Published: October 7, 2019

In this second round of our brand new series of Sector Updates, we will take a look at what’s going on in terms of Knowledge Management at HORIZONT3000. A while ago, we have carried out an external evaluation of our Knowledge Management Programme KNOW-HOW3000 in its third phase from 2016 until 2018. Also we asked our Knowledge Management TAs in the field what they are up to in the moment in East Africa and Central America, as well as our colleague in Vienna what’s happening in the KM area within HORIZONT3000 internally. Finally, don’t miss our teaser on the upcoming KNOWLYMPICS – the Knowledge Sharing Games of HORIZONT3000.

But first, we ask you to check out our new KNOW-HOW3000 Pictograms and feel free to consult and use them, whenever in need of information on the HORIZONT3000 Knwledge Management Programme:

In the year 2018, we have executed external evaluations of the KNOW-HOW3000 programme focussing on its implementation in our two biggest regions: East Africa and Central America. The evaluation report provided us with important insights and recommendations to further develop the KNOW-HOW3000 programme, adapt the strategy and optimise it for the benefit of our Partner Organisations.

If you are interested in the outcomes of the evaluations from East Africa and Central America, please take a look at the following documents, where we have summed up their conclusions and recommendations:

Do you want to dig into the complete evaluations? Head over to the Knowledge Management & OD Files & Downloads and visit the folder Evaluation Reports KM.

Since 2018 we are employing Technical Advisors in the two big HORIZONT3000 working regions Central America and East Africa in order to support a quality implementation of the KNOW-HOW3000 programme and to support our Partner Organisations with their internal Knowledge Management initiatives (a similar assignment is being prepared for Mozambique already). We have asked our current TAs Marja (Central America) and Annika (East Africa) , what has recently been going on and what they are up to in the upcoming months:

Annika has only started her assignment in August (you can check out a description of her assignment in German on our project map).

“The first weeks of my assignment in Uganda have gone by very fast with several intensive meetings with the NGOs PALM Corps and AFARD on the production of At A Glance documents and the preparation of a sharing event. In November, PALM Corps and AFARD, together with HORIZONT3000, are inviting various national and international stakeholders to share their experience on improving livelihoods for South Sudanese refugees and host communities in Northern Uganda. For now much of my assignment revolves around the organisation of the event: helping in the preparation of knowledge management products, budgeting for the event, planning the programme and the invitations. I have also travelled to Arua, the location of the sharing event and the seat of PALM Corps, to meet the organisations’ staff, see their work and start preparations for the event. Furthermore, I am assisting Resource Rights Africa and the ROEA in writing an EU proposal on resource governance. The next months I shall be busy with these two assignments while also preparing KNOWHOW3000 activities in Uganda for 2020.”

Marja has started her assignment in the knowledge management field in January (you can check out the description of her assignment in German at our project map here.):

“In June we have organized a regional training in Guatemala that was all about Knowledge Management. All of the 14 Partner Organisations that are part of the KNOW-HOW3000 programme in Central America as well as the technical team of the Regional Office took part. “To be and to share” – this was the motto the participants chose for the event. We analised the theoretic part and the different phases of Knowledge Management and reflected on our own practise: How do we share knowledge and experiences with our coworkers in and outside our organisation, with the women and men that are at the heart of our projects and programmes? What can we learn in order to improve our own work?

We came to the conclusion that all of us were applying knowledge management, however not always in a conscious and coherent way. That’s the reason why we figured that we needed to keep promoting a learning culture characterised by creative and innovative thinking in our organisations. Not just that, we also need to strenghten individual and collective skills, create spaces and time for exchanging experiences and knowledge, learn from them in order to come to relevant solutions and alternative measures that lead us to that kind of change we hope for.

The second part of the training was dedicated to the planning of activities for 2019 -2020, the definition of objectives, the expected results and the organisations’ responsibility. The Community of Practice – Familia Campesina – adresses the following topics: A strategy for the strengthening of agroecology and the management of water resources for production systems. The Community of Practice – Promotoría por los derechos de las mujeres y jóvenes – suggested the following topics: Tools for defending human rights with a focus on young indigenous people and women and innovative methods to work with promotion. In Guatemala the topic of self-sustainability is an integral part of the organisations and in Nicaragua organisations are planning to attend trainings on the creation of baselines.”

If you would like to read the full report please click the button below:

In order to let you know more about the process of HORIZONT3000’s first Knowledge Report, we kindly asked our dear colleague to update you:

“HORIZONT3000 is not only supporting its Partner Organisations in Knowledge Management, but it has also taken further steps to improve its own Knowledge Management.

In 2018, HORIZONT3000 has run its very first Knowledge Report (in German “Wissensbilanz”). A brief overview of the method in English is provided here. We have analysed and assessed 15 factors influencing our human, structural and relationship resources according to their quantitative, qualitative value and their systematic maintenance. Furthermore, the impact relation between these factors as well as on our business processes and success had been assessed. The main outcome of our first Wissensbilanz was a “portfolio of potentials” mapping all factors according to their rating and influence on impact. From this portfolio the following fields of action have been identified in order to improve:

1. Communication/ Internal cooperation
2. Relations to local Partner Organisations
3. Innovation
4. Knowledge Management at HORIZONT3000 internally

For each field of action the Wissensbilanz-Team proposed specific actions (in total 15) which have been integrated into HORIZONT3000’s strategy implementation. The following actions that resulted from our Wissensbilanz have been prioritised and are currently being planned/ implemented:

• Finalising Project Partner Files/ Database
• Creating a MEAL-policy oriented on impact including clear criteria for monitoring visits
• Optimising communication channels between Vienna and Regional Offices
• Developing an IT-strategy (including standards for file management in regional offices)
• Establishing Project Partner selection criteria and cooperation lifecycle
• Setting guidelines for knowledge transfer in case of staff leaving/ changing

HORIZONT3000 has decided to use the method Wissensbilanz as a main instrument for quality management and will do a second Wissensbilanz in combination with its next strategy development process (2021).

If you are interested in the detailed outcomes of our first Wissensbilanz or want to exchange experiences on this method, please contact me via petra.herout@horizont3000.at.”

We are very excited to announce that in the upcoming weeks we are going to run a fourth edition of our knowledge sharing games: the KNOWLYMPICS2019.

Due to the great success and the fruitful collaborations that resulted from the previous editions, we have decided to run a fourth round. This time we have set a thematic focus in order to collect and share experiences about Rainwater Management. We are going to inform you on the details of the event very soon. For now we wish all the participants good luck and we are looking forward to receiving the documentation of your valuable experiences.