Posted 28 February 1999
Prepared by Mark Keating
Office of Evaluation and Studies, International Fund for Agricultural Development
In recent years, the sharing of knowledge at a global level has become a key factor in fighting against hunger and poverty. Several UN agencies, NGOs, and other institutions have developed ways and means for capturing, managing, and disseminating the knowledge produced within. In recognition of the importance of the subject, the World Bank has dedicated its 1998/99 World Development Report to the theme "Knowledge for Development".
For knowledge to become a significant force towards effective development, it should be made available to all actors involved. UN agencies, governmental and non-governmental institutions, civil society, regional banks and other donor institutions should be able to share their experience in order to learn from one another, replicate success stories and avoid failures. The rural poor, worldwide, should be assisted to harness the knowledge relevant to their socio-economic and physical environment by enabling them to:
In light of the above, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) is weaving together technological advancements in the field of information science with the challenge of meeting human needs in making new technologies available while giving rural communities a decisive voice in their selection and application. To disseminate knowledge acquired and lessons learned from poverty alleviation, the Office of Evaluation and Studies of IFAD has developed the Evaluation Knowledge web site (IFADEVAL) and, as a sub-component, the Evaluation Knowledge Forum (EVAK). The latter has been developed within the framework of the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security, set up by FAO as a follow-up to the 1996 World Food Summit.
In 1997, the President of IFAD inaugurated the IFADEVAL web site at the Global Conference on Knowledge for Development in the Information Age, held in Toronto, Canada. Through IFADEVAL, users have now access to 80 lessons learned, drawn from the evaluations of IFAD projects on various themes, including agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas, credit and rural financial services, farm technology generation, infrastructure development, participation and empowerment. These lessons are revised from time to time, as new evidence arises, and additional lessons are added to the web site as they become available.
Other sections of IFADEVAL include: information on upcoming international conferences and workshops on evaluation; selected IFAD Studies which can be ordered on-line; links to other UN agencies, bilateral and multilateral institutions, governmental and non-governmental web sites applying lessons learned on rural poverty alleviation, and two interactive evaluation discussion fora (a general one open to all interested parties, plus EVAK, open to the members of the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security).
Following a major review of the IFADEVAL web site, EVAK became fully operational at the end of 1998. Participation is by subscription and, to this date, 24 people have registered. EVAK provides an opportunity for multilateral, bilateral, governmental and non-governmental agencies and their staff involved in rural development and food security to exchange knowledge on selected topics based on evaluations conducted in different countries and by different agencies.
One topic is discussed per each session, which lasts for approximately five weeks; the upcoming topic of discussion (session to begin on 22 February 1999) will be on Micro-finance for the Rural Poor. This session is a follow-up to the recent International Workshop on Innovations in Micro-finance for the Rural Poor, held in Accra, Ghana in November 1998. The Workshop participants (a balanced group of 80 micro-finance practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and staff from rural development funding agencies) exchanged experiences and knowledge related to innovations in micro-finance for the rural poor, established strategic partnerships, identified implications for policy and research, and defined an action plan for operational follow-up based on the set of principles and guidelines embodied in the Accra Declaration adopted at the end of the workshop. The Accra Declaration and the Workshop Recommendations will constitute the starting point for the electronic discussion.
One of the features of EVAK is that all contributions provided by the participants are published directly on the web site, thus avoiding the overflow of e-mail messages, typical of these electronic fora. For those who do not have access to the World Wide Web, but intend to join the discussion, contributions are re-directed via e-mail. At the end of each year, a selection of papers and articles received, organised by theme, will be bound together in a periodical format and distributed to all participants.
Overall, the IFADEVAL web site has been very well received by the development community, averaging about 2 700 contacts per week. Over 400 publications have been distributed to agencies, universities, institutions, NGOs and individuals, and mutual links have been established with M&E units/divisions of other agencies and institutions. Also, the feedback has been very positive, a sign that the need for sharing knowledge in the realm of rural development is deeply felt and required by the development community.
The ACC Network Focal Point (M&E Component) in IFAD is Mark Keating.