Issue #1                                                                                           Quarterly Newsletter / January – March 2003

Inside this issue:

1.      Introduction
2.      About Us
3.       CKC Activity Report 
4.      Summary of Ongoing Discussions /  Questions:
5.      Feature Article: What are Communities of Practice?
6.      News & Events
7.      Resources and Documents
8.      Hotlinks

                    

 

           WWW.ckc-undp.org.jo


 
Introductory Note by Mr. Ove Bjerregaard
 Former UNDP Deputy Resident Representative and Initiator of the CKC

It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the first issue of the CKC newsletter, which is designed to spread the word that there is a new resource available for practitioners and supporters of community development.

UNDP has for a long time supported community development through small grants and through pilot efforts in community based eco-tourism, such as the reserves in Dana and Asraq. More recently, i.e. over the past two years, UNDP has as a member of the Royal Commission on Jordan Information Technology Community Centers (JITCC) project been involved in rolling out 40 tele-centers around the country with 30 more to come before the end of the year.

Set up on the basis of his majesty King Abdullah II vision for bridging the digital divide these tele-centers now provide access to computer training and to the Internet in all governorates. The centers will also assume a role in promoting local development and it is with this in mind that the CKC has been established.

What we hope to do with this facility is to provide access to knowledge about community development through advisory services, which would harness the experience of the entire UN system. The CKC will also endeavor to disseminate information about subjects of interest to communities in areas such as human rights, health, youth development and livelihoods, including agricultural practices and natural resources management and information on how individuals and groups can start a business or perhaps expand one.

Above all we would like the knowledge center to be a vehicle for exchange of experience across communities so that they can learn from each other. And through our discussion groups we hope to get a much better understanding of the concerns that people have at the local level so we can play a constructive role in meeting their needs and in bringing their concerns to the attention of policy and decision makers.

The CKC is in short a tool for people who are interested in taking action to address their own needs well as the needs of the communities to which they belong. The usefulness of this tool depends on how many people would be willing to engage in discussions or make use of its services.

We hope therefore that you and your organization will take an active role and that you will help us to spread the word. If you do engage actively in such an effort, I promise you that you will be delegated to learn about the vast experience that has already been accumulated in Jordan and how you can use that experience to help communities to help themselves.

We look forward to your participation and to your feedback and ideas.

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CKC Introduction


Welcome to the Community Knowledge Center (CKC)!

 So what is the CKC?

The CKC was initiated by the UNDP office in Amman in early 2001. The idea of the CKC was inspired by the need to have an easily accessible portal in Arabic and English where information may be sought, ideas exchanged and experiences gained by community development practitioners and community members alike.

What started out as a small idea has grown into a more sophisticated site that allows for users to interact with one another, exchange ideas and views, seek information and advice from a variety of sources, and obtain information about training opportunities, events, programme and project management, capacity building, and much more. The CKC has also expanded in its structure by coordinating closely with the Sustainable Development Network Programme (SDNP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) in order to enrich the content of the site and provide a greater source of information and data for its users.

The strength of the CKC lies in its interactive Communities of Practice (COPs), which form an arena for discussion and the exchange of information, experiences, and best practices in particular thematic areas. The CKC also allows the flexibility for users to suggest new thematic areas and start up new COPs. To date, the CKC provides an arena for discussion around the following themes:

·         ICT and Development
·         Education
·         Health
·         Youth
·         Sustainable Livelihoods
·         Leadership and Management
·         Business Support and Development   
·         Poverty
·         Environment
·         Project Planning
·         Monitoring and evaluation
·         Agriculture
·         Gender
·         Research

Through these COPs, the CKC may be utilized as a tool to transfer concerns and measures of development from the field to the national and policy levels. The fact that the CKC is able to host both Arabic and English languages allows the site to reach a wider audience and promote a more participatory approach to development.

At the moment, the CKC team is relatively small consisting of a site moderator (who also moderates the GEF/SGP site) whose duty is to update the information of the site, track the submissions in the discussion forum, and provide subscribers with the information they need to utilize the site to its full capacity, and a number of technical support staff at the UNDP Amman Office, where the site was designed and developed. With the growth of the CKC, the CKC team will also grow to include an assistant and more technical support staff.

We hope you enjoy the site and all the services it has to offer and we look forward to your valuable contributions and active participation. Please feel free to contact us on tania.jordan@undp.org or tala.hussein@undp.org with any suggestions, ideas, and new information that you think should be added that will further enrich the content of the site and benefit a wider audience.

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CKC Activity Report 

The CKC is relatively new and is currently being tried and tested among a variety of groups in a number of communities. Demonstrations of the site have been conducted and feedback was received from community members on ways to improve the site and its services. The official launch of the CKC is scheduled for early 2003.
 The CKC is, however, now open for everyone to use and subscribe to. The CKC team is ready to help with any queries or problems you may have and will also welcome any suggestions or input on ways to upgrade the site, its contents and its services. Contact members of the team on tania.jordan@undp.org or tala.hussein@undp.org

 
 

Summary of Ongoing Discussions / Questions:

Sustainable Livelihoods: 1) Question on what the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is in Development and where to find reading materials on the issue; 2) Ideas on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) may be a tool for Sustainable Livelihoods.

ICT and Development: 1) Request for information on worldwide experiences in starting up and running a Mobile Internet Unit; 2) Request for information on the IT centers in Jordan. 

Environment: 1) Request for information about recycling projects in Jordan; 2) Question on how the environment relates to poverty.

Youth: Request for information on projects that encourage the participation of youth, especially through voluntary work.

Education:  Request for a list of NGOs working in education in Jordan.

Project Planning: Request for advice on how to conduct a Log Frame in project planning.

Development General: Request for information on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and references for further reading on the subject. 

Experts in these or related fields are encouraged to share their thoughts, knowledge and ideas on the subject.

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Feature Article

What are Communities of Practice (COPs)?

 

Communities of Practice (COPs) are groups of people bound informally together by shared expertise and passion for a joint cause or line of work. Such COPs may be “virtual” as is the case in the Community Knowledge Center (CKC). Here, a space is created where people may come, communicate, and connect over a topic or issue of common concern. With people sharing their experiences and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that foster new approaches to problems, the COPs become tools for driving strategy, solving problems, promoting the spread of best practices, and developing people’s professional skills. Participants in COPs learn together by focusing on problems that directly relate to their work. In the short term, this makes their work easier and more effective, and in the long-term it helps reinforce the COP and build capabilities critical to the continuing success of the work.

However, a COP will not work on its own. Its success or failure is determined by the degree of participation by its members. People can participate in different ways and to different degrees, according to what they seek to gain from the shared knowledge and experience it offers. A successful COP requires the participation of people who are fully engaged in the process of creating, refining, communicating, and using knowledge. The shared learning and interest of its members is what keeps it together.

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News and Events 

    ·       Branding
 UNDP recently adopted a new logo, which was launched on 24 July 2002, to signal the enormous progress we       have made  in becoming a more effective force for development. The new UNDP logo connects UNDP with the United Nations more closely than the previous one, while giving us  a strong identity of our own. The "building blocks" of our initials, together with the well-known UN emblem and new  blue – as opposed to green - suggest how the different parts of UNDP form one worldwide organization supporting  the values and  goals of the United Nations. Find out

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Resources and Documents

Arab Human Development Report (AHDR)

Published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, The first Arab Human Development Report was launched on 17 July 2002.  Despite the growing population, the report shows that Arab countries have made significant strides in more than one area of human development in the last three decades. However, the report also argues that the region is richer than it is developed and what the region needs to ensure a bright future for coming generations is the political will to invest in Arab capabilities and knowledge, in good governance, and in strong cooperation between Arab nations. Find out  more…


Human Development Report (HDR)

Commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Human Development Report 2002 was launched on 24 July 2002 around the world. The report entitled “Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World” offers a provocative analysis of the role that politics can play in achieving human development. It emphasized the importance of political freedoms as a goal of human development, and explores how democratic institutions help promote equitable social progress and economic growth. As in previous years, the report ranks 173 countries according to the level of human development through a Human Development Index (HDI). In this year’s report, Jordan ranked 99 with a HDI value of 0.717. Find out  more… 

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Hotlinks

JITCC’s Magazine  http://www.jitcc.gov.jo/magazine/index.html
Jordan Information Technology Community Centers (JITCC)  http://www.jitcc.jo/
Small Grants Programme SGP & the Global Environment Facility GEF   http://www.gef-sgp.org.jo
http://www.sdnp.jo

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THE CKC TEAM WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!