Knowledge Management Portal

Cooperation and research actions concern important issues such as food security, poverty alleviation, capacity building at institutional level, more efficient use of natural resources, improvement of agricultural production and productivity, promotion of organic farming, development of sustainable food systems, resilience to climate change, integrated management of coastal areas, gender empowerment, fisheries and aquaculture, etc. The networking activities conducted by CIHEAM Bari involve hundreds of institutions located in several countries, consolidating professional contacts, institutional and multi-stakeholder partnerships, country-to-country relationships and joint initiatives with the private sector. This paves the way to self-generating exchange of information, technical and professional expertise, publications, innovative research and educational activities, conferences and seminars, harmonization of methodological guidelines, etc.

Methodologies, tools and strategies to structure and communicate effectively the contents in order to engage the target and obtain the best results in every area (especially important for academic/research institutions that wish to engage more with farmers/policy-makers).

In the frame of SKiM project, Strengthening Knowledge Management for greater development effectiveness in the Near East, North Africa, Central Asia and Europe, CIHEAM-Bari, in collaboration with ICARDA will organize a one-week training. This virtual training week is a starting point for sharing, using and managing the knowledge, information and experiences created by the partners involved in the project following specific models. In each institution, and in order to continue providing quality service, sharing knowledge and expertise should be occurring continuously among researchers, collaborators and experts. Another important aspect is to make the results of research and innovations known outside the institutions, especially to the companies in order to facilitate their application and to strengthen collaborations between research entities and enterprises. To this end, it is important to share knowledge with new generations to stimulate the development of startups and spinoffs. The trainings will target officers from participating institutions and will be tailored to reflect the knowledge and competence of participants, valorizing research results through application in the enterprise and the generation of new collaborative research activities (enterprise-researchers), stimulating the development of business ideas supporting social equity and better livelihoods. Participants will leave the training module with a clear idea of “what” can be done in their own context to boost knowledge management, communication, research for development and entrepreneurship programs.

This report describes the developments of the “Strengthening Knowledge Management for Greater Development Effectiveness in the Near East, North Africa, Central Asia and Europe” (SKIM) project in its first phase, detailing the progress made and activities implemented across different project components from June 2018 until December 2019. SKIM had an inception phase from June to October 2018 when its Steering Committee met for the first time, and the activities commenced. In addition to the inception phase, the first period of the project also includes the establishment of contacts with partner institutions mentioned in the project proposal, formalizing partner agreements, an introductory mission to Moldova where ICARDA needed to build partnerships in the country, the implementation of activities related to the assessment of Knowledge Management (KM) capacities and gaps in different target countries, the development of strategies and innovation plans, the defining of pathways to implement activities in target institutions and the formation of communities of practice. In addition to these activities, initial knowledge products and an online Knowledge Platform (KP) were developed to facilitate knowledge exchange within and beyond project partners through the coordination of Knowledge Symposia.

The project aims to elaborate the knowledge management (KM) innovation plan as a tool to support the project partners/stakeholders in adopting an approach capable of identifying existing gaps in different knowledge management processes (discovery & detection/(identification), acquisition & creation, storage and sharing/transfer of knowledge) and related feasible solutions in order to act through capacity development actions. The pivotal step will be the identification of the knowledge and resources in the possession of each institution partner, in order to enhance what them and prioritize what they need and what could be done. Each organization will contribute to design a plan of actions for better knowledge management, aiming at improving the knowledge produced and that is in coherence with the institution’s strategy, vision and mission. These “innovation plans” will support the institutions involved in the project to enhance the existing KM framework or its development, outlining a set of activities and interventions tailored for each one of them. The “National Writeshops to Develop Capacity Building and Innovation Plans” for Moldova, Morocco and Sudan were conducted in said countries to gather the information needed to inform the Innovation Plans, together with the Capacity Needs Assessment (CNA). The writeshops were conducted divided into two parts: a) a basic introduction to KM (definition, processes, technologies, role of people, leadership, culture) that could be used as a guideline for partners to complete the b) second part that consists in identifying needs related to the KM processes and the feasible solutions to be proposed at capacity building level.

This event took place on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of November 2019 in Rabat, Morocco to draw together key stakeholders and institutions participating in the cross-regional project, “Strengthening Knowledge Management for Greater Development Effectiveness in the Near East, North Africa, Central Asia and Europe,” sponsored by IFAD. The overall objective of the regional workshop was to facilitate and support the development of Knowledge Management best practices and capacities in the project’s three target countries: Morocco, Sudan, and Moldova.

Presentation given by Dr. Jawhar of CIHEAM Bari on Youth Employment and Innovation as part of the Knowledge Symposium at the SKIM Project Regional Workshop in Rabat, Morocco on November 15th, 2019.

Overview of the Capacity Needs Assessment, its methods and results, conducted within the "Strengthening Knowledge Management for Greater Development Effectiveness in the Near East, North Africa, Central Asia and Europe" (IFAD SKIM) Project.