Question 6 (15 Dec.)

[quote="Lisa-Cespedes"] what value or role do good practices and case studies on this topic have in our work? [/quote] Does anyone have a thought to share on this question? Even to suggest that is it not important enough to discuss? :) Many of us in regional and international organizations have felt for several years now that part of the problem in the ICT for development field is a lack of comprehensive, rigorous review of ICT projects and programmes that are presented in a way that they become learning tools for other practitioners. The output being good practices, models, case studies, etc. Is there really value in this process, particularly considering the impact of ICT on agricultural value chains and farmers? Or maybe we could do something better?

[quote="michaelriggs"] Many of us in regional and international organizations have felt for several years now that part of the problem in the ICT for development field is a lack of comprehensive, rigorous review of ICT projects and programmes that are presented in a way that they become learning tools for other practitioners. [/quote] I believe that Knowledge sharing should take place all along the process of integration of ICT's - both as an internal tool for learning within the organisation, and as a tool to share and exchange with others. One of the reasons why it may be so hard to get real learning out of pilots, is that projects are conceived as a set of activities within a (often short) limit of time and with a number of expected results. This conception enhances a sense of failure if the results are not achieved, and a sense of success if they are. In a setting like this, the implementers and the donors will be ashamed to admit mistakes and failures. So often, we get misleading success stories rather than real insight in how pilots were conducted, what went wrong, how it was adjusted etc. Some organisations manage to maintain a self-critical attitude and are able to to describe their own mistakes, misconceptions etc. - but unfortunately those are rare. In a process setting, it may be easier to admit failure and to analyse it in order to get going. 'Learning by doing' then becomes one of the adagio's. On an international level, case studies and reviews of ICT pilots can help of course, if they are conducted in a rigorous, transparent and independent way. The only problem is that this learning has to be channelled back to the users, adapted to the local context etc., and that this whole process may take too much time. In the end, the real learning has to take place on the ground, and thus project/programme designers and donors should build in strong learning mechanisms and feedback loops in their designs.

Hi All Michael - do not insult Lisa :lol: Good practices/models/case studies It is always good to share the learning with others. Good practices, effective working models, successful case studies. But, it is more important to share the failures, ineffective models, unsuccessful case studies as well, because repetition of those mistakes is extremely costly and will not help us to achieve the development objectives. Most of the initiatives try to hide the negative aspects and sometime exaggerate about success just to please the governments, funding organizations, etc. So we need more and more independent reviews and also platforms such as e-agriculture to share that knowledge with other stakeholders. -Sameera

[quote="michaelriggs"] [quote="Lisa-Cespedes"] what value or role do good practices and case studies on this topic have in our work? [/quote] Does anyone have a thought to share on this question? Even to suggest that is it not important enough to discuss? :) Many of us in regional and international organizations have felt for several years now that part of the problem in the ICT for development field is a lack of comprehensive, rigorous review of ICT projects and programmes that are presented in a way that they become learning tools for other practitioners. The output being good practices, models, case studies, etc. Is there really value in this process, particularly considering the impact of ICT on agricultural value chains and farmers? Or maybe we could do something better? [/quote="Rabiu Yakasai"] Hi Michael, many variables between YOUR work and the real work on local grounds exist. Different situations, different objectives, different expected outcomes. Perhaps coming across good practices, models and case studies do come as coincidents in your work, but still the set objective of your work overides the significance of the local approach. Harmonizing these issues for a better development approach could be impossible since ICT technology changes every miniute thereby rendering best practive of the moment irrelevant the following day before policy change is affected. Certainly there is value, but is dynamic and short lived. I hope I understand the question anyway!

Dear all, Great point Sameera! But how can we encourage people to openly share the this information and create incentives and spaces for this sort of learning to take place? Key to this issue is the role of donor funding which makes evidence of success a prerequisite to future funding. This also traps commuication iniatives within funding cycles which makes it very difficult to assess the long term impact of projects. As this forum has discussed developing effective communication through value chain structures needs time to build trust and capacity amongst the actors involved. That is why we have so many case studies and so few rigorous evaluations of the longer term impact of this type of work. I would like to add to this the importance of sharing the methodologies that have led to the good and bad practices. Too often case studies focus on the results with not enough attention dedicated to sharing the process through which these results were achieved. I would also like to echo Sameeras' point about the need for platforms to share this knowledge. I spent several years working on a communication project to develop an internet platform to promote knowledge sharing in the bolivian agricultural sector. We developed a series of methodologies to train a range of actors - producers, extension agents, university lecturers, NGO and ministry staff - to develop content based upon their experiences. The funding for this project was cut after the pilot - so in some respects this may be viewed as an 'unsuccessful' project. However the whole process was well documented and elements of it could be useful to other similar initiatives. How can we create a space for these lessons to allow us to learn from and build upon each other's work? [quote="sameera"] Hi All Michael - do not insult Lisa :lol: Good practices/models/case studies It is always good to share the learning with others. Good practices, effective working models, successful case studies. But, it is more important to share the failures, ineffective models, unsuccessful case studies as well, because repetition of those mistakes is extremely costly and will not help us to achieve the development objectives. Most of the initiatives try to hide the negative aspects and sometime exaggerate about success just to please the governments, funding organizations, etc. So we need more and more independent reviews and also platforms such as e-agriculture to share that knowledge with other stakeholders. -Sameera [/quote]

[quote="RAY"] Harmonizing these issues for a better development approach could be impossible since ICT technology changes every miniute thereby rendering best practice of the moment irrelevant the following day before policy change is affected. Certainly there is value, but is dynamic and short lived. [/quote] Once more, I agree fully with Rabiu. The pace of change in the ICT sector is such, that we cannot afford any more to wait for evaluations of existing pilots. And lessons learnt from yesterday may indeed not be applicable any more tomorrow. That is, for the issues related to technology. Issues related to change management, human relationships, power etc., are probably more continuous and less affected by rapid change. Here, learning may prove longer lasting and very valuable.

[quote="Louise"] Great point Sameera! But how can we encourage people to openly share [/quote] Hi Louise/Others Let me to give you a quick answer; Independent researches would be an ideal solution. I will share more information with you later. -Sameera

Hi All A research organization in Sri Lanka, LIRNEasia, conducted a regional survey in South Asia to understand how Bottom of Pyramid (BoP) segment interact with ICT in 2007. All the respondents were asked the question "Does direct access to a telephone help you to earn or save?" Following options were given to answer; 1. Worsened 2. Slightly worsened 3. No change 4. Somewhat improved 5. Improved The mean response for Sri Lanka was as low as 3.19 and out of the all Sri Lankan respondents 25% believed that direct assess to a phone has worsened their ability to earn and save. This is what majority in the Bottom of Pyramid (which includes the poor rural farmers) believe. So if we just dump the technology simply because of we believe that it help to solve their problems, it is not going to work as long as they do not believe it. See the attached picture for more info. -Sameera

Hi All It looks like the attachment (picture) is not accessible in the above post, though I have uploaded it. You can access the same figure (The impact of direct access to telecom on the ability to earn or save) at following; http://ict4d-in-srilanka.blogspot.com/2009/10/stop-positioning-mobile-for-as-mere.html -Sameera.