Where lectures meet KM4Dev practice: Knowledge for Development Conference, 2014

Authors

  • John Emeka Akude
  • Peter J. Bury
  • Philipp Grunewald
  • Jaap W. Pels

Keywords:

conferences, KM4Dev, facilitation, 2014

Abstract

Towards the end of 2013 the Deutsches Institutfür Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) organized a conference in 2014 on ?Knowledge for Development? (K4D). In this article, the organisers, facilitators and rapporteurs - John Akude, Philipp Grunewald, Peter J. Bury and Jaap Pels - offer a perspective on the shaping, planning, running and follow up of the event Knowledge for Development at DIE. To enhance its effectiveness, the initial idea of organizing a conventional conference with lectures was gradually adapted to a more inclusive and interactive learning and sharing event, inspired and supported by the global KM4Dev community. This reflection paper provides (1) a critical analysis of crucial moments that shaped the facilitation process; (2) a review of the effectiveness of facilitator notes and; (3) a discussion of how the facilitation process fared. It recommends courage, self-confidence and taking enough time to reflect on the processes required to move from conventional lectures based conferences with little added value to a potentially high value added interactive learning and sharing event.

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Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2015): Facilitation for development

Section

Case studies

License

The copyright of the articles published in this journal remains the property of the authors. For liability reasons, the title belongs to the Foundation for the Support of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal. The journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License. This journal is currently an open access journal as it has a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. From the BOAI definition [1] of "open access", we support the rights of users to "read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles." However, some of the content (2009-2012) is only available on the Taylor and Francis website. Within the next few months, this issue too will become available on the OJS. [1] http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess