23427 Grassroots Dissemination 1 L of Research in Africa: Collecting and Connecting H ow often does the still-limited ABEL contract (the Florida State Uni- quantity of research carried out by versity) contracted with research African researchers actually reach an teams on a fixed-price basis to propose _ African audience that is ready and able and carry out studies on a series of top- to use its results? By what channels ics. The topics were drawn from a list of does this communication pass and by priority research targets established by what means can it have the most posi- the Working Group on Nonformal Edu- tive effect? cation (WG/NFE) of the Association Methods for grassroots dissemina- for the Development of Education in tion of the results of African research Africa (ADEA). are being worked out at local levels ADEA is a consortium of all African through a USAID-funded endeavor, the Ministers of Education and representa- ABEL Project (Achieving Basic Educa- tives of all principal donor agencies. It tion and Literacy), functions primarily through working The project involves disseminating groups of different sub-sectors of edu- studies carried out by African research- cation directed by consortia of African ers around the theme decentraliza- educators and donor representatives. tion and local capacity-building," but The Working Group on Nonformal Edu- doing so in a manner that includes cation and Training-established after both the disseminators and the target the ADEA biennial meeting of 1995 audience in critiquing the studies, and sponsored jointly by the Swiss documenting and analyzing their own Agency of International Cooperation related experience, and drawing practi- and the Ministers of Education of cal policy conclusions from the results. Ghana, Mali and Senegal-met for its No. 14 first plenary in spring 1996 in Dakar November 1999 Carrying out research worth disseminating IK Notes reports periodically on Indig- The original studies for this experi- enous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published by ment were conducted between 1996 the Africa Region's Knowledge and and 1998, through previous ABEL Learning Center as part of an evolving funding, by teams of African research- IK partnership between the World Bank, communities, NGOs, develop- ers in several countries. This approach ment institutions and multilateral orga- , "'i-NAE dl was innovative in a number of respects, nizations. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and notably by the highly developed form of should not be attributed to the World subcontracting. Rather than engage Bank Group or its partners in this ini- @'+e the researchers as "hired guns" to tiative. A webpage on IK is available at 'PNF ^D the researchers ashttp://www.worldbank.org/aftdr/ik/ carry out studies directed by a north- default,htm ern institution, the entity with the 2 and adopted a list of priority topics for research. tives, (d) new formulas for NGO-government cooperation in The policy adopted was to invite African research teams to providing nonformal education, and (e) experiments in infor- submit proposals on one or more of the topics selected, and mal primary schooling. to enter into agreements with those able to do research through a performance contract mechanism. This approach Getting the word out required the researchers to produce work of agreed-upon quality within definite time limits andgave them a great deal The question now was how to disseminate this research to of flexibility - so necessary under the uncertain conditions those at the local level who would use it. With ABEL funding, for research that exist in Africa - in order to decide how best a series of studies on skill acquisition in women's coopera- to allocate the sums to achieve those ends. Strict account- tives and the problems encountered in meeting their man- ability for expenditures was required ex post, but teams did agement challenges had been done in rural Ghana and Mali not have to adhere to the originally proposed budgetary in 1996-1997. The results were compiled, written up, re- breakdown. ported in conferences, and made available both in hard copy A number of very interesting studies were conducted, sev- in the two countries and via the Internet. But these modes of eral of them spanning more than one country and including distribution did little for women in similar situations across portions carried out by separate research teams, who then West Africa who might benefit from the Ghanaian and Malian had an opportunity to compare results. Subjects investigated experience, but who evidently neither attended professional included (a) the acquisition of skills in the informal sector of conferences, nor perhaps had access to the Internet. the urban economy, (b) the practical uses of Koranic literacy, Project staff therefore decided to think "outside the box" (c) means for building competencies in women's coopera- in developing the dissemination phase of the activity. The . idea was to involve researchers in other potentially interested I K Notes African countries in * culling through the studies would be of interest to: * identifying studies most relevant to local problems in each Name country Institution * proposing target audiences who might benefit from the re- search results Address * developing a methodology for making these people aware of the results and helping them to compare and draw conclu- sions from the Ghanaian and Malian experiences. The intermediate institutional structure to accomplish this -= - f -. -task was the newly formed National Working Group on Nonformal Education - a consortium of public and private agencies (NGOs) involved with nonformal education and af- filiated with the Association for the Development of Educa- tion in Africa (ADEA). r * .! .; , jj , . j, S 3 Results in Benin the roles played in them by men-were also discussed and compared with conditions in Benin. In Benin, the embryonic Working Group on Nonformal Edu- cation went through the entire collection of studies done by Social marketing as a two-edged sword African researchers under Phase I of the ABEL Project and selected three of interest to local educators: (a) skill cre- This approach has evolved into both a means for social mar- ation in women's cooperatives, (b) the practical uses of keting and action research and a strategy for disseminating Koranic literacy (described in IK Notes 11, August 1999), and innovation. Its strength lies in the active involvement of tar- (c) knowledge acquisition in the informal sector of the urban get groups and their appropriation and ownership of the sub- economy. It then invited its own constituent groups and ject material-as well as in the potential cascading effects other teams of researchers within Benin to propose methods and learning consequences. But experience in both phases of for disseminating these studies in the field, The Benin NGO the ABEL studies demonstrates that it has an impact at two "RAMPE' proposed taking the Malian and Ghanaian studies levels: within the communities involved, and among the on women's cooperatives to officers and members of similar cadre of researchers responsible for facilitating the exercise. institutions in the Toviklin region of northern Benin who, de- This research is different than that usually taught and prac- spite initial successes, were having difficulty developing their ticed. It is research as a conversation about indigenous own movement. knowledge, its refinement, and its practical applications. Researchers took a summary of the nature and results of Those responsible for the work must struggle to make exist- the study to leaders of the different cooperatives, and made a ing studies understandable in practical terms and help their first discovery. Out of more than 100 entities listed as mem- "clients" recognize the fruit of their own experience as re- bers of the network, only 21 actually were women-directed search worth comparing with work done elsewhere. In addi- enterprises. Out of these, the research team identified ten tion, a difficult and innovative aspect of the undertaking was that would be interested in the exercise and available to carry the degree of management responsibility, including budget- it out. They proceeded to develop a methodology for present- ary oversight and accountability, devolving to the researchers ing the essential nature and results of the Malian and Ghana- involved. Deploying staff to accomplish objectives as complex ian studies to members of each of the ten cooperatives. They and integrated with local reality as the ones assigned to this then gathered their leaders to discuss how the experience of dissemination scheme was an adventure in its own right, these two other countries compared with that of Toviklin and since few of the participating researchers had experience what practical conclusions might be drawn from the exercise. managing such an intervention. However, the responsibility The activity provoked a genuine effort of self-evaluation and was motivating, and the challenge instructional. situational analysis by the Beninois groups, which were so fas- The style of dissemination in Benin has not been the only cinated by news of progress made by their "sisters" in these one developed. In Botswana, the National Working Group two neighboring countries that they moved to identify sev- performed similar activities-selecting once again a set of eral areas of blockage in their own situation that had pre- studies by African researchers that spoke to issues of local vented them from achieving autonomy. Principal among interest-but resorting instead to a strategy of bringing lead- these was a deficiency in training and a consequent inability ers of NGOs together around each topic to pool national ex- to handle the fiscal management of their new enterprises. perience and compare it with the data and conclusions of They resolved to seek early integration-on their own terms the studies. Though a step more removed from the field, this -into a centrally sponsored literacy campaign then under- approach had the virtue of creating a setting favorable to way in northern Benin, and to decide on securing training for policy decisions and new forms of collaboration among the their elected officials. A number of details regarding the orga- actors involved. nization of women's cooperatives in Mali and Ghana - and 4 Where next? Next efforts are under way in September/October 1999 in The Gambia and Chad, and focused on studies conducted in five other West African countries around the theme of decen- tralization and local capacity building-that is, how local communities, enterprises and associations have acquired the competence to assume new development functions in an era of government decentralization. Gambian and Chadian re- searchers-drawn this time both from the countries' nonformal education working groups and from the ranks of their Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development- started by doing an inventory of the many sites where local groups had begun identifying those that might participate in dissemination and comparison. Results will be available by the end of the year. This article is based on research conducted by local researchers with the support and technical supervision of Peter Easton, Associate professor, Graduate Studies in Adult Education, Florida State University, with the active collaboration of the con- cerned African communities. The research was carried out under thejoint aegis of the Club du Sahel/OECD, the Interstate Committee for Combating Drought in the Sahel/Comite Inter-etat Contre la Secheresse (CILSS) and the Association for the development of Education in Africa.