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Cooperation Offices and Networks – Networking in the far reaches of Mongolia

Blog-Admin — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:15:10 +0000

The Swiss Cooperation Office (SCO) Mongolia has witnessed a clear transformation from scepticism about the networks’ usefulness towards a supportive environment for knowledge management. This change is so far one of attitude only, however, with little direct impact on operations in the field.

By Diepak Elmer, with contributions from Zayasaikhan Dugeree and Felix Fellmann

„Knowledge is King“ – but managing and sharing it across an institution and its members is a major challenge.

Photo: SDC Mongolia Field Trip

When I joined the SCO Mongolia in 2011 I was positively surprised, however, about the high level of attention given by the management to knowledge networks and the increased awareness among staff regarding the importance of knowledge management.

Over the last couple of years the SCO Mongolia has seen a trend from doubt, scepticism and criticism about the “raison d’être” of the networks towards a supportive environment for knowledge management. The following visible changes could be observed:

• All NPOs, SCO management and several project staff are network members – although only 4 out of 11 consider themselves as being “active”;

• Thematic events are now held regularly, often in the form of a “Brown Bag Lunch”, in order to present a topic in-depth and share information;

• Staff responsibilities have been rearranged along thematic lines and in accordance with the domains of our new Cooperation Strategy 2013-16; and

• Staff incentives have been set in a way to encourage participation in knowledge networks, for instance by being able to attend face-to-face (f2f) meetings while having knowledge management firmly included in everyone’s annual performance assessment (MAP).

This year the SCO held two major events to promote the knowledge networks. Interestingly, a recent anonymous survey among SCO and self-implemented project staff revealed that one third still didn’t know about the networks, and that half the respondents were not members in any of them. But 91% of staff thought that networks were useful!

Photo: SDC Mongolia Staff

Given our recent history with “networking”, the SCO Mongolia embraced the opportunity to participate in the blog series “Cooperation Offices and Networks”. We even requested for the questions to be more “provocative”!

Questions and answers

1) Are the networks completely HQ-driven and hardly visible in the SCO or do you feel included and involved in the network activities?

While staff agreed that the answers to these questions varied from network to network, overall they are perceived as being rather HQ driven. At the level of the SCO, some networks are very visible, while others are hardly noticeable. Generally staff feels included whenever an opportunity to interact and engage presents itself. This is often the case, for instance, in the run-up to f2f events, when networks are generally buzzing with activity.

2) Are the networks an additional burden or a useful support for sharing and learning? Are you lazy lurkers or do you proactively contribute to the network activities?

It is both. All staff felt that sometimes networks feel like a burden (e.g. as a MAP goal), while at other times they are more than just “nice to have” but really support us in sharing experiences and learning, for instance when it comes to problem-solving type issues. And yes, we feel that half the time we are rather reactive, passive and “lazy lurkers”, and that we want to be much more proactive in future. However, the usefulness of the network really depends also on the way it manages to play its role of a “knowledge broker”.

3) Are networks a luxury occupation or does sharing and learning through networks strengthen in the end the operation? Do you observe positive change? Where and how?

This was the most debated question. No, networks are clearly not perceived as a luxury. They are seen as a necessity. A learning organisation such as SDC must have a vehicle through which it can share experiences and promote knowledge. However, all staff agreed that networks, so far, are not directly linked to our operations. In order for that to happen, networks would have to become a source of more factual, practical and evidence-based knowledge that is easily accessible to all its members.

As the debate got going, our discussion group decided to draw up some simple recommendations on how to make the networks more useful and engaging for SCOs:

1. Have a dedicated and motivated moderation of the network;

2. Offer qualified and useful services for operations;

3. Design attractive and interactive network websites / online portals; and

4. Provide professional and highly qualified inputs on specific topics (similar to “Ted Talks”).

At the end of our discussion we started to wonder why we all seemed to spend more time on social media than our knowledge networks. Hence, we were asking ourselves, how can knowledge networks become as engaging as Facebook?

This post is the second in a serie on the network experience of the Cooperation Offices.
Read the previous post:
Cooperation Offices and Networks – the Pretoria Story (by Reto Wieser)

The SDC network Democratization, Decentralization and Local Governance: lively, dynamic, innovative and planting seeds for action

Blog-Admin — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:40:01 +0000

Connecting to peers, being exposed to new thinking and exchanging experiences are most valuable to members of the Democratization, Decentralization and Local Governance network (DLGN). Storytelling on knowledge sharing and learning within the DLGN network suggests that this networking translates into concrete innovations in the field.

By Matthias Hausherr, SDC

The DLGN network is a lively and dynamic community constantly pushing its members to reflect on their work. At least for 9 members, the network is essential. It allows connecting to experiences and ideas that shape and develop their work in the field of DLG. The face-to-face meetings (F2F) and the ties established on this occasion provide the space to rethink approaches and innovations.

I was amazed to see that there is an organization – SDC – which invests so much into professional development of its local staff. With SDC, the exchange is regular and constant; we get stimulations the whole year around. - Petar, Serbia

The network organizes the next F2F meeting in May 2013, in Aswan Egypt. With regard to this network meeting the Core Group conducted oral storytelling interviews with 9 members to learn more about how they see the network and benefit from it for their own work. 5 staff members from Swiss Cooperation Offices, 3 members of partner organisations abroad and one member of a partner organisation in the Swiss Head Quarter told their stories.

DLGN F2F India, 2009

Connecting to peers and exposing to new knowledge

The previous F2Fs in Delhi or Sarajevo were kept in good memories. Some valued to “meet the faces behind the e-mail addresses” and their corresponding competences that created bonds outlasting the meetings. Others felt as a part of a lively community across borders. They cherished the possibility to “leave the small islands” in order to exchange and discuss experiences and new ideas. Some also mentioned trainings organized by the network, where they were exposed to “new thinking and new techniques”. Peer reviews and case studies allowed them to work on crucial questions.

Without the network and the face-to-face meetings we would live in small islands and continue our work as we always did. We didn’t have time and we didn’t take the time to think about these questions. - Preeta, India

It was the exposure to the new thinking and the new technique at the F2F. And at the same time being in a small group it was a good opportunity to exchange, to be well received, to share openly and to receive from the others. - Elda, Albania

As a newcomer I am eager to find help and experience. The DLGN is the most important thing for me in my work. - Ziad, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Concrete steps

The inputs by the network did not just remain conceptual, but found fertile soil in practice. “The F2F – that’s where the seeds were planted”, one member said. The discussion on local government assessments for example has been described by someone as an ‘eye opener’. Especially for DLG newcomers, the shareweb provides useful information to deepen their knowledge and a list of consultants that has been vividly made use of. For the experienced members, the meetings and courses strengthened their thematic expertise and enhanced their skills in advising activities.

I was requested to do a power analysis for a consultancy. On this occasion, I could use the knowledge that I acquired through the network and developed it as a new field of expertise. – Snezana, Bosnia & Herzegovina

The peer reviews helped me to think more about the way to approach civil society support in designing my own projects. - Ibrahim, Macedonia

Thanks to the network I feel that I am enabled to relate discussions on local practices to a more theoretical framework which might be appreciated by partners. - Liliane, Bhutan

Potential for future activities

Some see potential in linking more institutions to the network, e.g. other donor organizations or multilateral institutions willing to coordinate and share experience. Others spot potential in shaping structures that offer more material for reflection and exchange of information concerning projects and their lessons learnt.

A good point already existing but with a further potential is the presence of several relevant donor organisations involved in the network, who are really willing to coordinate and share experience. - Alexander, Serbia

I see potential for on-budget work and political assessments. To apply them consequently would set free a big potential. - Pascal, Switzerland

The storytelling interviews show that for the 9 members the DLGN is a lively network, where the sharing is appreciated and the activities and products are useful for their operational and conceptual work. This positive feedback, makes the focal point confident and joyfully forward looking towards good discussions and new seeds to be planted at the F2F in Aswan.

How would you evaluate the network activities of the DLGN or any other network you’re involved with? What difference did it make for you? Where would you see yourself without the products and inputs from your network?

Mastering PCM – tailor made learning platform now online!

Blog-Admin — Wed, 01 May 2013 07:03:09 +0000

The new e-learning platform Project Cycle Management interactive (PCMi) is online. It’s a flexible platform for blended and self-directed learning. Rate your competencies for an individual study plan or access the material for further reading.

By Ursula Läubli, SDC

PCM competence is an important core competence for all development practitioners. The new and open SDC e-learning platform Project Cycle Management interactive PCMi http://elearningpcm.ch - offers different options for self-study. PCMi is a flexible and attractive way to improve or refresh your PCM competencies.

The new PCM-e-learning platform is a great and innovative tool for deepening individual PCM knowledge because it allows the composition of modular learning sequences for each user according to individual needs and interests. – Markus Glatz, Programme Manager Quality Assurance Bolivia

Flexible platform for blended learning

The flexible e-learning platform complements the PCM trainings offered by the SDC Quality Assurance. A truly innovative feature is the Competency profile for result based project management. The competency profile gives you an overview about core competencies related to “Result based Project Cycle Management”.

The platform features five modules:

1. Introduction to managing results,
2. Planning for results,
3. Measurement of results,
4. Monitoring and steering for results and
5. Evaluation or review of results.

How the platform works:

The PCM eLearning tool is a great way to refresh or complete understanding of PCM. Having joint SDC only recently, the tool clarified for me in a very good way how PCM works at SDC. The possibility to pick and choose modules allowed me to get a good overview in no time and fill specific gaps. The modules are well set up, easy to work through and the interactive features allow progress monitoring. I highly recommend this tool to everybody within SDC who would like to learn more about PCM and definitely to all new SDC staff. – Barbara Wieland, Project Manager Mongolia

Individual starting point

The main starting point for learners is the Competency Profile found in the platform’s “study” area. As a first step you rate your current skills. There is a choice of 25 core competencies. Then you rate the importance of these competencies for your work. You can use this matrix also for orientation and reflection.

If you prefer a thematic approach you find the five enhanced books in the “read” area. You can interactively access additional material like a short video film, bespoke presentations, interactive graphics, quizzes and further readings as PDFs or links. Or you use the platform as a library for additional material in the “browse” area.

Successful joint venture for State of the Art knowledge on PCM

The platform has been jointly developed by SDC Quality Assurance with NADEL/ETH Zürich and LerNetz. The concepts and methods described are those currently used for results-based project cycle management in most international development agencies. They are to the largest extent compatible with SDC instruments. Further adoptions and development of the platform shall enhance this compatibility.

PCMi was tested by SDC staff at the Head Office and in the field. Their feedback was essential to develop the features and for the user friendliness of the platform.

PCMi will be presented as innovative competence-based and self directed learning tool at the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace ICELW 2013 to be held in June at the Columbia University in New York.

The platform is in English; Spanish and French versions are available in autumn 2013 once the first experiences have been analyzed.

It is great that the on-line version allows defining an individual learning plan based on the experience and the position of each student; that’s also what PCM is about; adapting a procedure to specific situation not a one fit’s all tool! – Willi Graf, Deputy Head Regional Cooperation SDC

The E-learning Platform was a useful tool for me in order to prepare myself for the PCM training course and to have an idea of the topics being covered. Given that I already read a lot during work, it was refreshing to have a tool that integrates videos and exercises. – Cyrill Troxler, Programme Manager, Section Analyses and Politics SDC

PCM-learning is a an organizational challenge and management responsibility

Individual self-directed learning is endorsed by colleagues abroad and in the field. Several studies have shown that e-learning can cover only around 20-25% of the learning goals. Organizational learning is a cultural question. And learning is an investment. It needs time, space and rigor: from the participants’ side and from the management side. The support of superiors has great impact on the transfer of the new skills, on-the-job learning and the definition of concrete learning tasks.

Community of practice to deepen the learning

SDC Quality Assurance encourages the development of communities of practice on PCM. Peer exchanges on the progress and open questions will support the transfer of learning into practice.

What are your experiences with PCM learning? In what sense can the PCM interactive support your efforts and add value to your learning? We are interested to hear about your experiences!

Cooperation Offices and Networks – the Pretoria Story

Blog-Admin — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:09:24 +0000

In the perspective of the Swiss Cooperation Office Southern Africa the networks did arrive. Reto Wieser, Director of Cooperation summarizes how networks make a difference for his team. And he points out some suggestions how networked learning and collaboration can be further strengthened trough the active implication of the Directors of Cooperation and the members.

By Reto Wieser, SDC

This post is the first in a new series on the network experience of the Cooperation Offices. Further posts will follow in a loose order.

The Cooperation Office Southern Africa is engaged actively in four networks. The National Programme officers participate at the face-to-face meetings and quite some energy goes into the preparation case studies. Additionally we are observing six networks. This is considerable for a team of altogether 20 staff.

The SDC networks were launched in 2008 with the following remit (extract from Sdc-learningandnetworking.ch):

1. Promote learning and pass on professional and methodical knowledge
2. Provide theme-related operational advice to the organisational units within the network
3. Capitalise on experience and formulate good practices.

The networks are a useful vehicle for connecting and sharing

• Connect with peers and different viewpoints: The networks gatherings are an invitation for the Programme Officers to step out from the familiar operational work environment and connect with colleagues. This exchange brings a fresh look at familiar topics and approaches and makes think.
• Information update: Programme Officers are informed on news from Headquarters and on trends and insights in their professional field of work and expertise.
• Identity: Being a network member gives the Programme Officers a sense of belonging to SDC and to see the big picture of its strategy.

These reasons are fine and legitimate. But are they enough?

Learning and transfer of learning

• SCO network membership is a pillar in the networks’ structure. Who mandates the networks? The mandate comes officially from the directorate; effectively it also has to come from the practitioners’ side. The “raison d’être” of the networks are the programmes and projects. Networks are the vehicle for sharing knowledge, ideas, inspiration, know-how and to feed insights and key learning back into the operations. Networks are hinges between Knowledge/ Research and operations. Here I definitely see a potential for SCO to engage stronger.
• Stronger implication in the agenda setting. The networks agendas are defined mostly at Headquarters in Switzerland. Focal Points and most core group members are sitting in Berne. There are consultations and participatory approaches. I see that a stronger drive from the side of Cooperation Offices would allow the networks to be “Network for practice”.
• Value of peer learning. The National Programme Officers have to play their leadership role. They are experts in their field of work. Learning from peers and practitioner and through networks is true and valuable learning. In the Cooperation Offices we have a mix of staff, local experts join expat experts; local knowledge joins international knowledge. The combination is our force.

Pathway forward

Network membership matters. It can really bring about key learning for our operations. And this force we have to bring in:
• Director of Cooperation: I will make networks a priority and include the network planning and follow-up discussions into our management meetings.
• Practitioners: My staff and every staff in Cooperation Offices should make proactive use of the network connections: Use the phone more often and ask: “I am looking for…” or “Do you have any experiences with…”
• Networks: Get your second mandate from the SCO and put the operations in the centre of the network planning and discussions.

This is the first contribution in a series of blog posts on Cooperation Offices and Networks.

What do you hear, see and read from the networks? How do you – the SCO and your staff – make use of the networks? How useful are the networks? What is the networks’ impact? How is the learning from the networks transferred to the operations? What are your observations?

Dynamic Facilitation – or the art of creating collective solutions

Blog-Admin — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 07:42:23 +0000

Dynamic Facilitation is a facilitation approach addressing difficult or even complex issues. By taking notes on 4 flip charts the moderator supports the conversation and helps the group to make the shift towards a solution.

By Manuel Etter, SDC

I enjoy facilitating! To stand in front of the participants and to guide them through a well designed process from A to B, from a problem to a solution, is very rewarding. But there is a strange phenomenon in facilitation. Sometimes it happens, that workshop participants seem to appreciate my facilitation performance most, when I feel that my part in a specific process was actually very minor and that the methods used were rather too simple. Why is that? How can this be?

The answer to these questions materialized for me, when I came across a method called Dynamic Facilitation. Dynamic Facilitation, developed by Jim Rough is such a simple and apparently unstructured method that you will find it hard to believe that it can really work – until you tried it out. So here’s in brief how it works:

How it works

Gather the group of people which are interested to address an issue that may well be considerably complex and emotional. Formulate a compelling question.

Install four flip charts with the following titles:

• Problem statements / Questions
• Solutions
• Concerns
• Information / Data

Invite the participants to put forward their comments, no matter to which flip chart category they belong.

The facilitator’s role is “minimal”. It consists in writing down all the statements and comments on the flip chart- if possible in the words of the participants. This process reassures the participants that all their concerns, arguments, ideas etc. are being taken seriously (thus creating the conditions to enter into a collective creative mode). If necessary the facilitator may check back with the participants, if a statement was understood correctly, or if an argument could be described more precisely etc. In the course of the meeting, the group will end up with agreeing to a common solution (or to a set of solutions) without any process of rating and validating the suggestions. The solutions emerge. Jim Rough talks about “breakthroughs”.

Dynamic Facilitation relies on the skills of the facilitator not on rules, guidelines, or agendas so ordinary, untrained people can just speak their minds in addressing these difficult issues – Wisedemocracy.org.

Human thinking is non-linear

The reason why Dynamic Facilitation works is that human thinking is not linear and does not follow well designed “from A to B”-type structures. While we usually ask a group to first define a problem, then to analyze relevant related information, before designing solution approaches, Dynamic Facilitation is not using this linear logic. The participants may jump from problems to solutions to concerns and back, just the way their creative muse may kiss them.

Of course, I shouldn’t hide the disadvantages of the method:

a) It’s hard to foresee a realistic time frame and it won’t work if you start to pressure the group to “find a solution now as time is running short…”, and

b) as a facilitator you will be left behind frustrated with a feeling of “but why was this session so successful, while I didn’t contribute with well thought through structured methods and processes, to lead them the way from A to B”. And still: Be courageous, try it. It’s worthwhile.

Further links

• Find an abstract of the method Dynamic Facilitation on our learning and networking site Sdc-learningandnetworking.ch

Simplicity wins – visualization as well. Tips for your next presentation

Blog-Admin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:30:36 +0000

How to prepare memorable presentations? Simplify it and make it visual. Inspiring and memorable presentations are simple, clear and meaningful. While preparing have your audience in mind and make it visual and easy for them to follow.

By Nadia von Holzen, SDC

Before reading this post watch this video. It’s only 2′35 and well done:

What I liked most:

• The advice to make it simple because the audience has to catch the visual content at the same as listening to you. To keep things simple and on target is not a new advice (Roman and Raphaelson gave this advice in 1981; see the brainpickings) and is good to remember

• The idea to write or draw a presentation on small Post-it notes because it is flexible and allows combining and rearranging messages and stories freely. Additionally, writing the essential on small Post-it notes requires us to focus and be clear. That’s a good thing!

• Slides are a visual medium. Clear, isn’t it! But how often are we stuck with bullet point presentations. So it’s worth to remember. Reduce the text to the absolute minimum (see Share, learn, innovate! Toolkit of the OHCHR).

Still reluctant?

Make the glance test on blogs.hbr.org

Or ask yourself: speech or movie? What do you prefer?

Movies tell stories, and stories are visual. Remember, you can write the story on Post-it notes… jeffhurtblog.com/2012/08/01/which-would-rather-attend-speech-or-movie

Data visualisation can make a difference. It did already in 1854. John Snow drew a cholera map to understand the transmission of the disease and to convince the public council to take action.

A valuable alternative to PowerPoint are poster sessions with infographics.

You might find some inspiration here:

• Infographics on iheartinfographics.tumblr.com

• Visualization Methods on visual-literacy.org

• 100 Diagrams that changed the world on brainpickings.org

And yes, Mr Peter Point would be delighted.

What’s your experience with visual presentations?

Joint Learning Journeys: with your travel agent GIZ!

Blog-Admin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:00:02 +0000

A recent lunch event at SDC in Bern sparked some interesting thinking. It featured guest speaker Kerstin Kude-Osman from the Academy for International Cooperation, a part of the German development agency GIZ. Kerstin told us about the recently developed Joint Learning Journey (JLJ) method, which is a way to bring small groups of people involved and interested in a particular set of issues together, to come up with effective and innovative ways of doing things better.

By Riff Fullan, Helvetas

The concept

What stuck in my mind about JLJs is that they start with a BURNING QUESTION that is identified in a first meeting, and they are driven throughout by the sub-questions that come up as the group starts chipping away at the main one. So, the group sets off on a journey for which the destination is not fully known, but they have a good idea of where they want to go. There is a conscious attempt to deal with the complexity of the questions and contexts concerned by adopting an iterative approach: progress is monitored, questions examined and a new question formulated.

Open process

Another crucial element is ongoing, proactive facilitation. Given that the journey is somewhat open-ended (not only in terms of destination, but also in terms of ‘mode of transport’ [could be training, dialogues, reading, information sharing, etc.]), the facilitators play a key role in keeping the process moving smoothly and ensuring there is a tangible output at the end. The idea is to avoid a journey that may be fun, but ultimately not demonstrably useful, so they want to have some kind of crystallisation of the results.

We had a mini-workshop during the session (once we had finished our lunches), which focused on how people learn, and how we can contribute to deeper and broader learning. All in all, a lot went on in 90 minutes!

The buzz from the floor

What were the reactions from the Swiss crowd (SDC and partners)? We chewed over a few keywords like ‘expert’ (the JLJ travellers are called experts, but it is not meant in the sense of having this or that academic qualification, more those who might have a depth of experience and level of interest in the topic), and ‘exclusive’ (a JLJ involves a limited number of people lets say 10-12). This was the big tension: between designing a manageable process that produced tangible results, and leaving the space open for broader participation.

This led to the question of JLJs in a network context: in SDC networks, for example, a small group may be problematic, because it would exclude the majority of members. Plus, how do you propagate learning from the small group to others?
There was general agreement that the idea of a journey was a good one, and a key question is how to design and support such journeys in different contexts.

The JLJ approach has potential to support a deepening of understanding/innovation around a particular topic, but – as Kerstin also pointed out – it does not claim to be THE way to learn. So as part of a package of learning activities, it could help to push the envelope, get some deeper insights, and provide a more orderly complement to ‘messier’ but also meaningful learning processes which take place among larger and more diverse groups.

In the end the JLJ approach is an interesting addition to collaborative learning approaches such as (in the SDC context), the Decentralisation and Local Governance network’s learning projects, (and elsewhere) knowledge expeditions, learning alliances, etc.

What do your experiences add to the mix?

Blogging from Malawi – How we used a blog to report from a workshop on rural development

Blog-Admin — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:48 +0000

We were blogging from the Workshop on Rural Development organized by the SDC Eastern & Southern Africa Division in Lilongwe Malawi.

By Michael Hirsbrunner, SDC

With the workshop blog we had several ideas in mind: documenting the workshop process and make it accessible, including non-participating network members into the discussions, and linking the discussions in Malawi with others regional experiences.

Before the workshop, the blog was set-up and structured according to the different topics discussed in the workshop (Postharvest, M4P, or Financial Services); the detailed programme was published and a list of all participants with picture and email address was added to exchange before and after the workshop.

During the workshop, we summarized the discussions of the different workshop sessions in blog entries. We added links to presentations and documents. We continuously checked the comments in the blog. Every morning we brought new questions and comments published on the blog to the attention of the workshop participants and encouraged them to answer or react. We wrote a follow-up on the blog to inform our readers.

Over 200 persons have visited the blog. The blog was commented 41 times by 20 different persons.

Photo of a field visit in Malawi and the header of the blog

The feedback was positive: from participants for accessing the workshop documents and discussing contents with non-workshop participants, from the organisers for writing short summaries of the presentations and the workshop conclusions and from external readers and commentators for being informed about the discussions in Malawi. Chrystel Ferret, deputy head of the ESA division, even suggested having the blog as a standard tool for further regional workshops. The West Africa division will now also blog from their workshop in April 2013. Marylaure Crettaz, Focal Point of the Agriculture and Food Security Network over the Malawi workshop blog:

I enjoyed looking at the presentations and the summary of the discussions posted on the blog (even late at night from home). In many topics addressed I wanted to know more details or had clarifications questions or wanted to make further links with what SDC is doing in other regions or in other networks. I had bilateral contacts with many network members to animate them to react on a specific topic that I knew being their field of experience or interest. I would have preferred more pictures and graphics to complement the statements but the connectivity in Malawi didn’t allow loading more visual supports”

After the workshop, we linked the workshop blog with our network platform: http://www.sdc-foodsecurity.ch. This is crucial as we used the blog as a document management system and we don’t want that the blog and the discussion will be forgotten.

What would we do differently next time?

1. Have some ideas ready how to get participants and network members to join into the online discussion on the blog.
2. Be prepared for slow internet connections. Uploading pictures and documents took a lot of time, sometimes over 10 minutes or it even failed… Next time we will write and save all posts first in a text programme to reduce bad surprises. And we would separate heavy presentations and pictures from text to allow fast webpage connection.
3. Have more active bloggers to share the writing. As we were “1.5 bloggers”, our capacities were at the limit and we often finished our day at midnight. We tried to share the workload: One of us (100%) wrote most of the posts and did the administrative blog-work (uploading, collecting of information, etc.). The other one corrected the posts, shared blog-comments to the workshop participants and posted the rest. External helpers collected presentations and made pictures.

To reduce the stress and improve timing, we recommend having at least two full-time bloggers. This would have allowed having also video-interviews at the end of the day, as it was actually planned; and would allow increasing participation at the workshop.

The two blog-writers: Markus Bürli and Michael Hirsbrunner

Links:
• Malawi Workshop Blog: http://www.blog4dev.ch/afs-f2f2013
• SDC Agriculture and Food Security Network’s platform http://www.sdc-foodsecurity.ch
• Social Reporting in previous sdclan posts

Multimedia-Portal: a source of inspiration

Blog-Admin — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 07:30:48 +0000

Videos, podcasts and infographics – are becoming increasingly important in our daily information work. Whether surprising or bold, instructive or combative, they cover different information needs and are very versatile. Have you ever searched for an infographic or a video, which explains a developmental topic easily? And how can it be found at short notice?

By Jris Bertschi, Alliance Sud

As information specialists at the documentation centers of Alliance Sud we browse different sources every day. Therefore we developed a multimedia portal with a video collection and links to other multimedia resources. The Multimedia Portal is at your disposal.

Selected from a wide range the videos are clearly grouped by ten themes: from energy and agriculture to culture and politics to economics and commodities. The portal can be browsed per themes or tags. It proposes you further videos on the same topic. It comports different kind of videos: from cartoon to documentary videos like the one of 15-year-old Kevin Doe which shows how he created his own radio station. Click to see the video.

In addition, the portal also provides information on many other multimedia resources like sound and image, infographics and cartoons, photos and blogs. Those who want to visualize a text or are searching for audio streams for a lecture notes for example, will find a variety of suggestions. Click to see the other webressources.

This section has been designed together with the Information Management Section of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Visite the multimedia portal:
· http://www.alliancesud.ch/multimedia

Train your gut feeling through continuous learning!

Blog-Admin — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:57:27 +0000

Complex situations resist our analytical capacities, they are unpredictable. In these situations, we cannot base our decisions on data. Hence, our decisions often based on intuition, gut feeling, and rules of thumb. Through continuous learning, we can train our intuition and become better equipped to manage our projects in complex environments.

By Marcus Jenal, Independent Consultant

The world is getting more complex. How often have we heard this statement? Is it true? It certainly feels that way.

The employment and income network of SDC is venturing this year into a discussion of employment and income in fragile environments. This means we are adding to our normal layer of complex market, financial, and educational systems another layer of complexity related to conflict, natural disasters, and political uncertainty. To give an example of this complexity, the illustration below shows the systemic analysis of the US counter insurgency strategy in Afghanistan:

Hence, we need to become better equipped to manage our projects in complex environments.

When Dave Snowden, a well-known expert in strategy development and complexity, talks about complex systems, he often refers to them as the domain of ‘heuristics’, in contrast to complicated or simple problems where we can fall back on expert knowledge and good or best practices.

I googled ‘heuristics’ and landed – where else – on wikipedia, which told me that:

Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Where the exhaustive search is impractical, heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution; mental short cuts to ease the cognitive load of making a decision. Examples of this method include using a rule of thumb, an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, or common sense. In more precise terms, heuristics are strategies using readily accessible, though loosely applicable, information to control problem solving in human beings and machines.

Ok, so that means that in complex environments, we need to use rules of thumb, and educated guesses to manage our projects? It turns out that this is very much what is happening in reality. Despite all the talk of good and best practice, the daily meal of project managers and staff is to take decisions of how to react to their environment less based on exact data (which project manager has that …) and more on their gut feeling. Or not?

So the question becomes how can we cultivate our gut feelings, our rules of thumbs, our intuition? Its through learning. Learning directly translates into experience, helps us to take educated guesses, decide intuitively based on the little information we have.

To make a long story short, learning is crucial when working in complex system. We cannot learn enough. How is the market system working? How is the conflict influencing power relations and, ultimately, transactions in the vegetable sector? Why are people not trusting the banks? Why do women not want to go to the market place alone? Why are companies not hiring workers from vocational schools? Why do the farmers react in a counter-intuitive way to our interventions? Why? What? When? The quicker we can turn learning into action, the more effective will our projects become.

So if you are confronted with increased complexity, don’t stop asking questions, try to find out how things work, why things work the way they do. Act on the learning directly, don’t wait for a next phase. Don’t stop learning because you need to focus on the implementation of activities written down in your logframe. And most of all, don’t be afraid to fail, and admit failure, for it is failure we learn most of.

What is learning?

Blog-Admin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:30:46 +0000

By Nadia von Holzen, SDC

Learning has many facets, colours and forms. Tracey Martin wrote a poem on his very personal personal reflection on learning, what it means to him, how it happens and how incredible precious it is.

Learning , delicious and juicy as this orange?

What is learning?

It’s not a package tied with string,
or a machine with precise instructions.
It doesn’t obey rules or masters.
No-one can patent it though many have tried.
It’s never been captured and bottled,
or dissected, defined or delivered.
It has many colours and scents,
many flavours and textures,
it can speak in every language.
And every time people tell a story
and others give their whole selves
to listening, it can happen.
And every time someone asks real questions
and honours unexpected answers
then acts on them, it happens.
It’s out there in the field, waiting for you,
like a juicy red fruit or a pale blue flower, or the raindrop
you can catch in your hand because you watched as it fell.

By Tracey Martin
Published in: The Barefoot Guide to Learning Practices in Organisations and Social Change

The Barefoot Guide Connection is a global and local community of social change leaders and practitioners, from many countries, sharing their diverse practices to deepen and develop approaches and initiatives to contribute to a changing world. They offer a growing collection of freely downloadable Barefoot Guides in a variety of languages.
http://www.barefootguide.org/

How would you define learning? What are your favourite stories or quotes? We would love to hear them!

Please use the comment button to share.

Many thanks.

Three Reasons to Organize your Next Workshop in the Open Space Format

Blog-Admin — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 06:50:18 +0000

Are you planning a face-face meeting to explore key issues and design action plans? The Open Space methodology would definitively be an option.
Read how the key elements of Open Space – the circle, the joint agenda setting, and the free discussion space – could create momentum to advance important issues.

By Nadia von Holzen, SDC

Base your next workshop or face-to-face meeting on Open Space. Are you hesitating? Have you already too many topics in an overfilled agenda? This might be exactly the right moment to consider Open Space!

My three reasons why I think Open Space could be your solution:

1. Listen to what matters

An Open Space workshop opens and ends in a circle. The circle is the invitation to listen what each has to say and to speak out what matters. Personal thoughts and viewpoints are expressed. This allows bringing ideas, concerns and hopes on the “table” and get ready to discuss the issues at stake.

2. Discuss the essential

Building the agenda jointly is a key moment; it’s done collaboratively in the circle. Everyone in the room has the opportunity to step into the circle and announce her/ his discussion topics. The space is open although not completely. The givens – defined in the preparatory work by the organizer and the facilitator – are the boundaries what is up for discussion and what not.

Trust the process; the issue you want bring a step further will be discussed. Framing only the discussion topic and leaving the agenda open is bit like two kinds of shopping lists: Let’s say you want to cook a green curry. You can jot down a detailed shopping list to the last gram of salt. Or you frame your cooking idea. In either case you will eat green curry. The curries won’t taste exactly the same. They will be creative varieties playing with ingredients and a touch of new flavor.

3. Engage participants – make them responsible

The principles and the one law of the two feet are at the heart of each Open Space. They are a message of freedom and responsibility and an invitation to self-organize. A careful introduction at the beginning of the workshop is inviting the participants to take responsibilities for their questions and topics, to engage and to bring forward.

One of the most profound impacts of the law is to make it exquisitely clear precisely who is responsible for the quality of a participant’s learning. If any situation is not learning rich, it is incumbent upon the individual participant to make it so. There is no point in blaming the conference committee, for none exists. Responsibility resides with the individual.
Harrison Owen

Open Space is an invitation to discuss AND to act. It’s the deeper meaning of OPEN SPACE that makes the methodology interesting. The method plays with the idea of space. It’s about the space for discussion and the room for manoeuver. It’s an offer to bring challenges forward AND to act upon them.

What’s your experience with Open Space?

Further links:

· http://www.openspaceworld.org/
· http://www.all-in-one-spirit.de/werkzeuge/open_space.htm [German only]
· http://www.frischerwind.com/cms/open-space-technology [German only]

Why is „Manejo Integrado de Plagas” the number one download from SDC Websites

Blog-Admin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:00:53 +0000

The importance of knowledge brokers for learning in SDC or why “Manejo Integrado de Plagas” (in engl. Integrated Pest Management) was the most downloaded document of SDC websites.

By Willi Graf, SDC

The document on SDC websites with the highest number of downloads in 2012 was “Manejo Integrado de Plagas” from the SDC Peru website with some 6700 downloads.
It is a highly specific document (agriculture) with a probably exclusively Spanish speaking audience. Our highly praised (and sometimes priced) documents on all kinds of development policy and methodological subjects came far behind (the next ones with just over 3’000 downloads). I was not able to conduct any more in-depth research on the case but it seems to suggest the following:

1. An incredibly efficient knowledge broker found the “Manejo Integrado de Plagas” document very relevant for a well defined target public and he managed to draw its attention to the resource.

2. It is more difficult to explain, why all the other SDC documents did not have as much success! It could be that their quality was not as good (relevant for a given target group), that the target group is very small or … that the knowledge brokers who ought to work on its spreading are not efficient in doing their job. The latter would be utterly unpleasant since it concerns us, SDC staff at large!

Based on the 2012 report of the SDC Knowledge and Learning Division on the functioning of networks in SDC, a vivid discussion on knowledge and on how knowledge is managed at SDC started. I was personally startled to realize that the discussion largely focused on the thematic competence of the network focal points. In fact, I am the last one to pretend that thematic knowledge is not important. However, in my opinion the ability to broker knowledge is at least as significant. I could easily name a number of people within SDC who became quite efficient as thematic knowledge brokers without being subject specialists per se. When I ask myself what they and the once who combine thematic expertise with ability to broker knowledge are or have been good at; four things come to my mind:

• They are ready to go the extra mile to share knowledge with others (take initiative to talk to others, take extra time to do this, take the time to learn new things and are excited about it!)
• They systematically mobilize external and internal knowledge (they are aware that they do not know enough of most topics by themselves!)
• They have the ability to gain the trust of people who “demand” knowledge and get them also to share knowledge and this even when they themselves have relatively little experience in the institution.
• They have a profound understanding of development issues and the Swiss positioning in the development landscape (not necessarily related to years of experience!).

Illustration by Ankur Sethi, author of the Virtual Learning Blog

Personally, I believe that SDC staff is very often in the situation of a knowledge broker. One of these situations is the sectoral policy dialogue in partner countries. Often it is much more efficient to position a national partner organization and make sure their arguments are heard and build SDC positions around these arguments then to act as the voice of a particular argument under the SDC umbrella. Similarly, the knowledge exchange among project implementers is a knowledge broker challenge. When an SDC office manages to get its projects to share know-how this can have a very positive impact on the effectiveness of the overall portfolio and individual projects.

To sum up, I see brokering knowledge as a key competence of SDC staff in general and of network focal points in particular. It becomes important to consider knowledge broker qualities at recruitment and for on- the-job training!
As a measure of success of our brokering I suggest to aim at having at least three mainstream thematic or methodological SDC documents having close to 6’000 downloads 2013 hence rise up to the level of the remarkable Manejo Integrado de Plagas!

Further Links:
· Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_broker
· Analysis of an E-discussion by Knowledge Brokers Forum about Knowledge Brokers: http://www.knowledgebrokersforum.org/blogs/item/knowledge-brokering-and-intermediary-concepts-e-discussion-analysis

The SDC Learning & Networking Blog: less reading – less writing – more talking

Blog-Admin — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:00:39 +0000

By Nadia von Holzen, SDC

A blog is conversation. We want to make the reading as well as the writing of the SDC Learning & Networking Blog faster to have time for the conversation.


                                                                                                                          Photo by Nadia Lanfranchi

The Dummies say a blog is conversation. That made us think.

The SDC Learning & Networking Blog is already 2.5 years old. Many topics were reflected, many stories told and questions asked. Some figures: 122 posts from 41 bloggers, 125 comments from an average of 77 weekly readers (since 2nd of February 2012, as we installed Google analytics).

Figures are one side of the coin, the readers’ reflection and inspiration the other. We took our little ’survey’ from last summer serious. You told us our posts are too lengthy, too elaborated. If we ask colleagues to contribute a blog post, the answer is often diplomatic: “Maybe after the holidays, I am really too busy now.”

Message taken. We did a little research on blog writing (see the links below). Our conclusion:

• make it shorter
• make more practical
• write more dynamic and spontaneous, more blog-like.

Shorter texts mean easier and faster writing. We hope so! We want our blogging community to grow.

Join us as reader and commenter; contribute to our conversation; and make our blog entries more diverse and multi-perspective. Your experiences and reflections on learning and knowledge management   interest us. Write about your initiatives and challenges; share your experiences form SDC’s work or with partner organisations. Blogging is sharing.

Blogging is also learning or PKM (personal knowledge management, a term crafted by Harold Jarche). Seth Godin and Tom Peters think so too:

If your are passionate blog reader you can find inspiration from great blogs on knowledge management and learning: http://wiki.km4dev.org/KM4Dev_Bloggers

What do you think? What would you like to blog about? Which questions and challenges related to institutional learning and knowledge management would you like to reflect?

∞ These links might be also useful for your own blogging:
· http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/
· http://bernetblog.ch/2012/03/07/gute-blogs-orientierung-statt-infomasse/ (German)
· http://writetodone.com/category/blogwriting/
· http://www.inboundpro.net/starting-a-blog-in-2013-ideas-avoid-utter-failure

The sdclan Blog Team wishes you a Happy New Year!

Blog-Admin — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:30:25 +0000

Comic about the blogger and the christmas post:

      By Marlon Böttger (www.penzilla.ch)

Checklist for the planning of your Social Reporting

Blog-Admin — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:13:59 +0000

Social reporting can be a powerful instrument.
Our PREZI compiles tips from SDC experiences in a timeline and proposes a path towards an effective social and audiovisual reporting.

By C. Eckert, N. von Holzen, G. Fürer, M. Lammer and R. Fullan

Start the PREZI…

1/ Side-by-side
click on the right-side arrow OR adjust the timer on the lower left side
2/ Go to a specific content
the “home symbol” leads you to the overview. Find specific contents, below the chrological titles and just click to see them full-screen (mouse-pointer/grabber allow you to zoom -in or -out)

Untitled Prezi on Prezi

The Participant’s Shoes

Blog-Admin — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 07:45:28 +0000

Make your face-to-face meetings more learner-centered to foster stronger commitment and greater learning. Networks’ face-to-face meetings are a great opportunities for learning. What does it need to make it a learning happening? How do adults learn? What are the key ingredients to be taken into account already at the planning stage?

By Nadia von Holzen, SDC

The driving forces of any network’s face-to-face meeting are the people and the purpose; WHY and WITH WHOM the event is organized. In the last week blog post on “Guiding questions that matter for preparing the next face-to-face network event” we reflected about the importance of getting the purpose clear.

The following key ingredients might be of help while planning a learning event.

The people joining are the “stars of the event” (Jeff Hurt). But who are they? What knowledge, experiences and expertise do they bring in? Where do they stand and what can you do for them as event organizer?
As learning event organizers, we have to view the event through the lens of the participants to make it learner-centered (and avoid the risk to make it speaker-centered or content-centered). A great tool to step into the shoes of the participants is the Empathy Map.

In the age of online libraries, Wikipedia and other great online platforms, adult learning is definitely no longer focused on information delivery. Learning is collaborative; something we do ourselves (Harold Jarche: “What is learning’s role?”). Learning and knowing are an act; an act of sense making and interpretation.
As learning event organizers, we want to stimulate discussions, in-depth reflection, joint creation of meaning, prototyping.

To strengthen the engagement and commitment and to create ownership for solution finding the participant or adult learner needs to see “the whole elephant” (see the story of “the whole elephant” as a valuable insights on working with the whole system here). In Malcolm Knowles (the father of adult learning or andragogy), words: “Adults need to know the reason for learning something”.
As organizers, we need to build bridges and put the learning event in relation with previous networking meetings and activities, as well as with activities and processes of the wider organization.

The transfer of learning is key for the learning event’s success. How do we facilitate the transfer of insights into programmes and policy work to find faster, better, smarter solutions, to strengthen thematic quality and to foster new ways of approaching challenges? Once more Malcolm Knowles: “Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities (Foundation)”. Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Orientation). Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives(Readiness).
As organizers we increase the relevance and the learning benefit by anchoring the reflections in the participant’s practice. And by asking always again: What does this all mean for SDC programmes?

It becomes clear that the programming of a learning event matters. A good agenda is not developed by putting topics together and assigning key speakers; in the contrary. The success of the programme is largely defined BEFORE the event, by a careful and well thought planning process and by the design. “It is crucial also to think about when to do what, to give the event an inherent structure and flow, and a thread that guides participants from one phase to the next – working (and learning) step by step to create a logical structure which targets precisely the purpose of the event” (Mark Steinlin and Catherine Widrig Jenkins).

What matters in your experience most to really foster learning? What do we have to take into account while planning learning events?
We are curious to learn from your point of view!

Further reading:

Knowledge Sharing for Change – Designing and Facilitating Learning Processes with a Transformative Impact, Facilitation Handbook; by Ingenious-People-Knowledge: Knowledge Sharing for Change – Designing and Facilitating Learning Processes with a Transformative Impact

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! – Ten Principles for Leading Meetings That Matter; by Marvin Ross Weisbord and Sandra Janoff

Grossgruppen-Interventionen Konflikte klären – Veränderungen anstossen – Betroffene einbeziehen, by Hannes Hinnen und Paul Krummenacher (German only)

Guiding questions that matter for preparing the next face-to-face network event

Blog-Admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:00:20 +0000

Are you at the point to start planning for your next face-to-face workshop, seminar or learning event of your network? Kick-start your planning with a short checklist to gear up your learning event.

By Martina Lammer and Nadia von Holzen, SDC

While planning a face-to-face workshop, seminar or learning event of your network many things need to be done, organized, thought of… Where to start? What are the key things to think about? Have a look at the checklist to kick-start your planning process; it might be of help to gear up your learning event.

1. Sine qua non for face-to-face event preparation

Which of the following aspects are currently the most important or challenging for you? Have you already covered some or all of the points below? For the ones you have covered, have you finalized your arrangements?

Have a look at the ckecklist:

Develop workshop objectives that serve the purposes of most/ all people involved

Create a participatory planning process really engaging network members

Coordinate scheduling: avoid competition with other events; and maximize linkages with other networks as well as with broader institutional priorities (consider the possibility of holding a joint event)

Strike a good balance between the content and process aspects, and one that will release the creative energy of participants

Use e-communication channels such as Dgroups, Sharewebs, blogs and any social media, that supports participation and information sharing – before, during and after the event

Put attention to logistical details, e.g. venue, technology, travel (carbon foot print…), etc.

Plan the workshop outputs, from type of reporting to considering other specific desired outputs

Prepare and announce the follow up activities, before and during the event

2. Some insights from our own planning practice

End of October at the SDC’s Network’s planning Workshop, the networks’ focal points and facilitators put their heads together as the “quacking” ducks. In this joint planning session the checklist above guided the discussion for the next year’s networks meetings.

In the discussion some additional useful aspects came up:

- Review the After Action Reflection done after the last face-to-face meeting as well as important networks results; be clear about the priorities of the face-to-face meeting
- Keep the whole process in mind; and include the follow-up of the last face-to-face meeting into the face-to-face planning now
- Reflect the network objectives and the role of the network within the organization (priorities, project imple- mentation, competence building)
- Link to other network activities; coordinate and organize exchanges (e.g. brown bag lunch, regional events)
- Clarify the face-to-face facilitation as well as the core group engagement; appoint an (external) facilitaton
- Plan for the network communication and how to mobilize the members; consider different communication channels, develop a network communication strategy for the face-to-face meeting
- Consider options for field visits during the face-to-face meeting
- Collect open questions

The inclusive and participatory preparation of face-to-face event preparation needs time, coordination and leadership. To make progress a plan of action with a list of tasks and subtasks, outputs, responsibilities and timing might be helpful.

What are in your experience key aspects that shouldn’t be missed? Are there any points to consider in addition to the points mentioned?

Related links from the SDC Learning and Networking Shareweb:

- Planning a f2f events
- Linking Face-to-Face Events and Online Dialogues
- Social Reporting on Face-to-Face Events
- E-Facilitation (1)

Other links:

- E-Facilitation(2) : IMARK e-learning module

Disassembling Change: How to manage change processes?

Blog-Admin — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:13:51 +0000

For you as development professionals change is your daily basis. You aim for, provoke and witness change processes. You steer projects and manage programmes. You take care that you partner organisations are strengthened. You are part of changing teams. Have you ever thought about what change is for you? And what it needs to effectively support change?

By Corinne Sprecher, AGRIDEA

Change can have many different faces.

Here are some pictures that came to my mind when I was thinking about change.

Change…
… needs care and attention like a small growing plant.
… is not unidirectional, not linear, it searches its path like a winding road onto a mountain
     pass.
… is a continuous process, like waves shaping the rocks over long periods of time.
… means getting rid of the old stuff.
… involves knowing where we want to be heading to.
… implies pulling together… and doesn’t it sometimes feel like it is about convincing the
    others to switch to our side?
… is the interaction of different decisions that make the whole running into another direction.

Seven steps to manage change

Change is not only going from A to B. It is defining A and defining B; it is motivating people to join on the journey; it is providing resources and a realistic schedule for it; it is finding the right path, reconsidering and revaluating it after each step. Hence, change is a complex matter.
However, we all know, there are ways to manage change processes and to deal with its complexity. A useful framework to approach the manifold aspects of change in organizational development was described by Glasl et al. (2005). They divide change into seven basic processes.

1. Diagnostic processes:
… to develop a common understanding of the situation we are starting off from.
Diagnostic processes raise awareness of the problems, and how they came to be. What has brought us to where we stand now? And what are our resources and strengths that on which we can build on?

2. Future-design processes:
… to have a common notion of what we want to achieve.
Future-design processes focus people’s energy towards a desirable future. Not asking, what do we want to leave behind, but asking, what do we wish for in the best case? I.e. visioning processes, elaboration of future scenarios and concepts.

3. Psycho-social processes:
… to approach the new together with others.
The human aspect of change is crucial. Change means letting go old roles, relationships, attitudes etc. Pycho-social processes support these changes. They also address old or emerging conflicts and tensions.

4. Learning processes:
… to ensure that new knowledge and skills can be practiced.
Learning processes in this narrow sense support the other processes by making sure that in due time new knowledge and skills that will be required in future are identified and adequate training is provided. Pilot trials can be helpful to practice the new knowledge and skills and to improve.

5. Information processes:
… to keep those affected informed at the right place and right time and to communicate transparently.
Information processes accompany the other processes. They help to raise awareness among the affected as well as a broader public about what is going on. To find the balance between too little and too much information is tricky!

6. Implementation processes:
… to really introduce and “live” the new.
Implementation processes are not only about insuring that what has been decided is put into practices at the end, but it is a continuous process of reinforcing objectives and plans by “quick win” changes. They show early in the process, that change is happening and that it brings along benefits. It is also about having management act as models for the new.

7. Change management processes:
… to ensure that the change process is not getting completely out of hands and to assume responsibility for progress.
Change management processes represent the professional planning of the processes. This includes the provision of required resources, as well as ensuring the coordination and consistency of actions.
Key factor for a successful elaboration and implementation of a change process is the interaction of all these basic processes. This interaction can be compared to a knitting pattern for a pullover. Compared to the arrangement of different stiches in knitting, a change manager considers which basic process will be needed when in the undertaking, with which to start and on which to lay special effort when. Change does not always need to start with a diagnosis, but at some stage, you will probably need some information about the situation you are embarking from. Likewise the implementation process does not automatically have to be the last stage, in contrary it is advisable to plan for quick wins early in the process. There is no cooking recipe for change. It is up to a creative cook to decide based on the situation, when a spoon or a pinch of which basic process is needed. However, I find it very useful in my work, to keep all the seven basic processes as crucial ingredients for my cooking always in mind!

…What are you strategies to make change happen?

Sources:
- Glasl, Friedrich, Trude Kalcher and Hannes Piber (eds.) 2005. Professionelle Prozessberatung. Bern, Stuttgart, Wien: Haupt Verlag and Verlag Freies Geistesleben.
- Pictures: Heragon Verlag GmbH (eds) 2010. Bildimpulse kompakt. Veränderung.

Participatory Video: A Route to Strengthening Voices?

Blog-Admin — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:00:47 +0000

Participatory Video has been around for almost 50 years, and is resurfacing as an area of interest for development practitioners. This is partly fuelled by increased accessibility of technologies for self-made videos. In this Blog, Riff Fullan from Helvetas shows what PV does have to offer those who are interested in promoting greater engagement of people whose lives are most affected by emerging global economic, environmental, political and social realities. Let’s have a look…

By Riff Fullan

What is Participatory Video (PV)?

There are many variations in the way PV is conceived and implemented, but they all share one key characteristic: the desire to support local actors in various contexts to produce their own messages. In other words, PV seeks to help people to appropriate video technology for their own uses. This practice has partly been fuelled by increased accessibility of technologies for self-made videos, especially digital video cameras, mobile phones and associated software. Through PV, the local actors learn how to use video themselves, they choose which subjects are important and how those subjects are represented, shoot and edit the footage, and decide who the main audience(s) should be.

Is Participatory Video really effective?

It’s hard to give a definitive answer. However, in my limited experience with PV, I have been struck by its potential. I believe PV can quickly open up space for people to see how video can be used to express what they feel and know. Beyond this, they can together confront some of the challenges they face on an ongoing basis, not just to better understand those challenges, but to overcome them. This does not happen instantly, or even always, but I have seen people go from just having fun with PV exercises to seeing the serious (but still fun) possibilities to make statements about their world. The emotional power that can come from this kind of experience is truly astonishing!

PV can also help facilitators – who are often from outside the community, or even the country, where the process is taking place – to reflect on their role. This happens directly in the situation where you are facilitating the PV process, but it can also help you to (re)-assess your role in development more broadly. As a PV facilitator, you need to be aware of the potential for you to have an undue influence on the production process. You also need to be aware of – and sometimes to work against – local social relations that may prevent some voices from being heard. In this way, PV can help you better appreciate dynamics associated with power, voice and process.

A short PV story

Photo: Kara Marnell

As part of a recent PV training exercise, I was in a small team working with a women’s centre in Oxford, UK. After two days of training on how to facilitate PV, we spent a day with the members of the centre, to help them teach themselves about video through hands-on experimentation, and for them to decide what they wanted to say and how to say it. After they filmed a number of clips and intensely discussed how the clips should be put together, we sat with one of the core members of the centre to edit the video. The next morning, when the women’s centre video was shown in the training centre, those of us who were involved with it – either as facilitators or owners/producers – broke into spontaneous waves of hugging and shedding of tears. After that, one of the women from the centre did a dance for the facilitators to show her appreciation. What a great experience!

On the surface, it was not such a big thing: a publicity video for the centre that did not have a big budget to produce a highly polished and professional output. But the sincerity of the message, and the level of ownership in the product on the part of those who produced it, give it an authenticity that cannot be denied. Far deeper than the output itself, was the shared learning experience of the participants, and the knowledge that they could take that experience and put it to other uses in the future.

This is an example of what PV can do. It can help to create opportunities for people to actively take charge of what is communicated about them and the context in which they live. It can help them to express their perspectives in ways that may not have been available to them before. Will it solve all their problems? Far from it, but it represents another tool to employ in the struggle to ensure that divergent and often underrepresented worldviews can be expressed and legitimated, thereby increasing the chances that they will influence how locally relevant issues are addressed.

…Do you have a PV (or similar) story? I’d love to hear it!

Read more:

To the early history of PV:

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/legacy/research/edu20/moments/1966cfc.html?cms_page=edu20/moments/1966cfc.html

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~snowden/fogo.htm

Methodological references:

http://www.insightshare.org/resources/pv-handbook

Shaw, Jackie, 1997, Participatory Video: A Practical Approach to Using Video Creatively in Group Development Work (Out of print, but a very useful resource. Second-hand copies available through Amazon)

The Horizontal Learning Program is like Real Life Facebook

Blog-Admin — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 19:00:32 +0000

Horizontal learning enables communities to share best practices within and across communities. In this blog post Tommaso Tabet, SDC agency in Dhaka, in collaboration with engaged HLP Friends, explain that it is a tool for sharing good practices, replicating and liking them, and therefore has much in common with the world’s most popular social media.

By Tommaso Tabet and HLP Friends, Dhaka

In development jargon, capacity building means that there is an identified lack of knowledge or skill – capacity – that needs to be addressed in order to make development possible. Often the underlying assumption is that the capacity has to be brought to the community from outside.

In Bangladesh SDC is supporting a program that turns this assumption around: the program is based on the premise that capacities already exist in the communities. Thus the challenge is not the lack of capacity but rather the lack of networking and exchange of ideas between the communities.

So, much like Facebook and other social media have enabled people to share experiences, the Horizontal Learning Program creates a space for communities to learn from each other.

For instance, one village might have solved their arsenicosis problem, while a community nearby is suffering from symptoms caused by arsenic contaminated ground water.

One way to tackle this is to go to the village and tell them what is wrong and teach how things should be done. However, another possibility is to invite the representatives of the second village to the first one and let them share their experiences. Which one do you think will work better?

In one arsenic affected area families started sharing wells with their neighbors. While those with arsenic free wells shared their water for drinking, others with contaminated wells provided water for other purposes such as washing. This practice, which effectively made it possible for everyone to enjoy safe drinking water, was replicated through Horizontal Learning Program and has spread to numerous places around the country.

Photo:Local governance in Sunamganj

Basics of Horizontal Learning

1. This brings up the first principle of the Horizontal Learning Program: peer-to-peer learning.

Peers form ‘communities of practice’ that will exchange ideas. Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. Examples of communities of practice are: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identity in the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers helping each other cope.

Learning from peers lets the learners experience and discuss the good practice and eventually adapt the practice in a way that suits their own needs. An important element is that the good practice is not necessarily replicated as is, but rather the way it best fits into a given environment.

2. The second key point in the Horizontal Learning Program is what is called ‘appreciative inquiry’. It means that when sharing experiences, the focus is on positive things. It is too easy to fall into the trap of pointing out all that is wrong. So, as a methodological principle that has been ruled out.

3. The third key principle is that horizontal learning appears to work best in domains where knowledge is tacit rather than codified. Knowledge in practical matters is not something that can be easily passed on to another person in an explicit way.

Thus Horizontal Learning Program acts as a ‘midwife’ in giving birth to new insight and new knowledge. It tries to bring out the ample tacit knowledge in rural Bangladesh and facilitate its spread within communities.

…And just like Facebook, Horizontal Learning is not in itself a revolution, but can offer a platform for a revolution to happen. In this case, a revolution of knowledge and learning.

Read more: Over the Horizontal Learning in Bangladesh:  http://www.horizontallearning.net/



Welcome to the SDC Learning and Networking Blog

Manuel Flury — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 07:18:01 +0000

Because sharing is learning

NEWS & TRENDS October 2012

Blog-Admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:14 +0000

HIGHLIGHT

The next week’s NeuroLeadership Summet in New-York. A brain friendly f2f meeting.

On the programme: Morning breaks of 30 minutes; small group lunches and 60 minutes digestion breaks scheduled in the afternoon. Breaks include mindfulness sessions, special interest groups, and Argentine Tango workshops…

BRAIN FRIENDLY FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS - 4 PRINCIPLES

The NeuroLeadership Summit aims for the most brain friendly conference in the world. Over the last 5 years David Rock, Co-Founder and Director of NeuroLeadership and his team have been experimenting and adapting the design of their conference. They base the programme design on the findings from brain sciences and on participants’ expectations. Conference participants normally want to gain: ‘useful new ideas’ and ‘new human connections’.

With the findings and the participants’ goals and interests in mind the organizers of the NeuroLeadership Summit defined the following 4 basic principles:

1. Ideas are like food: Our brains need time to digest before we can add more. As meeting organizers we build in thinking-breaks, time for little group discussions, room to reflect the application of new ideas.

2. Social is everything: Participants want to connect with new and old colleagues. We plan enough unstructured time for people to meet.

3. Do less, but do it really well: We make sure that only the most important topics are on the agenda; not more than that.

4. Work with, not against, the natural flow of energy: We go for the big ideas in the morning and tackle the after-lunch dip with interactive sessions, preferably small group discussions.

Jeff Hurt is writing in his blog Velvet Chainsaw – Midcourse Corrections how to make conferences lively, inspiring and attractive learning experiences.

John Medina author of Brain Rules points out what our brains need to function well at work. Our brains are for example bad at multitasking. Our brains want to see. Our brains need afternoon naps and physical exercise: The best business meeting would have everyone walking at about 1.8 miles per hour!

As organisers of face-to-face meetings, listening to our brains seems to be a good advice to make our meetings more engaging and energetic.

What is your experience with brain-friendly face-to-face meetings?

READ MORE

- The NeuroLeadership Summit 2012

- Rethinking how we conference by David Rock

- Four Basic Conference Principles You Must Adopt by Jeff Hurt

- F2f-meetings of SDC networks – lessons to be learned (II) by Michèle Marin

- 12 brain rules by John Medina

Swiss Development Research in transition

Blog-Admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:03:05 +0000

The NCCR North-South will end mid 2013 and the first call of the new “R4D” fund is launched. There are lessons to be learnt from the NCCR in how best research, policy and practice can continuously and increasingly exchange and be effective.

By Manuel Flury

In the courtyard of the medieval Castle of Spiez, looking towards the famous Jungfrau Mountain, around 150 people from 30 countries are meeting. Many of them travelled from far away, coming from Africa, Asia and South America. Gathering again, 11 years after the National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR N-S) was launched at the same place. Now, only 10 months are left before the NCCR N-S officially ends. Scientists and associates commemorate a successful partnership in research, between North and South, across disciplinary and cultural boundaries, having created networks of students, supervisors and institutions and having built most important capacities through training and institutional support.

The NCCR N-S is one of over 20 similar collaborative efforts the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is supporting since 2001. It is the only NCCR studying global changes and focusing on development challenges faced by the Global South. Issues such as negotiating statehood, health services for mobile populations, rural transformation as well as key concepts and methods of sustainable development are issues of the final syntheses of its endeavour, trough trans-disciplinary research approaches. SDC contributed more than 50% of the budget of approx. CHF 80 Mio and financed through this, the participation of the South.

In Spiez, words of praise are mentioned by the founders and those who reviewed the project. The NCCR N-S has been unique, in its partnership with Southern research institutions, the formulation of research questions in Southern countries, the focus on interdisciplinary and the practice to test the applicability of development research results, the doctoral training programmes and, most relevant, the networks it built around the globe. “After 12 years we have got the wings needed do continue the work on our own” are words of one of the eight Regional Co-ordinators. One of the registrated successes is the project:  “Support to local risk management in La Paz/Bolivia” research and partnership action.

The partnership approach between research, practice and policy

There were as well words of unease expressed, besides, deploring the end of the project. SDC’s change to a thematic focus in its new “r4d” (Research for Development) funding scheme, also reduces the emphasis on capacity development. Moreover, phasing out the regional coordination services and thus the discontinuation of support to the South networks is raising substantial concern. SDC is even being accused of turning away from development oriented research and favouring the Swiss domestic research agenda. This contrasts in many ways with the perception of SDC aspiring in its global thematic work to deepened and systematic exchanges with scientific research.

This controversy is a constant one between research cooperation as a self-standing part of international cooperation and research that should answer to political and operational questions of development policy and practice. This reflects a general debate on how research agendas are formulated and by whom. What the freedom of research would imply and how practitioners receive the knowledge they need in order to innovate and to do a better job. This debate is even more accentuated since development cooperation in Switzerland depend to a large extend on SDC. It raises further questions such as: Is there room for partnership in the future, among research institutions and between research, practice and policy? How will research articulate its insights in formulating development policies? How does development practice innovate and what is the role of research in this matter?

Lessons learnt from the termination of NCCR North-South

What I take out from the recent debate and a most lovely boat trip:

1. The community of development researchers is struggling with the change imposed from “their” NCCR, they shaped in many ways to the new, innovative funding scheme, which they do not own yet and have first to buy in. The losses are heavier than the gains. Shaping the new scheme still stays ahead.

2. The NCCR followed a project logic whereas the NCCR N-S developed into an own institution. The third phase followed two different and at times conflicting strategic pathways, the “project” one and the “institutional” one, establishing a permanent framework of development oriented research and training. A smoothened transition from a “project” to an “institution” would require a shorter project period and, in the case of the NCCR N-S, more attention to the institutionalisation of the Southern partners networks.

3. The achievements on developing research capacities might have been undervalued. In particular SDC needs to reconsider its previous policy of strengthening research capacities through research partnerships. In this respect the NCCR really “makes a change”.

The steam boat brings us accross the lake, to Thun. During the whole meeting, many of these questions have been discussed. Not conclusively, but in a good mood, within this large family.

A great challenge for SDC will be to learn from the vast insight gained by the NCCR N-S. The researchers need to shape the new “r4d” framework in a similar way as they have shaped the NCCR vehicle more than 10 years ago and ever since.



Read more: Policy brief to the “Support to local risk management in La Paz/Bolivia” research and partnership action

Make your network mystically attractive like the Cube of Murten

Blog-Admin — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:22:02 +0000

The SDC’s Learning and Networking section could inspire itself from the monolith set in the lake of Murten during Expo’02. Ernst Bolliger from AGRIDEA extracts the symbolic weight of this landart installation and further reflects it on the values and work of networks.

By Ernst Bolliger

In the warming up sequence of a mid term review workshop
I happened to choose a photo of the Cube of Murten. In the summer season 2002, this rusty steel cube with a dimension of 34m x 34m x 34m was swimming in the lake of Murten (Switzerland) as a part of the Expo’02, the Swiss national exhibition, accessible only by boat. Its designer, Jean Nouvel, a Parisian architect, wanted visitors to get associations and feelings of amazement: “What might be inside? Is this cube full or void?”

Do you remember what was inside the Cube of Murten? You do? Or not?

In the Expo’02, each of the four “Arteplages” (part of the Swiss national exhibition in 2002) had its theme. In Murten it was “Moment and Eternity” (”Augenblick und Ewigkeit”). Inside the cube three panoramas of Switzerland have been presented. The first floor offered the “Panorama Switzerland Version 2.1″, a multimedia installation with instant shootings from all over Switzerland – animals, landscapes, skyscrapers, playing children – all mixed without a predominant concept. On the second floor the visitors could discover the panorama number 2: A 50cm high trench of the cube opened the view to the surroundings of the cube: The year 2002’s landscape of Murten. On the third floor finally, the same panorama, half a millennium ago, the battle of Murten, the victory of the Swiss against the King of Burgundy … a memorial about the horror of war.

“Impressing, wunderful, amazing”, were reactions of many visitors. Others asked themselves: “Is Switzerland about to rust?” or “Does the cube want to show that nothing is lasting eternally?” or “Should we care more about our values and not let them rust too fast?” One of my lessons after having visited that famous cube has been: “There is not only one Swiss reality – there are many – in space and in time.” The visit at the cube has been an inspiring invitation to re-discover Switzerland.

Back to the Workshop Room

SDC’s Learning and Networking Section (part of Knowledge and Learning Division) and its task to support thematic networks … Why did I (unconsciously) choose this picture? What does this picture have in common with this mid-term review? I remembered many colleagues working at SDC giving remarks such as “What do these L&N people do in their corner?” … “What is their contribution good for?” Suddenly I knew why I had chosen this photo: “L&V team, invite other people to come inside, to discover what is inside, to discover what you do!” And – thinking of the time after the Expo’02 – do not stay within your box, dismantle it and go outside, distribute the content and the steel of your cube to others, let them imitate, start doing their own activities. Reflecting the role of L&N team I recalled a lot of similar comments made by other colleagues at SDC about SDC’s thematic networks: “I do not really know what they are doing!” And I felt a rather urgent need to have a closer look at this situation in the review meeting, for the sake of L&N team as well as for many (all?) thematic networks.

Ten years after the Expo’02 I visited another exhibition in the area of Murten and discovered the “Kaleidoscope” – a glass cube of far smaller dimensions, all transparent. It was funny to be inside at daytime. I started singing, experimenting with my voice, discovering superb echoes. Some hours later, at night – being again inside this glass box – the glass was reflecting lights from back and front, from left and right, from above and below – I could discover connections I did not during daytime … and combine them with other vocal experiments.

Three things I learned out of my “Cube Experiences” near Murten:

1. Learning through interaction: It is nice to have a cube full of wealthy things to share with others. But it is essential to get into interaction with others: Invite others to come to see! Go and visit others to show what you have. And start experimenting together.

2. One visit is not enough: In my professional life, I have to go back several times, re-visit a “cube” to fully discover, what I can learn. Every more visit brings more discoveries, more insights, deeper contacts, more learning.

3. Make it mystically attractive: It is not enough to have interesting and important knowledge – it must be mystically attractive for others. For me the cube of Murten is a perfect metaphor: Make your network mystically attractive!

sdclan

Cooperation Offices and Networks – Networking in the far reaches of Mongolia

Questions and answers

At the end of our discussion we started to wonder why we all seemed to spend more time on social media than our knowledge networks. Hence, we were asking ourselves, how can knowledge networks become as engaging as Facebook?

The SDC network Democratization, Decentralization and Local Governance: lively, dynamic, innovative and planting seeds for action

Connecting to peers and exposing to new knowledge

Concrete steps

Potential for future activities

How would you evaluate the network activities of the DLGN or any other network you’re involved with? What difference did it make for you? Where would you see yourself without the products and inputs from your network?

Mastering PCM – tailor made learning platform now online!

Flexible platform for blended learning

Individual starting point

Successful joint venture for State of the Art knowledge on PCM

What are your experiences with PCM learning? In what sense can the PCM interactive support your efforts and add value to your learning? We are interested to hear about your experiences!

Cooperation Offices and Networks – the Pretoria Story

The networks are a useful vehicle for connecting and sharing

Learning and transfer of learning

Pathway forward

What do you hear, see and read from the networks? How do you – the SCO and your staff – make use of the networks? How useful are the networks? What is the networks’ impact? How is the learning from the networks transferred to the operations? What are your observations?

Dynamic Facilitation – or the art of creating collective solutions

How it works

Human thinking is non-linear

Further links

Simplicity wins – visualization as well. Tips for your next presentation

What I liked most:

Still reluctant?

You might find some inspiration here:

Joint Learning Journeys: with your travel agent GIZ!

The concept

Open process

The buzz from the floor

Blogging from Malawi – How we used a blog to report from a workshop on rural development

What would we do differently next time?

Multimedia-Portal: a source of inspiration

Train your gut feeling through continuous learning!

What is learning?

How would you define learning? What are your favourite stories or quotes? We would love to hear them!

Three Reasons to Organize your Next Workshop in the Open Space Format

My three reasons why I think Open Space could be your solution:

What’s your experience with Open Space?

Why is „Manejo Integrado de Plagas” the number one download from SDC Websites

The SDC Learning & Networking Blog: less reading – less writing – more talking

What do you think? What would you like to blog about? Which questions and challenges related to institutional learning and knowledge management would you like to reflect?

The sdclan Blog Team wishes you a Happy New Year!

Checklist for the planning of your Social Reporting

Social reporting can be a powerful instrument. Our PREZI compiles tips from SDC experiences in a timeline and proposes a path towards an effective social and audiovisual reporting.

Untitled Prezi on Prezi

The Participant’s Shoes

Guiding questions that matter for preparing the next face-to-face network event

1. Sine qua non for face-to-face event preparation

2. Some insights from our own planning practice

What are in your experience key aspects that shouldn’t be missed? Are there any points to consider in addition to the points mentioned?

Disassembling Change: How to manage change processes?

Change can have many different faces.

Seven steps to manage change

Participatory Video: A Route to Strengthening Voices?

What is Participatory Video (PV)?

Is Participatory Video really effective?

A short PV story

The Horizontal Learning Program is like Real Life Facebook

Basics of Horizontal Learning

Welcome to the SDC Learning and Networking Blog

Because sharing is learning

NEWS & TRENDS October 2012

HIGHLIGHT

BRAIN FRIENDLY FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS - 4 PRINCIPLES

READ MORE

Swiss Development Research in transition

The partnership approach between research, practice and policy

Lessons learnt from the termination of NCCR North-South

Make your network mystically attractive like the Cube of Murten

Do you remember what was inside the Cube of Murten? You do? Or not?

Back to the Workshop Room

Three things I learned out of my “Cube Experiences” near Murten:

Social reporting can be a powerful instrument.
Our PREZI compiles tips from SDC experiences in a timeline and proposes a path towards an effective social and audiovisual reporting.