The Emerging Knowledge Management Strategy for the RUFORUM Network

Knowledge Management in the context of the RUFORUM Network (Part III)

The Knowledge Management Strategy for the RUFORUM Network will focus on enhancing Knowledge Management at the secretariat level, member universities level and wider agricultural network level. There are opportunities to provide Knowledge Management guidelines for members of the network and achieve harmonized Knowledge Management for the network. The goal of Knowledge Management in the RUFORUM Network is to identify, capture, create, evaluate, retrieve and share knowledge and information related to the goals of the RUFORUM Network.

The Knowledge Management Strategy for the RUFORUM Network will place emphasis on reviewing and strengthening the achievements made by the RUFORUM Network in the area of Knowledge Management to date. This review will consider the evolution of KM and determine where the RUFORUM Network is in relation to the agreed evolutionary path. The RUFORUM KM Strategy will also consider the following: 

1. Streamlining Lessons Learned Databases and the emerging content collected, reviewed, packaged and shared. 
2. Formalizing Expertise Location. The current web-based RUFORUM Information Management System (RIMS) requires network members to upload their CVs and input their areas of expertise as part of their profiles. 
3. Strengthening Communities of Practice (CoPs) along thematic areas linked to the RUFORUM Network goals. These CoPs will be better facilitated and managed so that the knowledge and information emerging through them is reviewed and better packaged for dissemination. 
4. Scanning the environment for knowledge product themes that would give the network a competitive edge and contribute to the network’s sustainability. 
5. A systems thinking and integral approach to KM for the RUFORUM Network

Typical Knowledge products emanating from the RUFORUM Network

The knowledge evolving from the RUFORUM Network includes explicit, implicit and tacit knowledge. There is expertise within the network to support other institutions and networks wanting to do what RUFORUM has experience doing. The knowledge themes include:
(1)    AGRICULTURAL POST-GRADUATE TRAINING

• How to design and implement agricultural regional post-graduate training programs: lessons from an African network of universities
• The case for increasing academic exchange programs among African universities
• The role of national stakeholders in agricultural higher education

(2)    AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH LED BY UNIVERSITIES

• Building capacities for quality research in the RUFORUM Universities - lessons
• Linking universities to communities through Community Action Research Projects, Graduate Research Grants and Field Attachment Awards – key lessons from Africa

(3)    BUILDING A NETWORK OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

• Options for sustaining the RUFORUM Network
• Lessons on building the RUFORUM brand
• Building the RUFORUM Secretariat to be a solid institution: a how to manual
• The role of leadership in building the RUFORUM Network
• Lessons on building a network of African universities – the take away lessons
• Becoming a voice for African higher education in agriculture
• Key reflections on building RUFORUM to become the biggest and most successful business partner in agricultural higher education in Africa

(4)    ICT and M&E

• Lessons developing an M&E framework for a network
• An ICT strategy for a network of universities – opportunities and challenges

(5)    PARTNERSHIPS FOR AGRICULTURAL TRAINING AND RESEARCH

• Lessons on implementing a partnerships strategy for an agricultural network of universities

The Challenges and Opportunities

There are opportunities to tap into the knowledge and information resident in aging African professors and staff retiring from the RUFORUM Network. KMWorld 2012 say that instead of retirees only writing lessons learned reports – there is more value in “new knowledge created by the interaction of the retiree with current employees.”

The RUFORUM Network needs to be further strengthened as a learning organization. As a network we must explore how to use emerging information & communication technologies (e.g. mobile technologies) to enhance the interactions within the RUFORUM Network. The knowledge repositories of the individual network members form a critical foundation for managing content within the network. We also have the opportunity to leverage our collective knowledge as a network through the use of social media such as blogs, wikis, facebook, twitter and other platforms.

The RUFORUM Secretariat has the opportunity of developing Knowledge Management guidelines to guide the RUFORUM network members how to actively participate in identifying, capturing, creating, evaluating, retrieving and sharing knowledge for the benefit of all members of the network.

Work needs to be done to understand the demand side for the RUFORUM Knowledge Products. This is important so that the knowledge products are linked to income generation and a sustainability plan for the RUFORUM network.

Part IV will discuss the evolution of Knowledge Management and where we are as the RUFORUM Network.