front for change initiatives The various initiatives promoting innovation, learning, KS, and change in the CGIAR should develop a common advocacy strategy enabling them to insert key messages into organizational development processes. The aim of this strategy should be to generate commitment at the top end of the hierarchy in order to increase impact. 2. Show benefits better, specifically for senior scientists

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The challenge for the KS community is to lower the threshold for first-time users and to change the perception of KS as time-consuming. Furthermore, senior scientists are a powerful constituency with the potential to obstruct new KS initiatives. They often have little to gain from KS and other participatory techniques because they already have a voice and a network. To increase senior scientist buy-in and therefore impact the impact of KS, the KS community needs to make more obvious to senior scientists the benefits of the initial investment. 3. Work on definition The KS community should invest time to define the fundamental concepts of knowledge sharing so as to create a specific body of knowledge on KS and establish it as a separate discipline. Key Lessons 1. When introducing KS, start with a small project and with people willing to experiment. Getting early wins and finding the right people in the right context is important. 2. A successful intervention needs funds as well as explicitly mandated staff with the right skills and enough time to do the work. 3. Without a specific focus, a KS initiative will grow beyond what is feasible to manage. Setting the initiative’s scope is important. 4. KS enables us to pay attention to how we interact with each other and creates spaces where people can be heard. 5. Formulating strategies using KS principles, tools, and methods allows staff to engage in the process and gives them a sense ownership of the results. This in turn ensures continuity in institutional cultures and facilitates the management of change. 6. To successfully communicate KS principles and methods to scientists, practitioners need to show how KS can contribute to their research organization’s objectives. 7. KS works best when applied simultaneously at the grass roots and the leadership level. Senior management buy-in is critically important for the transition from traditional to KS-style meetings. 8. KS tools are not enough. To be successful, the KS Project needs champions to advocate for it and continue the work. 9. It is important to build institutional capacity in KS principles and methods. In-house expertise will increase effectiveness. 10. KS works best when it is integrated into the organization’s overall business plan, alongside communications and other activities, not as a separate department.

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Annex 2: KS End of Project Survey The survey got 37 replies. 60% of the respondents are from CGIAR centers, 17% are consultants (which doesn’t necessarily mean that they acted as consultants for the project), 9% are from partner organizations. Most respondent’s involvement (33%) was as workshop participant. 1. Your organization

2. You participated in the IKS Project mainly as

3. What is knowledge sharing to you? An independent evaluation of Phase 1 of the KS Project asked practitioners what KS is for them and concluded that:

“While KS practitioners themselves are quite clear about what KS means for them and what goals they work towards it is striking how widely differing definitions of KS were being offered. In the absence of commonly agreed on foundational concepts KS remains a contested and there is still a lack of conceptual clarity of what KS actually is and involves (Hack 2009).”

There is still not much common ground when KS practitioners try to define what KS means to them. Beyond the somewhat circular explanation that KS is about exchanging knowledge, ideas and perspectives, mentioned by nine out of 32 respondents, opinions diverge significantly. Here are some examples of what KS is for the survey respondents:

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Knowledge Sharing to me is…

“a conviction and a daily attitude.” “changing the mindset.” “a way to work collaboratively.” “how insitutiones learn internally (…) and communicate externally.” “providing ‘how to’/’know how’.“ “ensuring that obstacles to collaborative learning are minimised.” “availing information to your publics and in doing this creating a conversation.” “trying to institutionalize sharing of information.” “a way to tap collective intelligence and make sense of reality for better decisions.” “finding the appropriate tool(s) for people to be able to collaborate.” “the opportunity to translate our research outputs into a more user friendly format.” “making information available and accessible to partners, clients, the public.” “jointly engaging in knowledge rich situations.” “environments, capacities and tools that enable people and organizations to make good use of what they know.” “a set of methods, a mechanism and support system for improved research quality and earlier impact.”

“Knowledge sharing is essential for my work because the back and forth exchanges with colleagues constitute the most important part of my learning.” 4. The overall objective of this project was to "improve CGIAR effectiveness by promoting collaborative learning and innovation, and supporting effective use of KS approaches and tools throughout the CGIAR and in its R&D partnerships." How would you rate the level of achievement?

5. After participating in this project do you feel you have increased your understanding of KS issues and /or your ability to apply KS principles, methods and tools in your work?

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6. How many people were reached by the project's activities or products as a consequence of your participation?

7. Please rate the usefulness of the following products, activities, and services

8. Please describe how effective the project leader was in supporting your project participation

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9. Did you make useful contacts during your participation in the project?

10. Please share what you consider was the main strength of the project. Of thirty-one respondents sixteen mentioned the tools and methods often specifically highlighting the toolkit. Five said the project’s main strengths were the project leaders and facilitator and three favoures the workshops. Also mentioned were mobilizing a community, showing participants that they have something to contribute when they might think they don’t, and providing structures to ensure to ensure capture and use of knowledge. One respondent eloquently summed up the general the general sentiment:

“The main strength of the workshop was that it allowed us all to step out of our comfort zones and to think more creatively with the relevant tools to support some of the new thinking.”

11. Please share your what you consider the main challenge for KS in agricultural R&D. Seven of the twenty-eight practitioners who responded to this questions brought up the challenge of creating a culture of collaboration. This concern came in various guises: a preoccupation with the corporate culture of the CGIAR particularly its culture of hierarchies, inappropriate incentive structures, knowledge ownership issues, and the increasing complexity of collaborating in multi-stakeholder projects.

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31

Four respondents highlighted buy-in of senior management and lack of support:

“There's still not a critical mass of CG staff- particularly at management level- who use social media tools and KS principles as an integral component of their work.”

Also mentioned by four respondent s were Funding, Finance and Investment early on in the process:

“Our findings indicated that KS in R does not take additional resources when looking at the whole communications model, but it requires funds to be available earlier in the project implementation or even better planning stage.”

Three were concerned about defining KS better, and about keeping up with the development of technology. Two thought the biggest challenge is showing the value of KS and two mentioned time. Other challenges mentioned were knowledge translation in vernacular languages, demographics of decision makers, and the digital divide. 12. Final comments/suggestions: “The KS Project was timely and innovative and provided tangible results.” “Need to look more at KS and gender issues - in terms of approach: whose knowledge counts - and in terms of tools: what tools best facilitate knowledge sharing with both men and women, the illiterate, the most marginalised?” “I believe there already is a vacuum within the CG for encouraging teams and individuals to practice KS tools and methods and I worry that this vacuum will be amplified as the official KS project comes to an end.” “There still needs to be a central KS force within the CG, in addition to the decentralized network of KS specialist.” “Let us work hard to recognise and integrate indigenous/local knowledge into agricultural Research and Development. Observing how farmers do their things will help explain why technology adoption requires determination.”