1. John Young: ODI, London j.young@odi.org.uk
Making Knowledge Count Maximising the value of Research for Development
John Young: ODI, London

2. Programme 1. Policy Mapping / Planning 1.1 Policy Process Mapping
1.2 Outcome Mapping
Lunch
Communications & KM
2.1 Communication
2.2 Knowledge Management and Learning

3. Policy Process Mapping
Workshop Session 1.1
Policy Process Mapping

4. Mapping Political Contexts
Civil Society Index (CIVICUS)
Country Policy & Institutional Assessment (World Bank)
Democracy and Governance Assessment (USAID)
Drivers of Change (DFID)
Governance Questionnaire (GTZ)
Governance Matters (World Bank Institute)
Power Analysis (Sida)
World Governance Assessment
Civil Society Index (CIVICUS): Civil society's structure, impact, environment and values
Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (World Bank): Governance institutions, policies, economic management
Democracy and Governance Assessment (USAID): Players, interests, resources, objectives, rules, institutional arenas
Drivers of Change (DFID): Structure, agents, institutions
Governance Questionnaire (GTZ): State-society relations, political system, political culture, politics and gender, economic policy and political framework of markets, international integration
Governance Matters (World Bank Institute): Voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption
Power Analysis (Sida): Power and its distribution
World Governance Assessment: Participation, decency, fairness, accountability, transparency, efficiency

5. Merilee Grindle’s Approach
Identify the policy reform – the decision to be made
Political Interests Map – the actors and “politics”
Institutional Contexts Map – the organisations and processes involved
Circle of influence graphic – supporters and opponents and their power
Policy process Matrix – what needs to be done when
Merilee Grindle, Professor of International Development at Harvard University has her students carry out an exercise in developing a strategy for promoting policy reform. Mapping political context is an important element of the approach.
The starting point is a clear statement of the policy reform being pursued.
A second component is the production of “political interests map”, which addresses the following issues: i) Actors in policy area; ii) Priority of policy area for actor; iii) Actors’ reasons for exerting influence in policy area; iv) Actors’ resources for influencing policy outcomes in policy area; v) Degree of influence in policy area; vi) Actual and potential alliances among actors.
A third component is the systematic analysis of the institutional contexts for policy reform, considering for each relevant organisational or inter-organisational arena: i) What actors have access to this arena or forum for policy discussion?; ii) What ‘rules of the game’ within the arena are particularly relevant to the intended policy reform; iii) What resources of power/influence are relevant in this arena?; iv) How important is this arena to the outcome of your policy reform?
A fourth component is to produce a circle of influence graphic which shows the position (opposition, support or undecided) of various players in relation to the proposed reform, and their capacity to influence.
A fifth component is to complete a policy process matrix to assess, for each stage of the policy process, what needs to be done to ensure the survival of the proposal for policy reform. NB: Steps four and five are about developing an influencing strategy which builds on the mapping of political context, rather than being about mapping political context.
In addition to these five context mapping components, Professor Grindle asks her students to develop a communications strategy, thinking carefully about the goal of such a strategy, its audience, and its key messages.
Communications Strategy

6. The RAPID Approach Identify the policy issue
Identify the key actors (individuals) & produce an influence map
Identify the key actors (organisations) and processes & produce a policy process map
Identify the key individuals in key processes & what they need to make a decision
Identify the research/evidence that is needed

7. SMEPOL Project Egypt

8. An Exercise Identify 1 or 2 Policy Issues
Identify the key actors (individuals) & produce an influence map
Identify the key actors (organisations) and processes & produce a policy process map
Identify the key individuals in key processes & what they need to make a decision
Identify the research/evidence that is needed

9. Workshop Session 1.2
Outcome Mapping

10. What is it? an integrated PM&E tool
a system to think holistically & strategically about how we intend to achieve result
an approach that focuses on changes in the behaviour, relationships or actions of partners (as outcomes)
a methodology that characterizes and assesses the program’s contributions to the achievement of outcomes
an approach for designing in relation to the broader development context but assessing within your sphere of influence

11. Focus - Behaviour Change

12. Terminology
Outcomes: changes in behaviours, relationships, activities and/or actions of the people, groups and organisations with whom we work
Vision: the broad human, social and environmental betterment we desire
Mission: how we intend to contribute towards the achievement of the vision
Boundary partners: individuals, groups and organisations with whom we interact directly to effect change
Outcome challenges: changes behaviours of the boundary partners as identified by the vision

13. The Three Stages

14. Main Elements
OUTCOME MAPPING: Building Learning and Reflection into Development Programs Sarah Earl, Fred Carden, and Terry Smutylo

15. Exercise Identify Vision (changed behaviour)
Identify key actors and boundary partners
What are they doing now?
How does it need to change?
What are the steps?
What can be done to help them make the changes?
How will you measure the change?

16. Workshop Session 2.1
Communication

17. Why communicate? To disseminate our research results
To provide information
To aid our research process
To engage with specific groups
To facilitate (public) discussion
To lead to change
Let’s start with the basic question: Why do we wish to communicate? If we have thought about this question, then it’s easier to choose the tools that are most appropriate to our aims.
People and organisations communicate for a variety of different reasons. Here are some examples of possible reasons.
They range from the wish to disseminate results, which can be done in quite a simple and straightforward way (e.g. send out an ), to the wish ‘to lead to change’, which requires getting involved in a far more complex and multi-layered process of engagement with different groups.

18. ≠ But… more communication more change
Whatever the aim of our communication, we should not just assume that ‘more’ = ‘better’. More communication will not necessarily lead to more change. This is especially the case if communication in some way is offensive to the target audience, or if it is perceived to be condescending, aggressive, irrelevant, or ‘wrong’.
We need to think about the quality and strategy of our communication, and not just the quantity.

19. Communications Toolkit
Planning Tools
Packaging Tools
Targeting Tools
Monitoring Tools
The Communications Toolkit is divided into four parts: Planning, Packaging, Targeting and Monitoring.

20. Communications Toolkit
Planning Tools
Stakeholder Analysis
Social Network Analysis
Problem Tree Analysis
Force Field Analysis
National Systems of Innovation (NSI)
How to Write a Communications Strategy
Packaging Tools
Targeting Tools
Monitoring Tools
Key skill: to understand
The key skill linked to the first part, Planning, is to understand the situation and context of the communication.
There are six tools to choose from here: Stakeholder Analysis, Social Network Analysis, Problem tree analysis, Forcefield analysis, and National Systems of Innovation. In addition we have included a section on how to write a communication strategy.
My favourite of these tools is Forcefield Analysis. [Explain Forcefield analysis]

21. What does to understand mean?
UNAIDS (1999):
Government
Socio-economic status
Culture
Gender
Spirituality
To give you some additional material on what it means ‘to understand’ the context, let me use the UNAIDS report “Communications Framework for HIV/AIDS: A New Direction” as an example.
This report acknowledged that previous communication around AIDS had usually focused on individuals, i.e. trying to get individuals to change their behaviour. However, through a participatory research process they found that the context was just as important in changing individuals’ likelihood of contracting AIDS. They found that five contextual elements were particularly important: government policy, socioeconomic status, culture, gender relations, and spirituality. Once this understanding had been established, they were able to develop a new communications framework that actually engaged with the reality of people’s lives.
[From the Communication of Research annotated bibliography:]
UNAIDS (1999) “Communications framework for HIV/AIDS: A new direction”
[From executive summary:] The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) responded to the increasing epidemic of HIV/AIDS by initiating a participatory research process conducted through five consultative workshops to examine the global use of communications of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support. The primary aim was to examine the adequacy of existing communications theories and models for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean against a backdrop of contemporary communications uses in Western societies. In the five consultative workshops (two global and three regional), 103 leading researchers and practitioners from different parts of the world were invited or consulted by UNAIDS in collaboration with The Pennsylvania State University.
The major finding was that five domains of context are virtually universal factors in communications for HIV/AIDS preventive health behaviour: government policy, socioeconomic status, culture, gender relations, and spirituality. These interrelated domains formed the basis of a new framework that could be used as a flexible guide in the development of HIV/AIDS communications interventions. Individual health behaviour is recognized as a component of this set of domains, rather than the primary focus of health behaviour change.
Most HIV/AIDS communications programmes have been aimed at achieving individual-based changes in sexual and social behaviour. While aspects of this approach are desirable and should be maintained, evidence from research and practice in many countries shows that existing approaches generally have major limitations; thus, a broader focus is needed. Moreover, there is considerable inter-regional variation in the context of HIV/AIDS. Many of the theories, models, and frameworks currently in use in the regions do not adequately address the unique needs of HIV/AIDS communications. For example, the cost effectiveness of interpersonal communication components of HIV/AIDS behavioural interventions in the regions has been underestimated. The challenge of the new direction outlined in the report is to ensure a redirection of intervention programmes to recognize that individual behaviours are shaped and influenced by factors and domains within a broader contextual focus.
Author: UNAIDS
Publisher: Joint United National Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Pennsylvania State University
Date: 1999
Full document:

22. Communications Toolkit
Planning Tools
Packaging Tools
Visioning Scenarios: Show the Future
Tell a Story
Provide a Solution
Use Surprise
Be Persuasive
Targeting Tools
Monitoring Tools
Key skill: to inspire
The second part of the Toolkit is about Packaging.
The key skill linked to this part of the process is to be able to inspire people. They will feel inspired if they feel that the communication speaks directly to them, and we can achieve this through packaging it in the most appropriate manner.
The tools in this section are: Visioning Scenarios (Show the future); Tell a story; Provide a solution; Use surprise; Be persuasive.
My favourite of these tools is ‘Tell a story’. [Say why stories are important]

23. What does to inspire mean?
Dagron (2001):
“We have come to appreciate the true power of face-to-face and voice-to-voice communication. Every meaningful lesson or belief I’ve garnered in life came from someone I value explaining the issue to me and involving me in the process of figuring out the solution.”
(Preface by Gray-Felder)
To get us to think a little more deeply about what it means to inspire others, and to feel inspired, I have included a quote from the book “Making Waves”, produced by the Communication for Social Change initiative (funded by the Rockefeller Foundation).
[Read out quote]
This quote captures very well some of the key aspects of an inspiring communication process: the people involved feel that they are spoken to directly; they trust and value the communicator; they gain new insight when an issue is explained to them; they feel involved; and they feel that they are a part of finding the solution.
[From the Communication annotated bibliography:]
Dagron, Alfonso Gumucio (2001) Making Waves: Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change
In this book the Rockefeller Foundation has brought together 50 stories of instances where participatory communication has led to social change, ranging from bush radios to street theatre and local telecentres. The collection forms part of the work of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Communication for Social Change initiative. In the book’s foreword, Denise Gray-Felder maps out the rationale for participatory communication in the international development field. She makes the link between communication and empowerment, arguing that these 50 case studies show how people living in poor communities across the world can potentially seize control of their own life stories and begin to change their marginal and unjust circumstances. She emphasises the power inherent in local community decision-making processes and in communal action.
Reading across the 50 case studies, the Rockefeller Foundation suggests that community-based radio is perhaps the communication method par excellence when trying to reach excluded or marginalised communities in targeted ways. Radio enables a wide audience to hear about the situation of the poor in their own words. It also has the advantage of being cheaper and more accessible than video. The case studies include examples of the continued success of traditional communication methods such as drama, dance, music, puppets, drums, storytelling and dialogue circles. In all of these, person-to-person communication is crucial. As Gray-Felder says:
‘We [in the Communication for Social Change programme] have come to appreciate the true power of face-to-face and voice-to-voice communication. Every meaningful lesson or belief I’ve garnered in life came from someone I value explaining the issue to me and involving me in the process of figuring out the solution.’
Author:Alfonso Gumucio Dagron
Publisher:New York: Rockefeller Foundation
Date:2001
Full document:

24. Communications Toolkit
Planning Tools
Packaging Tools
Targeting Tools
Writing Policy Papers
Building a CoP
Lobbying
Using
Websites
Blogging
Media Engagement
Radio
Monitoring Tools
Key skill: to inform
The third part of the Toolkit is on Targeting, and the key skill related to this part is to be able to inform audiences in the most effective and appropriate way.
The tools included in this part are: Writing policy papers; Building a community of practice; Lobbying; Using ; Websites; Blogging; Media engagement; Radio.
My favourite tool from this section is Writing policy papers. [Explain what makes a good policy briefing paper]

25. What does it mean to inform?
HCP (2003): Most young people in Windhoek believe that ‘abstinence’ means ‘to be absent’
Lambert (2001): Among a group of women in India, sex could only be discussed in whispers
Senior policymaker: “I don’t have time to learn”
We may think that it’s quite straightforward to inform our audiences, but actually it’s an art. I have included three examples here of how difficult it is to inform people.
The first example is from a study carried out among young people in Windhoek (in Namibia). They had been subject to public communication on AIDS for a while, emphasising the common ABC approach (abstinence, be faithful, condoms). Some researchers wanted to find out whether this communication had actually had any impact. By interviewing youths, they found out that the impact had not always been as expected. Most of the young people, for example, believed that the word ‘abstinence’ meant ‘to be absent’, and that ‘be faithful’ meant to have faith in a religious sense.
The second example is from India, where a researcher found that it was almost impossible to involve women in a village in an AIDS survey, because they found it so offensive and crude to openly discuss any issues related to sexuality. Instead, the women would discuss sex when they were among other women, and they would do so through whispers, indirect allusions, and subtle body language. It proved very hard for the survey team to communicate with them.
The third example is an unofficial quote from a senior policymaker, reported by one of my colleagues when he attended one of our RAPID workshops: “I don’t have time to learn”. This is true of many people in his position; they wish to be informed, but cannot afford to make more time for this than strictly necessary.
These three examples highlight some of the many challenges that we face when we wish to inform people. As they show, informing is an art.

26. Communications Toolkit
Planning Tools
Packaging Tools
Targeting Tools
Monitoring Tools
Most Significant Change (MSC)
Outcome Mapping
Researcher Checklist
CFSC Integrated Mode
Key skill: to learn
The final part of the Toolkit is on Monitoring, and the key skill related to this part is to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of our own communication efforts, so that we can continue to improve them.
The tools in this section are: Most Significant Change; Outcome Mapping; Researcher checklist; and an Integrated Monitoring model developed by the Communication for Social Change initiative.
My favourite among these tools is Outcome Mapping [say something about it]

27. What does it mean to learn?
What are the indicators of success?
Access
Reception
Response
Understanding
Uptake
Change in policy
Change in practice
To think a little more deeply about what it means to learn about our own communication, let me give you a list of possible indicators of success.
This list covers a spectrum. At the most simple end of the spectrum, we may consider our communication to be successful if our key audience has access to it (e.g. we’ve made it available on our website). Or we may consider it to be successful if we know that the key audience has received it / has responded to it. Or we may wish for them to actually understand it, and incorporate it into their own thinking and work. Or we may wish for our communication to lead to a change in their policy, or even a change in practice.
As we progress down this spectrum, it gets more and more complex to monitor and learn how our communication is doing. It is fairly easy to monitor whether our communication has been made accessible or not; but it is more complicated to assess whether our communication has led to a change in policy or practice.
The more ambitious we are in the goals of our communication, the more we should invest in our learning. For example, if we wish to have an impact on policy and practice, then we should be prepared to set aside both time and resources to learn to what degree this is happening.

28. In conclusion… More communication ≠ more change Key skills:
But better communication can lead to change.
Key skills:
to understand,
to inspire,
to inform, and
to learn.
In conclusion, more communication does not necessarily lead to more change. But better communication can lead to change. We need to develop more effective and strategic approaches to our communication, and that is what the tools in this Toolkit are meant to help with.
The key skill of a communicator is not simply to send out a mass of information. Rather, the key skills that we should develop in order to become excellent communicators are to understand, to inspire, to inform and to learn.

29. Exercise Who is your key Audience? How do they like to learn?
What forms of communication do you use now?
What other forms of communication might be more effective?

30. Workshop Session 2.2
KM & Learning

31. KM & Learning for Policy Impact
ODI work on KM:
Literature review
Developing KM in ODI
Review of KM in Development Agencies
Advisory work
KM Toolkit

32. External networks; Colleagues; Information assets; Own knowledge
What is KM & Learning?
“… keeping track of people who ‘know the recipe’….
“…every time we do something again we should do it better than the last time…”
Learn
during
Goals
Activities
Results
Learn
before
Learn
after
External networks; Colleagues; Information assets; Own knowledge

33. Different learning styles…
Reflector
Activist
Activists are people who learn by doing. They like to involve themselves in new experiences, and will ‘try anything once’. They tend to act first and consider the consequences afterwards
Reflectors learn by observing and thinking about what happened. They like to consider all the possible angles and implications before coming to a considered opinion. They spend time listening and observing, and tend to be cautious and thoughtful
Theorists like to understand the theory behind the actions. They need models, concepts and facts in order to learn. They like to analyse and synthesise, and feel uncomfortable with subjective judgements
Pragmatists are keen on trying things out. They look for new ideas that can be applied to the problem in hand. They like to get on with things and tend to be impatient with open-ended discussions; they are practical, down-to-earth people
Theorist
Pragmatist

34. Different forms of knowledge
Implicit Y
Has it been articulated?
Can it been articulated?
Start N
Tacit to tacit: Acquiring someone else’s tacit knowledge through observation, imitation and practice e.g. research methodologies, presentations
Explicit to explicit: Combining discrete pieces of explicit knowledge to form new explicit knowledge, for example, compiling data and preparing a report that analyses and synthesises these data. The report constitutes new explicit knowledge.
Tacit to explicit: researchers subsequent conversion of acquired tacit knowledge into specifications or good practices
Explicit to tacit: Internalizing explicit knowledge. We acquire new tacit knowledge; specifically, they came to understand in an intuitive way Y N
Explicit
Tacit

35. …and different processes…

36. Too much information…
Oh no, poor donkey…

37. Tools for different processes
Different tools are good for different processes:
Creation of knowledge
Mapping and identifying knowledge
Sharing knowledge
Managing and storing knowledge
Learning
There are also range of processes to consider - creating, sharing, storing and using knowledge. Individuals, teams, organisations and groups of organisations engage in such processes in order to achieve positive change and realise their goals. More specifically:
The mapping and creation of knowledge comprises activities associated with the entry of new knowledge into the organisational system. It includes all the transformations suggested by the ‘data to information to knowledge to wisdom’ frameworks, models of knowledge creation derived from the Knowledge Management (KM) literature (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) , as well as research work, participatory work, workshops, and so on.
Sharing knowledge relates to the flow of knowledge from one party to another. This includes the diverse tools used for translation, conversion, filtering and two-way communication.
Storing knowledge relates to the preservation of knowledge, allowing it to remain within the organisational system, and to those activities that help to maintain the viability of this system. These include intranets, search engines, content management systems (CMSs), electronic publishing systems, workflow systems, groupware, help desk applications, as well as more fundamental systems such as personal and group filing, project archiving, and so on.
Finally, the use of knowledge relates to its application in organisational policy and practice. This involves taking and shaping decisions, making informed actions and modifying behaviours in order to achieve goals. In the case of all organisations, certain decisions, actions and behaviours have become embedded in the form of processes, procedures, rules, instructions and standards. It is perhaps one of the few truisms in this area that all such elements of organisational life were, at some point, specialist tacit knowledge or know-how, which was then converted to explicit forms in order to enable application by non-specialists. Also included in this category is the development of such tools as task performance measurement and coordination patterns, interaction guidelines and process specifications (ODI, 2003; ODI, 2004a; ODI, 2004b; US Knowledge Forum, 1999).
Various tools may be used to facilitate these knowledge activities, ranging from information management (IM) systems through structured learning activities, to comprehensive M&E processes. The different types of activities and the different forms of knowledge can be brought together in a simple, easy to understand format as shown in Figure 1 (ODI, 2005).

38. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
Collaboration Mechanisms
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Knowledge Capture and Storage

39. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
The Five Competencies Framework
Knowledge Audit
Social Network Analysis
Most Significant Change
Outcome Mapping
Scenario Testing and Visioning
Management Techniques
Collaboration Mechanisms
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Knowledge Capture and Storage

40. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
The SECI Approach
Blame vs Gain Behaviours
Force Field Analysis
Activity-based Knowledge Mapping
Structured Innovation
Reframing Matrix
Collaboration Mechanisms
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Knowledge Capture and Storage

41. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
Collaboration Mechanisms
Teams: Virtual and Face-to-Face
Communities of Practice
Action Learning Sets
Six Thinking Hats
Mind Maps
Social Technologies
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Knowledge Capture and Storage

42. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
Collaboration Mechanisms
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Stories
Peer Assists
Challenge Sessions
After Action Reviews and Retrospects
Intranet Strategies
Guidelines
Knowledge Capture and Storage

43. KM Toolkit Strategy Development Management Techniques
Collaboration Mechanisms
Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes
Knowledge Capture and Storage
Taxonomies for Documents and Folders
Exit Interviews
How To Guides
Staff Profile Pages
Blogs
Shared Network Drives

44. Learning before: Peer Assist
Starts with the attitude that someone has probably already done what I am about to do.
I wonder who?”

45. Peer Assist
A peer assist is a meeting or workshop where people are invited from other groups and organisations to share their experience, insights and knowledge with a team who have requested some help early on in a piece of work
targets a specific technical or commercial challenge;
gains assistance and insights from people outside the team;
identifies possible approaches and new lines of inquiry;
promotes sharing of learning with each other; and
develops strong networks amongst people involved

46. Peer Assist Multiplying Knowledge What’s possible?
Action
Multiplying Knowledge
What’s
possible?
What you know
in your context
"...the politics accompanying hierarchies hampers the free exchange of knowledge. People are much more open with their peers. They are much more willing to share and to listen”
What we both know
What I know
in my context

47. Learning During: Stories
Stories of change
1. Situation
2. A change or challenge
3. Action
4. Result
5. Lesson

48. Learning after: AAR An after action review asks 4 simple questions:
What was supposed to happen?
What actually happened?
Why was there a difference?
What can we learn from it?
15 minute team debrief, conducted in a “rank-free” environment.
Invented by the US Army
Used by all the troops
After each Action
Now firmly embedded in Army culture
Part of the training program 13

49. Knowledge Audit What are the core tasks?
What do the people doing them need to know?
How is the knowledge generated?
How is it stored and accessed?
Any problems?
What are the relationships between producers and users?
How could it be improved?
Any leadership issues?
Any incentive problems?

50. Exercise 1 – An AAR

51. Exercise 2 – A Knowledge Audit
How is the knowledge generated?
How is it stored and accessed?
How is it used?
Any problems?
How could it be improved?

52. Further Information
Mapping Political Context: A Toolkit for Civil Society Organisations. Robert Nash, Alan Hudson and Cecilia Luttrell
Tools for Knowledge and Learning: A guide for development and humanitarian organisations. Ben Ramalingam
A Toolkit for Progressive Policymakers in Developing Countries. Sophie Sutcliffe and Julius Court
Successful Communication: A Toolkit for Researchers and Civil Society Organisations Ingie Hovland,
Tools for Policy Impact: A Handbook for Researchers Daniel Start and Ingie Hovland