"South-South" Learning Exchange for Client Capacity Enhancement C lient feedback surveys in behavioral competencies. This Africa indicate that the Bank's process is designed to promote local/ performance requires strength- NotesKI country ownership and help bridge the ening with regard to (a) respect for knowledge adaptation gap by leverag- local cultures, (b) adaptation of ing local and global knowledge to knowledge to the local context and (c) bring just in time and just enough incorporation of local knowledge into expertise to help enhance client development efforts. They would like capacity. to see greater involvement by benefi- ciaries and local project experts in project design to ensure that country "South-South" IK Learning & conditions are better taken into Exchange ­ June 2004 account. Clients would also like the Bank to develop new approaches to The "Cross-Regional Learning capacity enhancement aimed at Exchange" took place from June 14- transferring knowledge to and be- 30, 2004 between Ethiopia, Malawi tween a broader range of stakehold- and Tanzania and Bangladesh, India http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm ers. To respond to these requests, the and Sri Lanka and involved three Africa Region's Knowledge and project teams - Women's Develop- Learning Group (AFTKL) undertook ment Initiatives (WDIP) Ethiopia, the the second "South-South" learning Malawi SocialAction Fund (MASAF) exchange between East Africa and and the Tanzania Social Action Fund South Asia in June 2004 (the first was (TASAF). Five Bank staff served as held in September 2002). The main knowledge brokers to ensure that the goal of this cross-regional learning lessons of experience were effec- exchange was to help enhance client tively captured through Debriefings capacity in selected countries in East (videotaped open-ended dialogue) to No. 75 Africa to leverage indigenous knowl- facilitate learning through reflection. December 2004 edge (IK), informatics and social capital for development. IK Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally Capacity Enhancement model on such initiatives outside the Region. It is published by the Africa Region's The capacity enhancement model Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving IK partnership posited by many development practi- between the World Bank, communi- tioners in Africa suggests that there ties, NGOs, development institutions are three critical pillars to success: (a) and multilateral organizations. The empowering clients, (b) adapting views expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be World Bank knowledge to the local context and, attributed to the World Bank Group (c) behaving as an enabler. This or its partners in this initiative. A involves creating space for the client webpage on IK is available at // to learn by doing, finding the best www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ local fit and nurturing effective default.htm 2 The theme of this "Learning & Exchange" mission was staff and other practitioners. These projects have used to learn from the extensive experiences in India, indigenous knowledge and practices in development in the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to "leverage social capital for areas that are very relevant to the projects in East Africa. economic development with indigenous knowledge, and These projects were : (a) Self Employed Women's Asso- informatics ". The two main objectives were (a) to adapt, ciation (SEWA), Ahmedabad, India; (b) Honeybee Net- integrate and possibly scale-up lessons learned from South work, Ahmedabad, India; (c) MYRADA, Bangalore, India Asian experiences into East African development policies (d). Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives Project, and Bank-assisted projects; and (b) to establish indigenous India; (e) Center for Good Governance, Hyderabad, India; knowledge and learning partnerships to accelerate South- (f) Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in South dialogue and technical cooperation. Bangladesh; (g) Grameen, Bangladesh; and (h) Conserva- A half day launch in New Delhi showcased a number of tion and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project, Sri IK-based success stories from India. This event included a Lanka. brief presentation by several South Asian organizations that were to be visited during the tour. In addition, the team reflected on one outcome of the earlier exchange where Learning Exposure the Bank's IK Program had helped the Government of Kerala integrate IK into the state's 10th Five Year Plan Selected participants from each of the EA projects visited (2002-2007). The launch helped (i) the East African the projects in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka . While the delegation and Bank staff in the Delhi office to revisit the entire team visited the five projects in India, it subsequently results of the first exchange; (ii) to prepare the delegation split into three groups with one group visiting Bangladesh, for the upcoming visits and (iii) Bank staff in the Delhi another visiting Sri Lanka while the third remained in India. office to explore further partnership opportunities for The South-South learning exposure itself consisted of : (a) South-South cooperation between IK practitioners/institu- field visits to selected project sites/communities to under- tions in East Africa and South Asia. stand how the process is working; (b) interaction with field functionaries to understand how IK catalyzed the commu- nities' environmental and social assets into economic gains; Partnership Process Model and ( c) a final workshop at the Country Office in India The partnership process is built in four phases : (i) Building comprising a wrap-up meeting, debriefing and an action linkages comprising of a mapping exercise and initiating plan. The workshop provided an opportunity for partici- dialogue; (ii) Learning exposure for East African countries; pants to reflect upon what they had learnt and how it could (iii) Capacity building at country level; and (iv). Continuing be applied in the African context. The Debriefing method linkages for further cooperation. The first phase seeks to (videotaped open-ended interviews ) had proved to be a build linkages between the East African and South Asian major asset in capturing and facilitating the learning projects. The second phase involved a learning exposure process in the 2002 study tour. Consequently, it was for project personnel and Community-based Organizations decided to develop another set of debriefings for the 2004 ( CBO ) partners from project communities in East Africa learning exchange. This took place periodically at several to projects in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The third junctures (on average, once in three days), with a final phase will focus on building capacity for integrating IK into wrap-up session in Delhi. project activities and strengthening country level initiatives in the East African projects. The fourth phase will help the projects to continue the partnership for further cooperation Lessons Learned and learning. The activities are designed in these four The following are key lessons that the East African clients phases to emphasize the importance of building and learned from South Asia. The lessons are introduced by continuing the partnership rather than just undertaking some general observations, followed by specific ones study tours. related to community development, implementation ar- rangements and technical aspects in the following areas South Asia Partner Projects General Lessons Eight projects/partners were identified, five in India, two in Observations made from site visits crystallize into five Bangladesh and one in Sri Lanka through a consultative general findings that the participants consider integral to the process involving knowledge sources in SouthAsia, Bank successes of the groups visited. 3 ·Savings culture: central to almost all groups visited was assistance e.g. SEWA). a savings (and loan)/micro finance activity. In the context ·Identification of targeted (vulnerable) groups is not a of the rural economy of India (money lenders offering one-time exercise; flexible methodology is adopted extortionate interest rates, a higher degree of market depending upon the circumstances in different communi- integration of the rural producers, better service infrastruc- ties; periodic re-evaluation of the target groups as social ture, costly social obligations) the propensity for capital and economic conditions tend to change at the individual accumulation appears to be much higher than in Africa household level over time. Communities are actively providing a motive to initiate S&L activities. Management involved at all levels of planning and implementation. of savings and credit is seen as an empowering tool that ·Women groups whose members are linked by a network could lead to greater social cohesion and initiatives. of relationships which enables them to perform certain ·Profit orientation: All income generating activities traditional, support functions are known as Affinity initiated seemed to be clearly profit driven and were Groups. This affinity, which exists prior to any outside calculated and implemented in a way that would not require intervention, is based upon mutual trust, reciprocity, func- continuous external injections for maintenance. tional support and homogeneity among members and ·Social mobilization and role of women: Women in reflects a common concern that goes beyond income Self Help Groups(SHG) ­ with the intermediation of generation. These groups also form the basis of savings external agents, such as NGOs - not only pursued eco- and loans groups or for other specific activities such as nomic interests but also strong social development objec- weaving, land reclamation or dairy farming. Their potential tives around ideologies common in India (socialism, for sustainability as a group lies primarily in the common Gandhian movements) that emphasize the importance of concern rather than in the income generation activity. Some human rights. participants referred to this aspect as a transformation ·Putting institutions first: Fostering the growth of from social to economic capital. institutions of the poor leads to greater poverty reduction ·As a result of the above, all activities at the community and empowerment. Participation of the poor does not lead level tend to be multi-sector, integrated and holistic. directly to their empowerment ; it would lead to building This even applies to seemingly single-sector approaches institutions and linkages. The experience gained in building such as the conservation of medicinal plants that could not these structures and networks and maintaining them is a have ensured the participation of communities without major instrument of people's empowerment. Empowerment considering their often more pressing needs. , therefore is based on and grows out of people's own ·Sustainable approaches to poverty reduction rest to a institutions ; it is not bestowed upon them by anyone or by considerable degree on making the poor part of the insti- any attempt to decentralize, tution building process (SEWA, MYRADA, BRAC). ·Mainstreaming IK: While not necessarily formalized, The poor become members (even Board members) of IK was central to the successes of the various projects. those institutions that serve them. This includes the intrinsic, gradual transformation of the traditionally restrictive caste system where women now find themselves, as a result of their activities, in a position Implementation arrangements to negotiate their rights and become equal partners in their ·The role of government in all instances has been communities' development efforts. These five aspects supportive technically, institutionally and through providing a appear to converge in a remarkable sense of ownership if policy environment in which SHG and Micro-finance activities and achievments by SHG members, which in turn institutions can thrive. While cooperation on a daily basis ensures a high level of transparency, governance and may not always be easy, the relationship has in all cases accountability that leads to "quality results on the ground." been mentioned as very useful. In the case of traditional medicine, the indigenous practice (Ayurveda) has actually Specific Lessons been institutionalized (e.g. through a Ministry for Indig- enous Medicine in Sri Lanka), giving it standards, credibil- Approaches to Community Engagement ity, and reputability. ·The starting point for community-based activities are ·Credit provision and management: The micro- community interests, needs, demands as established finance arrangements are viable because the retail costs of through a variety of means, varying from classical PRA operation are essentially carried by the women groups. methods to as the concept of member-based organizations Individual accounts record keeping, micro-loan approvals, (all beneficiaries are also members of the NGO providing assessment of collateral are all carried out by the groups 4 themselves with remarkable recovery rates - well above service providers and banks through a secure computer 98% in most instances. However, this is not only estab- network. It is a win-win situation for all as citizens use a lished as a cost saving measure, it also empowers the single window for multiple service providers, government participating women to manage their own monetary departments can reduce paperwork and redeploy personnel resources with ripple effects into other aspects of their while banks receive funds in a shorter cycle allowing them social and economic lives. It is not surprising that in such to defray transaction costs. Starting in 2001 with 10 an arrangement, debtors accept approximately 2% higher services, the service has grown to over 75 services with than market interest rates (which are still less than a third new services being added periodically based upon demand lower than money-lender rates) from citizens. ·Linking Self Help Groups with banks, markets, private ·Medicinal plants conservation: Plans for the conser- sector enterprises and with each other to form federations vation and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants are to develop products further to meet customer demand etc. successful if they are community driven. A collaborative increases the negotiation power of the association as a and open approach to the exchange of information about whole. medicinal plants and conservation concerns is key to increased awareness and improved co-ordination of conservation efforts between the government, NGOs and Technical Aspects communities. Sustainable utilization and conservation efforts at community level thrive when there are appropri- ·Local knowledge innovation: Gains made by those ate local institutions whose structure and systems (organi- who document or add value to local knowledge, innovations zational and financial) are designed locally. "Cultural or practices should be shared with the providers of knowl- diversity and biodiversity" go hand in hand and the erosion edge and others who have contributed to value addition in a of local and mainstream cultures related to biodiversity can fair and equitable manner. This can be achieved by ensur- result in the loss of the biodiversity itself. ing (a) legal protection of IK; (b) benefit sharing with providers of IK; (c) documentation, dissemination and networking with providers and communities in their native language; and (d) material transfer agreements with Way Forward potential investors and researchers ·Potential bio-diesel: Potential alternatives to fossil fuel Based on the lessons learned from South Asia, each of can be found by using oliferous plants such as "Pongamia". the three East African project teams are currently develop- Oil can easily be extracted by any simple oil-pressing ingAction Plans to help integrate lessons learned in relation techniques. These plants grow on dry or marginal land and to community development, micro-finance and IK into their their oil energy efficiencies are comparable to those of projects and their domestic policy dialogue. The focus will diesel with no changes to engine settings required. green be on the following key areas: (a) Partnerships and Net- cover, environmental rewards, increase in local incomes working;(b) Cross-Institutional Capacity Building; (c) and nation level independence. The oil cake can be turned Policy level dialogue; (d) Grassroots activities or innova- into a rich fertilizer slurry and methane reducing costs tion; and (e) Awareness Raising and Dissemination and further.As this plant grows easily in tropical climates, this practices for better quality development assistance and could very easily be adopted in Africa. outcomes. ·Informatics for social services delivery: "e-Seva" has created a new paradigm by providing single-window computerized services to citizens by leveraging information technology using a public-private partnership model. It offers a variety of services, ranging from payment of utility bills to issuing of certificates, permits, licenses, reservation of buses to business-to-consumer (B2C) services. Real time transactions use technology linking the government, This note was written by Krishna Pidatala based upon the "South-South Learning Exchange" undertaken in June 2004. For more information, please contact Krishna Pidatala at the World Bank, 1818 H. Street NW, Washington D.C. 20433. Tel. No.: (202)-473-7353 Email addresses : kpidatala@worldbank.org