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THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE TAP-NETs
(OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES, ORGANIZATION AND EVALUATION)
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Hon. David Chapfika, Deputy Minister of Finance
and Economic Development, Zimbabwe, presenting
a keynote address at the Opening Session of
the Second Annual Meeting of the TAP-NETs,
April 2005, Harare, Zimbabwe. |
OBJECTIVES
The fundamental objective of a TAP-NET is to provide
a pool of technical and professional expertise
that will supplement existing skills in the Foundation
in order to raise the quality of its operations.
Thus, a TAP-NET is established and maintained to
support the activities of the Secretariat in each
of the Foundation’s six core competency areas
and, where possible, provide the Executive Board
and Board of Governors an idea management tool
through which they can broaden consultation and
review specific issues and questions relating to
capacity building. A TAP-NET is expected to achieve
the following specific objectives, namely to serve
as:
- An institutional support for reviewing
aspects of the Foundation's activities and
adding value to its operations;
- An idea management
tool for the Secretariat to seek professional
opinion on issues and discuss
ideas in greater depth;
- A professional arm
to steer the development of the respective
thematic network or community
of practice with the facilitation of the Foundation;
and
- A consultative platform that African
policymakers could draw on for ideas and best
practices
in capacity building and development management.
ACTIVITIES
TAP-NETs are structured to operate on the basis
of Annual Work Plans, guided by ACBF Annual Business
Plans, as well as responding to stakeholders’ expressed
needs. Thus, within the remit of the Foundation’s
six core competency areas, each TAP-NET is expected
to carry out the following, among others:
- Provision of technical and advisory
support to the Foundation (the Secretariat and
the Boards)
and its stakeholders in the development and
appraisal of projects and programs designed to
build and
strengthen capacity in the relevant core competence
area;
- Contribution by means of technical and advisory
services to the growth of the Foundation's
knowledge generation and sharing programs. Support will be
expected in the following areas, among others:
- Active participation as a member of
the community of practice or relevant
thematic network of which
the TAP-NET would be the technical
organ;
- Participating, leading or coordinating
relevant operations and thematic
research and publications
on capacity building and development
management;
- Contribution to Lessons
Notes to share best practices or avoidable
pitfalls in capacity building and
development management in Africa;
- Participation in the provision of
knowledge-related services ?
capacity profiling or needs assessment
exercises, research to fill information
and knowledge gaps, publications,
etc;
- Participation in Network
seminars and workshops;
- Participation
in synthesizing abstracts from research
or policy
analysis
work undertaken in
the area of the TAP-NET's operations;
- Participating in the ACBF-sponsored
Senior Policy Makers’ and Development
Managers’ Knowledge
Sharing Program (SPM-KSP);
- Participating in the ACBF Annual Lecture
Series in
Capacity Building;
- Participating
in the forthcoming ACBF Annual
Lecture Series
in Capacity Building;
- Giving
policy presentations at the ACBF Annual
Board
of Governors Meeting;
- Preparation
of Issues Papers (Policy Briefs)
on Capacity
Building or Development
Management
in Africa.
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The late Honorable Hawa
Yakubu, former member of PARLIANET; and Member
of Parliament and Cabinet Minister, Ghana;
and former Member of the ECOWAS Parliament.
Hon. Yakubu raised the visibility of the
TAP-NETs at their formative stages in important
forums on the Continent. This picture was
shot at the Second Annual Meeting of the
TAP-NETs, April 2005, Harare, Zimbabwe.
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ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT Each TAP-NET is organized as follows:
- Its establishment was guided by KMPSD and managed
by the Foundation's Knowledge Management Team
(KMT). Initial coordination responsibility was
vested
in KMPSD, and is being progressively devolved
to the TAP-NETs where the coordination function
shall
be the province of the Chair, Vice-Chair, and
the Coordinating Secretary, with KMPSD retaining
merely
the facilitating function;
- As the TAP-NET firms
up its operation, the KMT, with the guidance
from the Foundation’s
management designates a coordinator for its
activities and
guides its transition into a community of
practice;
- There is an annual budget under KMPSD
to support the activities of each TAP-NET
and this is managed
by the responsible KMT. The budget depends
on the size of the TAP-NET and the scope
and scale of
its activities;
- Each TAP-NET has a web
site and its members are allocated passwords
for access;
- The web site of a TAP-NET gradually
evolves into a web site for the targeted
community
of practice or thematic network. Thus,
the starting point in
the development of the targeted thematic
communities of practice is the relevant
TAP-NET. The portal
for the community of practice is accessible
without a password and is devoted to
generating and sharing
knowledge and information. The web
site (and subsequently web page following
the emergence
of the relevant
community of practice or thematic network)
for the TAP-NET is accessible to members
only by means
of a password;
- Each TAP-NET, though
managed by KMPSD, is expected to interface
with project
and program
operations
across the Foundation’s entire
operational zones and departments.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
The performance of each TAP-NET is evaluated every
year to ascertain the level of its effectiveness.
The evaluation examines overall performance and
the contribution of each member of the Network.
Last Updated: 18 May 2007
Queries to be directed to: Dr. Genevesi Ogiogio
at g.ogiogio@acbf-pact.org
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