Global Cafe in Practice

[ANNE MWENDE NDOLO]

During an interactive lecture given by Ms. Ritu Nanda on Knowledge Based management and evaluaiton at the National Institute on Labour, Economics and Man Power Research, we had an opportunity to practice Global Café. Four groups were formed that undertook the following questions?

Group 1.

How is knowledge captured? Is anything missed?

Group 2.

How is knowledge organised? Is everything accessible?

Group 3.

 How is knowledge shared? Are all staff able and willing to be open with others?

Group 4.

How is knowledge used? What's in place to ground discussions in evidence where you work?

The groups were given 10 minutes to work on the various topics above. After 10 minutes every group left there workspace and went to check what other groups had tackled and added any information they thought the other group left out. This was done until all four groups had been to every workstation of all the each group. The following were the results of that activity:

HOW IS KNOWLEDGE CAPTURED?

- Through sharing of experiences - By trainings - Through study - Mentorship - Induction

- Through observations - Through experimentation - Through shadowing - Media - Counselling

- Public speaking - Peer reviews - Research - From documents - Internet - Online backup (google drive)

- Policy recommendations

HOW IS KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZED?

- Shared drives - weekly archives - Drop box - Database - Brochures - Reports - Books and Journals

- Library - Intranet - MIS - Thesis, Research proposals - Documentaries - Films - Audio tapes

IS EVERYTHING ACCESSIBLE?

NO.

HOW IS KNOWLEDGE SHARED?

- Though meetings - Committee - Workshops/ conferences - Face to face - Email, telephones, social media - Lectures - Trainings - Open access from drives - School - Story books - Newsletters - Press releases - Social Mapping - Story telling

ARE STAFF ABLE AND WILLING TO BE OPEN WITH OTHERS?

NO.

-  Seniors normally dominate.

YES

- Everyone has a say. It depends on the story.

HOW IS KNOWLEDGE USED?

- To formulate policy - For decision making - For capacity building -For formulation and dissemination of reports - For performance improvement

WHAT'S IN PLACE TO GROUND DISCUSSIONS IN EVEIDENCE WHERE YOU WORK?

- Steering committees - staff meetings - workshops/conferences - stakeholders meetings - Annual plans - Evaluation meetings.

We were able to complete in such a short time and able to capture almost everything if not all of the information required on each question. I learned a lot and am going to apply this in future in my work place. We appreciate you Ms. Ritu for sharing your knowledge with us.

 

[Ranjani K.Murthy]

Dear Rituu

Can you kindly englighten me as to what is global cafe? How can it be useful in development context Thanks

Ranjani

[Rituu B Nanda]

Anne, you posted it:-) I am glad it was of use. Greetings to everyone in the class. Would love to see you again.