#FridayUpdate of 20 June 2014 (Week 4 of #WOL)

Another week has gone by, and here we are with my 4th #FridayUpdate.     Here comes the stuff:

Photo Credit: sqlknowledgebank.blogspot.com


Started work on the IBLI Case Study (woot!).  Initial set of interviews taking place this week with IBLi members, next week we'll expand to other ILRI staff and external partners. Will have a conf call later today with Andrew Mude and Shreya (consultant working with us on the case) to review and discuss the initial outline. 

Had several meetings (mostly virtual) around the CGIAR Development Dialogues (see lat week's update for more info).  Quite useful, and we have a revised proposal out now for peer-review.  Hope to get a revised version finalized before I go on leave at the end of next week!

Finalized ToR for the FEAST consultancy and working to get a contract process so the work can begin.  After weeks of planning  - I can't wait to actually get my hands dirty with this gem of a project.  

Caught up on CapDev work taking place in Uganda under the CRP Livestock & Fish - big assignment with 8 training modules on different aspects of the pig value chain.  The project, with 8 national consultants, an international consultant, and 4-5 ILRI colleagues is suffering from some delays and difficulties in getting an consistent quality of work across all modules.  At this point, we (i.e. the CapDev folks) need to wait till the content is produced/reviewed so we can start our instructional design work - seems like we have a ways to go before we can have the desired deliverables from this project.  Hope it will end well. 

Followed up with minutes and next steps for the revision of ILRI's Fellowship Guidelines.  It is proving difficult to coordinate time slots for such a large taskforce (15+ members), as many are traveling or on leave.  Hope we can keep momentum and advance quickly. 

Participated in a  steering committee meeting for the next CGIAR CapDev CoP meeting, which is scheduled for thew week of 8 Sept.  Great team, productive call.  Some interesting thoughts for drawing in partners and senior CG leaders' into the meeting. 

Consolidated and sent some comments for the Global Task Force (GTF) of the TAP (G-20) initiative on capacity development in agricultural innovation systems, which I currently Chair (representing the CGIAR).  The TAP holds much potential for collective actions in CapDev  - but really there are pesky governance and transparency / process issues that need to be addressed.

This afternoon will have a look at a longlist of candidates for mNutrition Quality Assurance Officer.  We had over 200 applications, but apparently very few suitable candidates.  If so, this would be disappointing and might hamper our plans to move quickly with the recruitment. 
 

Happy "International Working Out Loud" week

Yes.  Apparently that's a thing.  Here's the announcement on Simon Terry's blog.  Talk about timing for me to jump on the bandwagon as I enter week 3 of #WOL / #FridayUpdate.

(Photo credit: Simon Terry)

This week started with me finalizing a blog post in which I ask: Are traditional workshops effective in changing participants’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors?  It is an attempt to reflect a bit on the learning that took place a recent workshop. The more I attend “traditional” workshops, the more I wonder whether our seemingly natural propensity for holding face-to-face workshops is the best investment of time and money in terms of learning outcomes. I believe we aren’t measuring our “ROI” on this investment rigorously enough, so it is hard to answer this question.   More in the blog. 

My colleague Susan MacMillan yammered me earlier this week asking that I share more about my involvement in the first CGIAR Development Dialogue (CGDD). The CGDD will focus global attention on the vital role of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, landscapes and food systems in achieving sustainable development. The event will take place on 25 September 2014 in New York City at the Faculty House at Columbia University, alongside the UN General Assembly, the inaugural meeting of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, and the UN Climate Summit. A by-invitation-only audience of circa 300 will attend. Thousands more will be included online through live webcasting and social media channels.  I have been asked to co-lead one of the eight parallel sessions on "strategic and effective partnerships", working in collaboration with colleagues from Dryland Cereals, WLE, Humidtropics, L&F, RTB.   The planning is still very fluid, and this week we received revised guidelines for the event.  It now looks like the parallel sessions will be moderated debates (think Doha Debates) with four high-level speakers of which three should be from outside the CGIAR.  Our team is planning to discuss and revise our proposal accordingly (luckily, we were already thinking about such a format).  More on this in due course once we have the panelists lined up, key messages, etc.

Spent lots of time working on finalizing the terms of reference for the FEAST blended-learning work I mentioned last week. It culminated in a 23 page detailed proposal, that I hope we can get past all the required approvals in the coming week or so so the work can begin  - we have an ambitious (self-imposed) deadline of mid September - which is quiet short considering all the deliverables: 

1.         Design and develop both blended (instructor‐led + self‐guided) and entirely self‐ guided versions of a learning course on the PRA methodology and FEAST tool, based on existing classroom materials, plus:

o    One module of original material on basic Excel skills

o    A brief facilitator enablement (“train the trainer”) class to accompany the materials

o    Job aids and reference guides for participants to use in the field

2.         Produce all necessary video, audio, printed materials and interactive eLearning for the course

3.         Set up, configure and populate an LMS (learning management system) to deliver the course content online, as well as track participant progress and run reports

4.         Development of metrics to gauge the success of the course and develop reports in the LMS to help track key metrics

5.         Assure that all eLearning content complies with the European Foundation for Quality in E‐Learning’s ECBCheck guidelines

6.         Create a brochure‐style website and promotional video on the FEAST tool

7.         Document the process and help create an internal CGIAR presentation on the value of learning development and how it was applied to the FEAST program

 
The work complexity is compounded by the fact that in many/most of the placed we run FEAST, internet connectivity is unreliable.  The dilemma we face is that most of the new / advanced tools all take it for granted that everyone is online and can access web-servers (where most of the tech is hosted) so if one needs (as we do) to have offline comparability, one starts a game of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole - so lots of reshaping of edges and cobbling together solutions.   Will work out in the end - but it really is pushing the envelope in terms of trying to figure out how to deliver a 'best in class' experience without the normal enabling environment.   I wish I had more instructional design colleagues actively engaged in similar work to bounce ideas on  - but the consultant we've shortlisted is great - so hopefully we'll be a two-person community of practice until others join the party ;-)

Other bits of work included a discussion on restructuring the EXTRAPOLATE workshops, chairing the inaugural meeting of a taskforce to revise ILRI's Fellowship Guidelines, working on CapDev protocols for CRP L&F, Discussions with the IBLI team on possible marketing options for the next sales windoes andf finalizing the ToR for an IBLI Case study, meeting with ASARECA and exploration of some potrential joint activities, discussions on a Tools for Systems Analysis portal for existing tech tools (Cross-CRP, initially Humidtropics and  Livestock and Fish), Touching base with a new ICARDA CapDev colleague who just joined our CGIAR CapDev CoP.  Last but not least, I also had the rare pleasure of some face time with both our DDGs this week - a general catchup with Suzanne Bertrand and a more detailed initial briefing with Iain Wright - very important as about 80% of my work is currently embedded in his Directorate!

Hope you have a wonderful International #WOLweek !

 

Happy 2014 - will it be the year of the how?

 Happy 2014 folks!

Like many of you, I'm just coming back from the holidays and going through the backlog of emails, yammer, LinkedIn etc.  Came across a nice "season's greetings"card from HarvestPlus, a CGIAR project (see below).

Great stuff - very impressive.  Reaching 500,000 farmers with bio-fortified crops is no small feat.  What's more, "seasons greetings" cards aren't exactly the format for an in depth review of objectives, methodologies and the likes.

Still, beyond the deserved congratulations, am looking forward to the sequel - how many will be reached in 2014? over the next 5 years?   Just as importantly, how is HarvestPlus (and for that matter other CGIAR Research Programs) reaching all these hundreds of thousands of farmers?   How matters...

Also, while hundreds of thousands of farmers is impressive outreach, the CGIAR is aiming for many times this number, possibly hundreds of times this number.  So how do we get to the magical S word?   Is there a systematic documentation of the "how" so that it can be scaled up further and replicated by similar programs?

Could  more emphasis on the how eature high on our collective New Year's resolution list?

Here's hoping...

Plugged & Played at ICT4Ag 2013

As I wrote over the weekend, I headed to #ICT4Ag13 in Kigali with lots of Excitement and Skepticism.   Yesterday (Monday 4 Nov) was the Plug & Play day, and it was a blast, and it reaffirmed my excitement (and skepticism).

To start off with, the scene is great.  Met so many interesting people, and the vibe is one of opportunity and growth.  A real "start-up", (social) entrepreneurial atmosphere.  Fantastic networking opportunities and I won't be surprised if several collaborations won't be traced back to this event.  All the makings of a "Plug" atmosphere.

I'm happy with the logistics so far.  Organizing large workshops isn't easy.  So far my hierarchy of logistics needs from a conference (wifi, clean cool air, good food & breakout spaces - in that order) is met .  So good conditions to "Play.

What enhanced my excitement?  The facilitattion method (Kudos to Pete Cranston and team) allowed me to "speed date" lots of interesting projects.  There is so much going on in this sector right now.  One cannot but be excited about this movement and its posible potential.    I was particularly interested to learn about some of the work of TRAC.fm (and their work with Harvest Plus  / the  CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).)  - particularly because they are mixing the present (radio) with the future (mobile/web) in what seems to be a really neat way.   Great stuff.  Would love to know of more organizations doing this - please point me in the right direction!

What enhanced my skepticism?  A few things.  For one, the scale. For all the talk of the potential scale of mobile (in the billions), most projects I saw were pilots, with outreach of several thousands to low 6 figures (active and passive users combined).  Pilotitis anyone? 

Also, there is lots of duplication.  If I had a drink every time I heard the phrase ("so we built this platform...") I would have been drunk long before the first coffee break.  Yes, to a certain degree this is inevitable in such a start-up environment.  Still, many of the players are at least partially publicly funded, and we could (should) really question the coordination in funding so many similar platforms.   Either way, I foresee some serious consolidation before we can start going to scale and moving to more mature, holistic products. 

Finally, there was too much focus (to my liking at least) on channel, and too little on the content.  Yes, I know new tech is exciting and sexy, and old school instructional design and (adult) learning theory are in comparison slow and tedious.  However, we should be VERY careful not to end up ith great platforms that suffer from the "Garbage in - Garbage out" syndrome.  I know that there will one (or more?) sessions looking at the content today and am really looking forward to these.  By and large though, the content seems to be the poor cousin in this gathering - which is a red flag for me. 

Still, if I had to place my feeling on the excitement/skepticism scale, it is tilting towards  excitment.  Plenary of the conference about to start - looking forward to a fun week ahead!