Capitalising on Local Knowledge - Community knowledge exchange

Approach

Process Design

Strengths & limitations of the methodology

Approach
Albert Einstein realised that “knowledge is experience”. Experiential learning is the basis for knowledge exchange processes. We suggest that the ideal approach to community-to-community (C2C) knowledge exchanges is to maximise the opportunities for learning offered by the atmosphere and enthusiasm generated when communities visit one another. If adult learning principles are combined with sound planning and logistics, exchange process will largely manage themselves.

Some important principles to keep in mind when designing a community exchange visit:

• Adults learn what they want to learn. The curiosity of the learner is the most powerful driving force in any learning process.

• Adults learn most effectively from experiences. When they are able to learn by doing they will retain the knowledge more accurately and for far longer than if they merely see or hear something. Plan the exchange visit to include practical “touch and do” learning experiences.

• Adults learn best when they are relatively comfortable. Ensure that the setting of the exchange visit is reasonably familiar and comfortable. If the visitors are accommodated by the host community, they are likely to feel at ease and to be open to new experiences.

• In any learning process, allow for serendipity: chance interactions or events that are not planned, yet develop in a beneficial way. Over-planning and tight time schedules will limit the opportunities for the serendipitous learning events that make the most profound impressions on people.

• The learning experience should focus on learning objectives that have been identified by the visiting community. There will be many fascinating things to learn about (such as local customs and rituals) that might have little or nothing to do with what the community has identified as being important for their development process.

• The learning experience should include all members of the visiting community who expressed interest in the process. However, not all community members will be able to travel for reasons such as health, cost and competing domestic commitments. For this reason the exchange visit learning process should continue until the visitors have effectively shared their learnings with other members of their community who were not able to travel.

back to top

Process Design
The design of the knowledge exchange process should start at a very early stage, well before the idea of a journey has become an accepted idea. If the community lacks a common vision for their own development, an exchange visit will lack a focus that is meaningful to the participants. Let the people take the lead, and facilitate their agreement on what they want to achieve together.

If you would like to refer to the methodology in detail, please refer to Toolkit II. Here is a simplified version of the process of developing a successful community exchange:

» Visioning for development

The community develops a shared vision for its development

Identify the necessary knowledge, capacities and other resources that will be necessary to achieve the vision

» Developing the exchange concept

Identify the opportunities and resources that are needed to conduct exchange visits

Consult potential facilitation team members

Establish learning objectives with the community

Identify communities that could be visited Identify the necessary resources for the exchange visit within the community, and agree about commitment of these resources to the process

If resources are needed from outside the community, write and submit a funding proposal

» The preparatory stage

Hold a preparatory workshop for the facilitation team to develop necessary capacities, and to plan for the process

Facilitate preparatory and planning workshop/s with the wider community

Facilitate a process for the wider community to select the delegates, and develop a team contract

Finalise logistics and plans

» The implementation stage: conducting the knowledge exchange visit

Share experiences in workshops and focus groups

Maximise experiential learning of participants

Reflect regularly with the group to deepen learnings

» Feedback and planning

Hold report-back and planning workshops with the wider community

» The way ahead

Support emerging community-driven initiatives, which could include

local processes or initiatives that utilise newly acquired knowledge;
new initiatives that might emerge from the exchange visit (for example, new business enterprises)
input into larger scale planning processes, and access to existing support services.

» Concluding the project

Disseminate the findings of the project

Provide feedback to the host community/ies, and if appropriate invite them to visit in return

Submit the final report

back to top

Strengths and limitations of the methodology
Well-organised exchange visits generate a huge amount of positive energy. If situated within a well-conceptualised and managed process, this can be channelled into initiatives that people can use to change their circumstances for the better.

Strengths:
Well designed community exchange processes:

are a very cost effective way of galvanising new developmental processes;

can provide a valuable stimulus to larger, existing developmental processes;

promote local ownership of initiatives

enhance local leadership

engender a sense of pride

strengthen the capacities of service providers and community members

provide access to locally appropriate solutions, that use locally available resources

recognise local people as the “experts”, and recognise their knowledge

give people access to knowledge that is not available in written form or in the formal sector

enable people to learn in a way that is familiar to them

 

Limitations:

The limitations of community exchanges that should be considered are:

If the process takes place in isolation from larger processes and support structures, and adequate follow-up is not available, it might not lead to any tangible results;

If the exchange partners, or the contexts in which they live are too different, the opportunities to learn will be limited

The choice of the community/ies to be visited can limit the solutions available to the visitors, and may reflect the bias of the facilitators

To design and implement a successful exchange, implementers need to have access to wide external networks, both in order to identify suitable partner communities and to identify appropriate members of the facilitation team.

back to top

Proposed steps for the community exchange process (click here for a larger version)

Note

It is not possible to accurately predict what initiatives will emerge from the exchange visits. Projects must have some flexibility to respond with the necessary resources for training and capacity development.