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WHAT ARE WE AIMING AT?
What's the purpose of a documentation process? Even if we all talk about a "learning process", those involved in documentation, capitalisation or in systematization activities mention different reasons for carrying them out. Whatever the reason, it is important that it is clear before a process starts.
Looking in detail at my experience takes lots of time that I cannot dedicate to other important work. Why should I do it?
Facilitate a knowledge-building process
Participants of the ABA workshops, Brasilia, November 2009
The Brazilian agroecology network organised a series of workshops throughout 2009, all of them in preparation for the 6th Congress of Agroecology which took place in Curitiba, in southern Brazil, during the first week of December. During these workshops, representatives of many different extension, research and education organisations got together to discuss their work and share the main lessons coming out from it. If documentation is part of a broader process that aims at building knowledge, then it should encourage dialogue between different types of knowledge. This must be a process which does not follow a blue-print approach, and one in which farmers are themain actors. It requires a thorough understanding of the context in which it take splace (in terms of economy, ecology, culture, politics, etc.), and it should permanently focus "not on what it should show, but rather in what is actually taking place". Its main objective is to lead to empowerment, and to the establishment of a learning network.
Contribute to wider knowledge... and more
Esteban Tapella, October 2009
In "Advocacy for change", a short booklet published by Action Aid, Esteban Tapella presents some basic concepts and considerations. Mr Tapella, an Argentinian social worker specialised in development issues, points that "the decision to systematise lies in the idea that experiences must be used to generate understanding, and that lessons learned can improve ongoing implementation and contribute to wider knowledge". Looking further at the different purposes of a systematisation process, he says that such an effort also serves to generate new knowledge and test the ssumptions behind a given experience, as well as to share and disseminate the lessons learned. Equally important, systematisation also serves to strengthen all stakeholders' capacities.
A bit of PR, showing what we do...
Silvano Mwakinyali, IADO, Isangati, Tanzania,
October 2009
IADO, the Isanagti Agriculture Development Organisation, went through a documentation exercise back in 2007, and has since then tried to continue documenting their work. As a result, they have produced a few publications, "which we use for finding funds. Donors always ask us 'what have you done?' and then we have something to show. We see that one of the purposes of a documentation process is to advertise what the organisation is doing. We have also translated these documents into swahili, and we show them during the annual nane-nane (the farmers' exhibition which take splace every year on the 8th of August), where we distribute them to farmers and to all sorts of professionals...".
In order to generate knowledge
Thiendou Niang, director of Afrique Communication, Dakar, Senegal
September 2009
Among the objectives of the capitalization of experiences, we must point out the generation of knowledge in order to improve our practice. This is, the collection of lessons both to improve what we are doing, and also to design new (and better) projects. The capitalization of experiences helps us inspire other actors (or stakeholders) of the development process and also those in charge of drafting new policies. It helps us strengthen our partnerships and positively contributes to the the mobilization of resources.
A community of inquiry, aiming at change
From "Transforming knowledge and ways of knowing", Michel Pimbert 2008 (Ch. 7 of "Towards food sovereignty")
"... Final objective answers matter less than processes of emerging democratic engagement. The quality and validity of this way of knowing cannot be assessed from the narrow standpoint of positivist science alone. Criteria of validation and quality need to be much broader. One important criterios of quality os whether or not this social learning opens new communicative spaces for democratic inquiry to take place. Another is whether it has contributed to the emergence of a wide community of inquiry among divergent actors..." (p. 56)
"... The learning process leads to debate about change, including confronting others' constructions, and this debate changes the perceptions of the actors and their readiness to contemplate action. Action is agreed, and implementable changes will therefore represent an accomodation between the different conflicting views. This action includes local institution-building or strengthening, so increasing the capacity of people to initiate change on their own." (p. 36)
We all have different objectives
ILEIA, December 2008
During 2007, ILEIA worked together with different organisations, all of which expressed their interest in documenting their experiences as a way of learning from them. Documentation was expected to help them define a coming phase, and to help them share their work with others. Although these organisations share common objectives, there were some differences to be seen in their general approach. The Spate Irrigation Network, for example, was very interested in the final “document”, as a tangible product which could later be shared with others, and which could be used as part of their other activities. CONCERN and DURAS were very interested in drafting a new project phase, for which they needed to identify lessons and recommendations. Naturaleza para Todos, on the contrary, seemed more interested in analysing the possibility for a greater involvement of farmers as an important step in improving a documentation process, and not in a specific document as such (as end product).
Help establish "learning networks"
AS-PTA, November 2008
As part of Brazil's Articulacao Nacional de Agroecologia, AS-PTA is carrying out several documentation processes. One of these focuses on the "systematization of experiences in the area of building agroecological knowledge", looking in detail at work carried out in terms of research, education and extension. This process is built up as part of the preparation activities of the national congress which is going to take place in November 2009. It has been organising six regional workshops and two national workshops, where representatives of more than 70 "cases" have met. One of the main objectives was to help develop "colective reflexion processes". Results until now are very encouraging.
More information coming soon.
Help shape a future programme
CONCERN, June 2008
CONCERN Tanzania implemented a 3-year programme in Mtwara, Kikolo and Iringa. We wanted to document progress with this Rights-Based Livelihood Programme, learn from our experience, and help the implementation of future programmes by capturing the implementation process and highlighting the 'momentous' events in the timeline. We wanted to analyse it and identify the key lessons that will help shape the implementation of the programme for the next period.
"To facilitate a greater understanding..."
DURAS projects, January 2008
ILEIA made a short evaluation at the end of the first documentation workshop of the DURAS projects, held in Hanoi, Vietnam. Participants spoke of their motivations and expectations from a documentation process, highlighting their interest in "discussing and alysing project experiences in detail", particularly in terms of building and making partnerships. Their purpose was "to facilitate a greater udnerstanding of what has happened and what did not happen in order to draw lessons learned and conclusions which will feed into improving future project activities". It was encouraging to hear, at the end of the workshop, that "we hadn't realised how much we needed to do this until after we have done it".
We want to share our experiences...
SEE, Alxa, China, October 2007
In October 2007 SEE started a documentation process with very clear objectives: We want more people to know not only what we do, but also how we co-operate with other organisations and the role of our NGO in social progress... We want to share our effective experiences with more people and organisations. But we don't know how to express ourselves. We always hope to learn to communicate and share our project experiences with other organisations. We do many things, but we don't know how to express it, how to form a good cause. We think this is very important for a growing local NGO...
We learn from our own work...
Spate Irrigation Network, August 2007
"A more interesting outcome is the opportunity these documentation processes bring for learning about specific activities. One of the objectives of the Spate Irrigation Network is to produce material with which their partners can learn about practical work and about spate irrigation in general: their opinion is that the results achieved so far greatly contribute to this. The man responsible for the use of videos in Eritrea mentioned that "every time I went for video recording I learnt new things on sorghum": their interest is then to share these learnings with the people they work with.
A tool for empowerment
PROLINNOVA-FLD, January 2007
In a farmer-led documentation process (FLD), farmer communities take the lead role in the documentation process. The results of such a process (FLD) are used by community members for purposes of internal learning (within the community) and exchange between communities (horizontal learning) and between communities, development agents and policy makers (vertical sharing). FLD amplifies the voice of farmers, helping them express knoweldge in their own words and theirown vision. Furthermore, FLD empowers farmers to be able to speak about their issues, concerns and experiences, to preserve and share local knoweldge, to attract external attention for their concerns.
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