ENHANCING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION IN AFRICA: AICAD EXPERIENCE

1. ENHANCING INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION IN AFRICA: AICAD EXPERIENCE A Paper Presented at the International Conference on Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Science and Technology held in Yokohama, Japan 23-24 August 2006 by Prof. Andrew B. Gidamis Executive Director African Institute for Capacity Development (AICAD)   P. O. Box 46179, Nairobi, Kenya

2. CONTENTS • Globalization: the Term and System • Globalization, Knowledge and Information Sharing • Sharing indigenous Information and knowledge in Africa • AICAD contribution to Information and Knowledge sharing in Africa • Conclusions • Acknowledgements

3. Globalization: the Term and System • Globalization implies a world systems developed extensively between nations • The term came into common usage in the 1980s, though in reality it is as old as mankind • It has revolutionized all aspects of human life worldwide: trade, markets, access and flow of information, international justice, political and cultural integrations

4. Globalization: the Term and System cont’d • It is both a source of repression and a catalyst for global social justice and emancipation • It embraces many disciplines both in temporal and spatial dimensions • It poses many contradictions, variations, and interpenetrations to those who attempt to understand it • Among many forms of globalization there is information and knowledge access and sharing

5. Globalization, Knowledge and Information Sharing • For long time information and knowledge were silent in globalization players at national and international levels • To date information and knowledge access and sharing are the most globalized • Advances in ICT, knowledge and information sharing have catalyzed globalizationprocess making the world a “global village”

6. Globalization, Knowledge and Information SharingCont’d • Information and knowledge access have enhanced economic, political and cultural globalization • Without sufficient information access and sharing other forms of globalization are bound to make slow progressor even fail • With ICT markets and advertisement are sought and done globally in e-commerce • ICT has high potentials of making globalization succeed faster than otherwise expected

7. Information and Knowledge Sharing In Africa • Globalization extends its economic forces to all parts of the world controlling means of production and marketing mechanisms • In this way no part of the world, including Africa is left out • Africa is therefore part and parcel of globalization • However, Africa’s involvement in globalization is at a great disadvantage considering ICT as major player in globalization

8. Information and Knowledge Sharing In AfricaCont’d • Due to lack of sufficient ICT elements to participate fully Africa finds itself on the periphery of globalization development • The limited ICT activities Africa participates in, exposes it to uncontrolled exploitation • Africa’s lack of ICT does not only mean it misses out on sharing world information, but also fails to share its own information and knowledge.

9. Sharing indigenous Information and knowledge in Africa • Africa is not short of indigenous information, knowledge and technologies to address the odds of poverty • However, it is short of means to harness, organise, control and share its indigenous information and knowledge • Indigenous communities participate in research by providing data but are never given relevant feedbacks • In some cases the feedbacks given to them by experts are highly sophisticated and technical and as such could not be easily applied by local communities

10. Sharing indigenous Information and knowledge in Africa Cont’d • The delivery methods tend to be autocratic without room for the input from the communities. • This leads to failed communication and in most cases rejection to new knowledge by the communities • Failed communication leads to more knowledge and information gaps and in such cases poverty deepens due to failed interventions.

11. Sharing indigenous Information and knowledge in Africa Cont’d • Horizontal information and knowledge sharing among peers, seems to work well, but not vertically • For vertical information and knowledge sharing to succeed between grassroots and experts and vice versa, experts have to respect grassroots inputs and tolerate their views • The failures in communication is largely responsible for the contradictions and the prevailing poverty patterns in Africa

12. AICAD contributions to information/knowledge sharing in Africa-AICAD Location

13. AICAD contributions to information/knowledge sharing in Africa-AICAD Networking

14. AICAD contributions to information sharing in Africa- Approach • AICAD aims at poverty reduction through human capacity developmentthrough: • Research and Development in unveiling missing links in information, knowledge and technologies • Training and Extension to impart information and technologies into grassroots for poverty reduction • Information, Networking and Documentation to facilitated dissemination and sharing to empower communities • Intermediaries to interpret information in appropriate communication media to grassroots • Grassroots to implement the information, knowledge and technologies application activities for poverty reduction

15. AICAD Conceptual Frame for Knowledge and technologies Dissemination and application

16. Training and Extension Activities At Regional and Country Levels

17. Poverty Alleviation Information and Knowledge System (PAIKS) Database to Facilitate Dissemination

18. Database in a Portal Arrange for Sharing information

19. Research Model Showing Researchable Areas and Application of Findings

20. AICAD activities at the Grassroots • The Intermediaries comprise experts from Universities, Research Institutions Government Departments, NGOs, IGOs, INOs, CBOs, FBOs, Extension Workers and Community Opinion Leaders. • AICAD coordinates experts’ work among the communities to develop human capacity to reduce poverty

21. Conclusions • AICAD acknowledges the power of information, knowledge and technologies in poverty reduction. • Puts an emphasis on disseminating and imparting information into the community for application in poverty reduction • In so doing globalizes information, knowledge and technologies acquisition and application among the communities involved in poverty reduction • Once the communities shared the knowledge and information for poverty reduction, production and marketing improve • This leads to further integration with larger communities hence entering the globalization process

22. Acknowledgements • Finally on behalf of AICAD and on my own behalf I wish to thank the United Nations University (UNU) and UNESCO for the invitation and support to attend this important workshop on Globalization and present AICAD experience in facilitating information and knowledge sharing in Africa. Thank you