Brown Bag Seminars Series

As part of its knowledge generation and sharing program, the Foundation started organizing a Brown Bag Seminar Series in 2003. The Series is devoted to sharing insights, intuitions, concepts, tools, techniques, ideas, practices, new applications, skills, experiences and major research findings that could contribute knowledge in capacity building and development in Africa. Presentations at the Seminar Series are not necessarily rigorously researched papers. They are largely seminal thoughts that could form the basis of an extensive research and capacity building program by the Foundation.

The ‘Brown Bag” seminars are held at frequent intervals to promote a culture of information exchange and learning at the level of the Secretariat. The Seminars are also intended to generate knowledge as well as provide a forum for discussion of pertinent issues at national, regional and international levels that impact on Africa’s development.

Presenters at the Seminar Series are drawn from professional staff of the Foundation, members of the Foundation’s Technical Advisory Panels and Networks (TAP-NETs), prominent visitors to the Foundation, senior professional staff of ACBF partner institutions, Directors and professional staff of ACBF-supported institutions, development managers, policy practitioners, policy analysts and researchers. Presentations are expected to be succinct and should contribute to learning, knowledge and information sharing. Participants at these seminars come from partner institutions, government departments, academia, and the private sector, among others.

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ACBF BROWN BAG SEMINAR: CAPACITY BUILDING FOR PROMOTING TRADE AND INVESTMENT IN AFRICA

Dr. Gibson Guvheya presenting at the Brown Bag Seminar.

On October 24, 2008, the Knowledge Management Department of ACBF held its third Brown Bag Seminar. Dr. Gibson Guvheya, Knowledge Management Officer, made a presentation on the topic - Capacity Building for Promoting Trade and Investment in Africa. The seminar was chaired by Ms. Rutendo Kambarami and attended by ACBF staff members and invited guests

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From Project Implementation Units (PIUs) to Budget Support: a Reflection on Project Implementation Practice

On 11 October 2007, the Foundation held its second Brown Bag Seminar for the year 2007 on the theme: ‘From Project Implementation Units (PIUs) to Budget Support: A Reflection on Project Implementation Practice”. The seminar was presented by Mrs. Maria Nita Dengo, Program Officer, Operations Zone I, and chaired by Dr. Gibson Guvheya, Coordinator of the Brown Bag Seminar Series. Invited guests and ACBF staff member took part in the seminar.
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Knowledge Harvesting: An Impetus for Capacity Building in sub-Saharan Africa – The Case of ACBF’s Senior Policymakers’ and Development Managers’ Knowledge Sharing Program (SPM-KSP)

Dr. Kobena Hanson, Knowledge Management Officer, Knowledge Management and Program Support Department, making his presentation on "Knowledge Harvesting: An Impetus for Capacity Building in sub-Saharan Africa - The Case of ACBF’s Senior Policymakers’ and Development Managers’ Knowledge Sharing Program (SPM-KSP)"

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The 2007 ACBF Brown Bag Series kicked off on March 2, 2007 with a compelling presentation by Dr. Kobena Hanson, Knowledge Management Officer at the Knowledge Management and Program Support Department (KMPSD), on the theme: “Knowledge Harvesting: An Impetus for Capacity Building in Sub-Saharan Africa – The Case of ACBF Senior Policymakers and Development Managers’ Knowledge Sharing Program (SPM-KSP)”. The seminar’s paper builds upon the presentation made by Dr. Hanson on the Senior Policymakers Program at a 3-day workshop organized by the Global Development Network in Johannesburg, South Africa during the last quarter of 2006.

In his presentation, Dr. Hanson highlighted the centrality of knowledge for development in Africa in this era of knowledge economy. Making explicit or tacit/implicit knowledge readily available to researchers, development practitioners and policymakers amongst others, is therefore key to bolster capacity building and development initiatives on the African continent.

Dr. Renneth Mano, Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, University of Zimbabwe, making a point during the seminar.

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The presenter further argued that knowledge management (KM) tools, such as knowledge-harvesting and knowledge-sharing systems, can be effectively employed to leverage knowledge – both locally and externally generated – to bridge the development gap between sub-Saharan Africa and the developed world. He indicated that one of the key instruments in the Foundation’s knowledge management toolkit is the Senior Policymakers and Development Managers’ Knowledge Sharing Program (SPM-KSP). This program provides a platform to elicit and extract tacit/implicit knowledge from development practitioners who have made significant contributions to the development process in Africa or other developing regions, and are willing to document and share their experiences for the benefit of future development efforts in Africa. In concluding, he stated that knowledge management can become a powerful tool in capacity building, if adequately harnessed and effectively used to address globalization, development and capacity building challenges.

The seminar was chaired by Dr. Gibson Guvheya, Coordinator of the ACBF Brown Bag Seminar Series and Knowledge Management Officer, and attended by ACBF staff members as well as invited guests particularly from the academia and ACBF-supported projects in Zimbabwe (ZWRCN, ZEPARU).

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The Library and Information System as a Knowledge Resource

Mr. Jasper Muvezwa, Head of Library and Information Center, Knowledge Management and Program Support Department, presenting the paper at the seminar

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On December 8, 2006, the Foundation held its seventh Brown Bag Seminar for the year 2006. The seminar, presented by Mr. Jasper Muvezwa, Head of Library and Information Center, Knowledge Management and Program Support Department, focused on: “The Library and Information System as a Knowledge Resource”. The seminar was chaired by Dr. Gibson Guvheya, Coordinator of the Brown Bag Seminar Series, and attended by ACBF staff members as well as guests from the British Council and the US Information Service.

Mr. Muvezwa emphasized that competence to deploy information and facilitate its transformation into knowledge is crucial for the emergence of the knowledge economy. With the advent of information and communication technologies (ICT) and globalization, he indicated that the prospect of the knowledge economy presents “leapfrogging” strategies for Africa, which could accelerate the development of the continent. Africa would have a richer development opportunity set than was available to Western countries at comparable levels of development in their economic history. He highlighted the critical role that libraries could play in the transformation of African countries into knowledge economies, through the modernization of their traditional information collection and dissemination structures, thereby enabling the continent to participate in the global information revolution.

Invited guests and ACBF staff during the seminar.

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The presenter further discussed the transformation process of libraries into knowledge resource centres, which would fuel the demand for a wide array of library services and expertise from library patrons. Taking the ACBF Resource Centre as a showcase, he provided indications as to how the ACBF Library could emerge as a knowledge resource center for the continent, while also serving as an important tool for the achievement of the Foundation’s Strategic Medium Term Plan (SMTP II) goals.