Lessons on electronic conferencing

Background to the Think Tank

Beginning in late 1998, the World Bank's Information Solutions Group was facilitating a series of operational knowledge-sharing pilot projects with key development stakeholders. From the World Bank perspective, the purpose of these pilots was to develop informed perspectives into an overall strategy for external knowledge sharing that can be implemented across the World Bank Group. One of the first pilots was between the World Bank Group and OneWorld, an Internet supersite that also acts as an umbrella platform for more than 700 NGO's. This pilot focused on the water and sanitation thematic area. The aims of the pilot were:

• to facilitate knowledge sharing between World Bank Group staff and NGO's working on similar issues with various knowledge sharing methods, principally information technology;
• to understand associated institutional and process issues;
• to create and document bench-marks that can be used across the World Bank Group;
• to test the OneWorld Think Tank as a tool to showcase lessons and develop as a forum for discussion and information sharing with general audiences;
• to test the World Bank's knowledge-sharing approach from an external perspective.

This papers covers the period in which the project went 'live,' in which tfour e-conferences were organised. It contains a chronology of the various activities and, draws heavily on informal discussions between collaborating agencies, an assessment of progress and lessons.

Summary

What has been accomplished?

• First, four electronic conferences have been held, each with a summary report and an evaluation.
• Second, a web magazine has been produced, in English and French, acting as a front end to both the e-conferences as well as to a set of information finding tools.
• Third, a co-operative multi-stakeholder approach to project implementation approach has been set up and tested.
• Fourth, new e-mail based information and communication tools have been introduced in some organisations (e.g: WaterAid, NEWAH, CINARA).
• Fifth, the World Bank ICT people and rural water community were happy with the result, and have committed limited funds for a second phase. which mainly consisted of the overall evaluation.

Lessons learned

In a project like this, lessons can be drawn at various levels, for instance on the prerequisites for successful e-conferencing.

1. Co-operation and capacity sharing works. The evidence so far indicates that the capacities and skills of several organisations can be shared through a co-operative framework. All the participating organisations have contributed to the project and benefited from it. Each in a different and complementary way. The two conferences taught collaborating partners how and how not to be involved.
2. Tasks can be shared. In a multi-organisation group, where each agency does not have the same functional mandate and capacities but does share an overall goal (such as poverty alleviation through work in the water and sanitation sector), tasks can be divided and organisations will work together.
3. Co-operation needs time. Where organisations decide to cooperate in ways similar to this project, time is needed for each to fully understand and implement its own role. Similarly, the process of negotiation and collaboration needs time and effort to be effective. This is indicated by the fact that the pilot has taken longer than all involved anticipated.
4. A neutral forum. The perceived 'neutral' role of OneWorld in the sector has helped foster co-operation among the partners, and perhaps reduced competition from elsewhere in the sector. Additionally, it has brought non-sector interest to the e-conference, which was demonstrated clearly in the environmental interest in strategic sanitation planning.
5. New skills are needed. Engaging in such activities requires that organisations learn new skills. For example, running an e-conference requires learning about moderation, summarising and reporting, as well as promotion and publicity. At the project level, it includes process facilitation to help keep partners involved and motivated.
6. Participation is possible. The e-conferences have stimulated much participation, from a wide range of people and places. E-mail is more widespread that we think, especially in the South. More than expected contributions to the conferences have been received from developing world participants.
7. Participants are willing. If the discussions are focused, well managed, and on 'hot' topics, people are willing to contribute. Technical and content 'enablers' are crucial.
8. Absorption capacity is a constraint. While people may be interested and willing to participate, the evaluations indicate that they frequently have insufficient time to absorb what they receive.
9. The content spills over. While the e-conferences were focused on the water and sanitation sector, the issues discussed - decentralisation, joint action, the role of the private sector, etc - are very relevant to people interested in, for example, institutional development and aid management. The Netherlands based CIRAN Indigenous Knowledge network expressed interest in contributing to the background paper for the fourth conference.
10. The approach is 'hot'. In all sectors of development, there is substantial interest in the approaches and tools used in this project.
11. An information explosion. The sheer number of existing initiatives in the sector and finding ways to interact with them is [going to be] a challenge in the future. Similar booms in activity in the information sector and in World Bank activities in this sector pose a challenge to be noticed, to have impact, and to keep up.
12. Triggering new activities. New ways of working and new activities have emerged as a result of the Think Tank series (ie, WaterAid established a forum between country offices; GARNET facilitated offline workshops in Bangladesh and Colombia; IRC has involved southern partners in the development of the fourth e-conference and used the ouctomes in a new publication on Streams of Knowledge.

See for a more detailed overview: Electronic Conferencing and On-line Dialogue for Development Purposes