ICT­Enabled Knowledge Sharing in North­South Partnerships: Lessons from the AfricaAdapt Network

This 8-page case study shares the experience of the AfricaAdapt network to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to facilitate and mediate relationships among four host partners and network members. Key technologies used among hosts partners include Web 2.0 tools such as Skype, wikis, and Delicious, as well as more conventional tools such as e­mail.In communicating with, and facilitating knowledge sharing between, AfricaAdapt's members, a different range of networking and knowledge­sharing tools are employed, including Twitter, YouTube, and a bespoke online platform that allows for the creation of user and project profiles in a style similar to that of Facebook and other social networking sites. According to the case study, the use of ICTs in both coordinating work within the AfricaAdapt partnership, and reaching out to its worldwide membership has proven effective enough to see the network grow, yet careful choice of ICTS is needed as the project moves into the next phase.

A key premise of the AfricaAdapt network is that knowledge on climate change adaptation is often poorly documented and rarely shared in forms that are accessible to those who need it the most, while recognising that other forms of marginalisation linked to power, literacy, and language play a significant role in peoples' access to this knowledge. Meanwhile, at the international scale, ever­increasing flows of adaptation financing and policy guidance are being mobilised, often without sufficiently drawing on how knowledge and practice are unfolding at local scales. The network was established to help address the gap between locally and internationally generated knowledge on responding to climate impacts in Africa, and the challenges faced by communities and governments in acting on climate change.

According to the case study, through external evaluations and studies to collect "stories of change" the network has identified a strong body of evidence to demonstrate impacts of the use if ICTs to expand and change knowledge and information sharing. The cases range from using AfricaAdapt's web­based resources to produce rural radio broadcasting content on impacts in Kenya and Cameroon, to rebroadcasting short videos on malaria and climate change in villages in Cote d'Ivoire, and even applying learning on rainwater harvesting from another African initiative (found on the AfricaAdapt website) in 20 villages in Malawi. These examples point to knowledge uptake which has resulted in new actions to confront the climate challenges facing Africa.

One of the key factors in assuring success amid the challenges has been the network partners' willingness to experiment and learn: to regularly review existing approaches, document and learn from successes, and failures, and adopt new approaches where existing ones are not satisfactory. One challenge arising has been funding for ICT sustainability: ensuring that there are financial resources available to continue evolving the network's engagement with ICTs in line with the lessons it learns. Budgeting for use of ICTs in funded projects tends to privilege set­up and maintenance costs, leaving scarce resources for ongoing re­development as user needs evolve, or lessons emerge that demand new ways of working. Consequently there is enormous pressure on partners to get everything right the first time, which can be unrealistic for new and rapidly evolving fields such as knowledge sharing on climate change adaptation.
Recommendations and lessons learned are identified as follows:

• Select ICTs thoughtfully: ICTs are not an invisible mediator: they shape the outcome of climate change­related activities. AfricaAdapt's use of ICTs as a management tool by heterogeneous partner organisations highlights the need for collaborators to think hard about their choice of technology and the impact this has on their desired outcomes. The link between institutional practices, working cultures, and expectations must be considered at the start of the partnership and frequently throughout to review whether use of technologies is creating positive and/or negative shifts in the ability to achieve impact.
• Look at stakeholders' own ability to learn and adapt: Organisations involved with climate change adaptation must themselves be able to adapt. AfricaAdapt experience suggests that a key factor in the successful selection and deployment of ICTs within partnerships working on climate change (and other complex and highly uncertain challenges) is the adaptive capacity of the partnerships themselves. Learning from change, organising, and building knowledge across systems and scales, and nurturing diversity are seen as essential components of this capacity. At the same time, ICTs can potentially contribute to this adaptive capacity by helping these partnerships document learning, maintain, and contribute shared stores of knowledge across distances, and by creating spaces for the contribution of a wider range of viewpoints and contributions than might otherwise have been possible.