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Knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing project in Africa

!Knowledge Management and Sharing e-Questionnaire for Field Reform in Africa:

Results for the Dakar Office !

APRIL 2014 !!The primary objective of the Knowledge Management and Sharing e-Questionnaire for Field Reform in Africa is to formulate the basis for the development of a Knowledge Sharing Toolkit that will be initially implemented in 6 focal Offices. Those Offices are located in Addis Ababa, Abuja, Dakar, Harare, Nairobi and Yaoundé. The first step in the development of the toolkit is to conduct a Knowledge and Information assessment of each focal Office. The e-Questionnaire and Director Interview results provide the framework for those assessments. The e-Questionnaire was officially conducted across the 6 focal Offices in March of 2014. Questions focus on Sharing, Visibility, Records Management, Knowledge and Collaboration. Collectively, 91 out of 175 (52%) total staff participated. The Dakar Office makes up 27% of the overall participation. 22 out of 54 staff (41%) submitted surveys. Here is a visual representation of the participation percentages by Office.

!Of the 22 staff who participated in Dakar, the majority are age 40-49 (32%). 59% were Support Staff. 18% were Programme Specialists. The results of Dakar Office are as follows: !

0%

17.5%

35%

52.5%

70%

Abuja Addis Ababa Dakar Harare Nairobi Yaoundé


!You are comfortable asking colleagues for advice regarding your work activities. ! Strongly agree: 12 Agree: 6 I don’t know: 1 !!You frequently exchange work-related information and advice with colleagues in other Field Offices. ! Strongly agreed: 2 Agree: 17 !!You feel that you are recognized for your expertise and knowledge in your Office. ! Strongly agree: 3 Agree: 15 Strongly disagree: 1 !!Information is effectively shared in the following ways in your Office.

!!

Staff Meetings

Office Website

Knowledge Sharing Sessions

Informal social gatherings

Staff newsletter

Other

0 5 10 15 20

Yes all the time Occasionally Hardly ever Never I don't know


You utilize social media on a daily basis. ! Yes: 5 No: 12 N/A: 6 !!You feel that your Office could benefit from the use of social media tools. ! Strongly agree: 3 Agree: 1 Disagree: 1 !!Please specify the social media you think would benefit your Office. How would it benefit your Office? !

• Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Pinterest may be used in outreach, engaging with young people, and to increase visibility. !!

What are the barriers to effective knowledge and information sharing in your Office? !

• Hierarchical discrimination • The reticence of certain specialists • The reticence of certain colleagues • The relationship between supervisor and subordinate • Lack of time Management • No consensus on a uniform manner of approach • The tendency to work in sectorial silos !

It is easy to access the records, documents and information that you need to effectively complete your day-to-day work. ! Strongly agree: 3 Agree: 9 Disagree: 3 I don’t know: 1 !Your Office uses common practices for filing paper and electronic documents. ! Strongly agree: 3 Agree: 10


Disagree: 1 !!Do you store electronic documents in a file sharing system? ! Yes: 13 No: 3 !!You are familiar with the UNESCO Records Management intranet site accessible via UNESCOMMUNITY. ! Yes: 5 No: 2 !!The UNESCO Records Management intranet site provides you with all the information you need regarding Records Management. ! Agree: 2 No: 2 !How can RM improve their intranet site? !

• Not enough information for field offices • There is no French translation !!

You would benefit from a virtual help desk (chat service) to answer questions during your day-to-day work. ! Strongly agree: 1 Agree: 4 Disagree: 6 I don’t know: 2 !!Upon joining UNESCO, you followed an Induction programme. ! Yes: 4 No: 10 !!!!


How would you rate the efficiency of the Induction programme? ! Efficient: 3 !!You utilize these resources in your day-to-day work.

!• Other Responses:

• Search Engines • Other specialized intranets !

UNESCOMMUNITY

UNESCO Website

UNESTEAMS

DUO

WebEx

UNESCO Social Media

Other

0 3.5 7 10.5 14

Yes all the time Occasionally Hardly ever Never I don't know


What are your suggestions for improving knowledge sharing in your Office:

Other!3%

Exit procedures!13%

Induction Programme!5%

Use of social media!8%

Up-to-date Office website!8%

More staff meetings!3%

Online Conference Tools!3%

Online collaborative platforms!3% Informal social gatherings!

16%

KSS among colleagues!26%

Training Sessions!5%

Use of shared document filing!5%

Better access to office archives!3%


!Do you have any comments or feedback regarding Knowledge Sharing in your Office? !

• It would be beneficial to have a guide to KS tools in order to provide clarity and the proper contexts for use

• Organizational culture is key in improving knowledge sharing. • Implement circles of quality as a way to barter and share knowledge • Knowledge sharing is essential in UNESCO • Implementation of an Induction Programme would be useful • Organize weekly or bi-monthly KS Sessions and KS Reports for sharing. This will

create visibility to Support Staff. !!OBSERVATIONS: !The Dakar Office is tied with Harare for the second lowest rate of participation at 41%. Of the 22 surveys received, 4 were incomplete (only the introductory questions were filled-in). It is also important to note that the results are skewed toward Support Staff, as they make of 59% of the participants. It may be beneficial to conduct a follow-up survey and push for more participation. !There is not a large user base for social media. Only 23% of participants claim to use social media on a regular basis. The majority of those who do use social media say that the Office would benefit from the use of social media tools. 8% suggest use of social media as a way to improve KS. !Records Management is less of an issue here than the other offices. 93% agree that they use common practices regarding document filing. Dakar has a high usage of file sharing at 87%. Perhaps Dakar File Sharing can be tailored for adaptation, or used as a model in the focal Offices where file sharing is an issue. Regardless of the evidence of a successful file sharing system, 3 staff (1 of which was not Support Staff) say that they are unfamiliar with the file sharing system. Also, it is important to note that Dakar is the only Office which poses suggestions for improving the Records Management intranet site. !Knowledge Sharing Sessions are by far the most common suggestion for improving KS at 26%. Even though the survey completion rate is low, the Office has an environment conducive to the facilitation of KM/KS initiatives and practices. Also, unique to the other Offices, staff suggest Exit Strategies as a way to improve KS (13%). !!In conclusion, the results indicate that the Dakar Office may serve as an efficient model for Records Management and File Sharing initiatives. Regarding Knowledge and Information needs, Dakar requires an Induction Programme, comprehensive Exit Strategies, implementation of frequent KS Sessions and Social Media awareness.


!DIRECTOR INTERVIEW: !As an addendum to the e-Questionnaire results, Focal Points conducted Interviews with the Directors of their respective Offices. The Interview with the Director of the Dakar Office is as follows: !1. Which platforms are currently used for sharing info within the Office (intranet, third-party platform like Dropbox or Google Drive, etc.)? !

We currently use the intranet and file sharing for internal use. I don’t believe we are using Dropbox or Google Drive. !

1.2. How regularly are these platforms used? ! The intranet is managed through KM. We publish and circulate an e-letter on a weekly basis. File sharing is used for a variety of purposes, for example, uploading mission reports. ! 1.3 Are they efficient? ! Yes. They provide visibility. For example, study visits and results of projects are posted. and are able to circulate very quickly. More interest is drawn to projects. !2. Induction and Exit Strategies: Are they routine processes in the Office? ! Yes, but they are fairly new. HRM has made small attempts to provide induction. the exit was more paper work— signing a document closing projects ! 2.1. How are they performed? ! HRM has made small attempts to provide induction. The Exit process was more paper work—signing off on documents, closing projects, etc. But through KM these projects are now more structured. The Exit process takes place in a formal and more informal social setting. ! 2.2. Where are Exit Strategy documents kept and who has access? ! All documents are uploaded to file sharing to support institutional memory. !3. Has the Office been audited within the past three years? ! Not within the last 3 years, but there was an audit at the beginning of my transfer. ! 3.1. If yes: Was file-keeping, records management and/or archives mentioned in the audit and if so, what were the recommendations?


Yes, they were featured. This was at a time when a decision was made to do away with archival documents that were causing health hazards. However, this did not effect the archive of Financial Records, as they are necessary to keep. But many other archives had issues. Currently, we are following UNESCO rules and regulations. Also, electronic documents are archived and assistants were trained in order to facilitate the process. !4. How might we improve generation, sharing, storing and application of knowledge in the Office? ! Essentially tagging documents, uploading all reports, documents on a regular basis to file sharing. Every 6 months we prepare reports that must be accessible, and are essential to have uploaded to file sharing. ! With field reform, we must not only work at improving KM at the Office level, but also create a system where information can be retrieved at all levels. We hope the KM in Africa project will create that platform. Offices hyperlinked to a one stop shop where people can learn from colleagues. Also, establishing social media where people can share information on on-going projects. ! 4.2. Do you see any organizational initiatives that are already improving these processes? ! Yammer. UNESCOMMUNITY. Everything is moving toward or promoting the idea of improving KM and KS. It is interesting that social media is now something that is acceptable, as opposed to when it just came out and wasn’t applicable to a working environment. Now it can be used in order to improve staff comfort, and have staff become familiar with each other. Social media has the capability to bring together different generations. !5. How would you improve staff efficiency and collaboration? If possible, cite specific examples. ! There must be less dependency on paper transaction. Now, everything is electronic media. We should be using electronic platforms, for example, facilitating e-meetings, electronic approaches and processes. Practice could be improved upon by providing time for training. People need to be more at ease with technology

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