Cross Country Learning Events: knowledge sharing for ICT and rural livelihoods

Working on knowledge sharing with IICD partners is an exciting and rewarding task. Both the face to face and online exchanges provide opportunities to learn and build on experiences to improve practice of ICT for development. The objective of the knolwedge sharing approach, as stated in the IICD site, is to facilitate collaborations and expand thevalue of the lessons learned.

One of the activities carried out with this purpose are the Cross-Country Learning Events (CCLEs), which bring ICT4D practitioners together in one of their countries. As we state on the IICD site, "with their valuable experience in designing and implementing projects in a specific sector, they can share and make explicit their lessons learned, and together identify key issues currently playing a role (positive and negative) in ICT projects."

In the area of ICT for livelihood opportunities, three CCLE have taken place in the past few years. In 2008, practitioners from 8 different countries met in Sikasso, Mali, with the topic of "Rural Content for Rural Lifes." (See related video: IICD's Cross Country Learning Event 2008 in Mali  and a blog post is here: Computers not longer a taboo for farmers). In 2009, Western African partners met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to delve into commercialisation and traceability challenges (related website: http://agri-tic.ning.com ). In 2010, practitioners will meet in Tema, Ghana, to look in retrospective, what the main lessons from the past five years have been and how they guide the new steps to be taken.

I'm confident that with the active engagement and commitment of the participants, this event will be as rewarding as the previous ones, providing an opportunity to:
·         Reflect upon and exchange about experiences on livelihoods and ICT projects.
·         Identify key issues (positive and negative) that have a role in the achievement of objectives.
·         Indentify practices that are being undertaken and lessons learned.
·         Strengthen linkages between projects working on similar focus areas.
·         Enable a continued learning process after the CCLE through an online community of practice.

And, most importantly, reflect about reality and assess what steps we need to take to keep leveraging the power of ICT for better rural livelihoods.