Knowledge Management for Development Journal

Call for Papers

Volume 9, Issue No. 3, December 2013

Facilitating multi-stakeholder processes: balancing internal dynamics and institutional politics

The Knowledge Management for Development Journal (KM4D Journal) is a peer-reviewed, community-based journal on knowledge management for development – for and by
development practitioners, researchers and policymakers. The journal is closely related to the
KM4Dev community of practice [www.km4dev.org] and is available at: http://journal.km4dev.org/index.php/km4dj

Volume 9, Issue 3, to be published in December 2013, will focus on facilitating multi-stakeholder processes within knowledge management for development (KM4D). It builds on the Special Issue published in May 2011 on ‘Beyond the conventional boundaries of knowledge management: navigating the emergent pathways of learning and innovation for international development’ (Guest Editors: Laurens Klerkx, Laxmi Prasad Pant and Cees Leeuwis) which focused on the links between systems thinking in knowledge management for development (KM4D) and systems thinking in innovation management for development (IM4Dev). One of the conclusions of this Special Issue was that both approaches highlight the importance of having well-established linkages and information flows between different public and private actors, and of broad-based stakeholder collaboration.

The Guest Editorial team for this issue comprises Ewen Le Borgne, Karen Buchanan, Herman Brouwer, Jan Brouwers, Laurens Klerkx and Miriam Schaap

Rationale
In line with ideas on 3rd generation knowledge management (1) which emphasizes the value of interactive learning among various groups, multi-stakeholder processes have flourished in the development arena, taking various shapes such as learning alliances, innovation platforms, dialogue forums etc.

With this stronger emphasis on these complex multi-actor processes comes the need to facilitate delicate collective processes of negotiation, sense-making and integrated action. Many methods have been developed to facilitate multi-stakeholder processes (MSPs), and much experience has been gained in terms of identifying good and bad practices and understanding the factors that play a key role in the relative success of multi-stakeholder processes. In particular institutional issues play a key role to secure ownership, support, coordination and embedding of such processes in the contexts in which they are supposed to deliver results.

This issue
In this special issue we wish to advance our thinking about multi-stakeholder processes. Our intention is not to simply showcase different facilitation approaches but rather to try and deepen our understanding of the dynamics of facilitation (and multi-community organisation and leadership) of multi-stakeholder processes and institutional issues connected to it. We would therefore like to further explore the following issues:

• What are the different functions of facilitation in multi-stakeholder processes?
• Capacity development for facilitation: how to stimulate useful attitudes towards MSP facilitation, develop skill sets of facilitators and ensure better practices are applied. To what extent can all of this be learned?
• Continuity in facilitation: how is facilitation shaped over a longer period, beyond the project that saw to the establishment of the MSP or across several subsequent projects? How is capacity shared and expanded over organisations and institutional alliances?
• Facilitation as an independent identity and core business: what are business models for it and how sustainable are these business models?
• How to adapt facilitation to the dynamics of innovation networks and platforms and create ‘autonomous’ facilitation capacity?
• What are pros and cons of internal vs. external facilitation?
• How to deal with conflicts of interest between contractors, clients, etc. at different stages of the MSP lifetime?
• How to deal with power play among various groups of interest at different levels? How can facilitation address power (im)balance issues?
• Facilitating MSPs that only represent a part of the system which it aims to change: the question of how to get the right stakeholder mix, how to bring new actors in the MSP at a later stage, and can MSPs be used to work across scales.

We welcome articles, case studies, thought pieces, publication reviews, short stories, KM4Dev Community Notes, life stories, debates, letters and annotated bibliographies from both academics and practitioners. Articles should not exceed 6000 words and can take various shapes (see ‘Types of contributions’ below).

The submission and review process leading to publication is explained below, together with a schedule.

If you would like to submit a paper, or be actively involved in this initiative in any other way, please send your abstract (minimum one paragraph – maximum one page) or your message by e-mail to km4dj-editors@dgroups.org

Guidelines for authors are available on the journal’s website:
http://journal.km4dev.org/index.php/km4dj/about


Timetable
Submission deadline for the title and abstract                     15 April 2013
Acceptance of paper proposal                                              30 April 2013
Submission of paper                                                             15 June 2013
Peer-review completed                                                        15 July 2013
Final version of paper submitted                                         30 September 2013
Publication date                                                                  1 November 2013

Notes
(1) See http://www.nancydixonblog.com/2010/08/the-three-eras-of-knowledge-m...

About the Guest Editors
Ewen Le Borgne is a Knowledge Sharing and Communication Specialist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa. Ewen has extensive experience supporting resource centre networks, learning alliances and other multi-stakeholder ‘sector learning’ initiatives in the WASH and agricultural sectors, and has written papers related to knowledge management and learning in the WASH sector. He is senior editor of the KM4D Journal and lead editor of this issue.

Karen Buchanan is Programme Development Manager at Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR, the Netherlands. Karen has a background in spatial planning and works in the fields of environment and development. She holds a PhD from University of London on the political ecology of development planning.

Herman Brouwer is Advisor on Multi-Stakeholder Processes at the Centre for Development Innovation of Wageningen UR, the Netherlands. Herman works across sectors as a policy advisor, facilitator and trainer to enable clients to collaborate more effectively for sustainable development. His current work is mainly in the sectors of food security and natural resource management, where he applies principles of stakeholder engagement and partnership brokering, and action learning.

Jan Brouwers is Advisor on Multi-Stakeholder Processes, and Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation at Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR. He leads the Innovation & Change group of CDI and consults in the area of monitoring & evaluation, theory of change and multi-stakeholder processes. Jan holds a PhD from Wageningen University on the use of indigenous knowledge of farmers and researchers in Benin.

Laurens Klerkx is assistant professor at the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group (formerly Communication and Innovation Studies Group) of Wageningen University,. His research and teaching takes place in the realm of agriculture in diverse countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Chile and New Zealand, and focuses on: changes of agricultural research and extension systems towards demand-driven systems; newly emerging intermediary structures for matching demand and supply for knowledge and facilitation of multi-stakeholder collaboration for innovation (innovation brokers); the dynamics of innovation networks and role divisions in innovation networks. Laurens has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles on these topics in journals like Research Policy, Food Policy and Agricultural systems.

Mirjam Schaap is a knowledge management & ICT supported learning advisor at the Centre for Development Innovation of Wageningen UR. Her focus is on connecting people, knowledge sharing, and facilitating learning by making use of video, ICT & web tools. She is fascinated by the use of web 2.0 tools for learning and social change.

Ewen Le Borgne, Karen Buchanan, Herman Brouwer, Jan Brouwers, Laurens Klerkx and Miriam Schaap

Guest editor team, Volume 9, No 3

Facilitating multi-stakeholder processes: balancing internal dynamics and institutional politics

Knowledge Management for Development Journal

Types of contributions
All contributions are refereed through a peer support process. Each submission is limited to a maximum of 6000 words (including notes and references), plus a summarising abstract no longer than 200 words, a short biographical summary of the authors and contact details, including postal address to send the issue by post. These papers can comprise:

Papers
·         Theory-focused papers which introduce, or advance or question scientific concepts, models and approaches in knowledge management for development.
·         Review papers which review approaches and advance the field.
·         Practice-based papers which are based on the application of knowledge management for development. Although they may be focused on practice, they need to have a theoretical basis in the literature of knowledge management and development, and take the theory a step further. Papers may use case examples to illustrate a point, but a theory or premise is at the forefront.

Case studies are generally slightly shorter than papers, with a case example at the forefront serving as a basis for the author's theories. The case studies should not exceed 4000 words and are subject to peer review.

Thought pieces are an outlet for expressing opinions, sharing new ideas, or presenting philosophical discourses. They should comprise a maximum of 2000 words and are not subject to peer review, although they should be revised in line with the comments of the Editors.

Publication reviews which review approaches and advance the field. // Which review a publication and highlight what is interesting, innovative, relevant and also not so strong in the publication + all details to access it.

Short stories are short contributions (maximum of 2000 words), reflecting a more personal tint than an article or a case study. A short story can address either personal experiences or a news-worthy topic.

KM4Dev Community notes comprise summaries of discussions which have taken place on the KM4Dev community of practice online discussion forum, or a conference or workshop report which has taken place under the auspices of KM4Dev www.km4dev.org/journal. The objective of Community Notes is to showcase the activities of the KM4Dev community. Community notes may be submitted by any member of the KM4Dev community. For examples of previous Community Notes, kindly consult the Knowledge Management for Development Journal at: http://journal.km4dev.org/index.php/km4dj
Life stories are portraits of figures from the knowledge management for development field, tracing back their crucial moments in the field, lessons learned and trends/observations for the future. These articles should not exceed 4000 words.

Debates are controversial exchanges between two persons about a specific topic in the field of knowledge management for development – for which the two persons disagree. Debates consist of a series of answers to one another, around issues introduced by a neutral voice. These articles should not exceed 3000 words. The summary and details of both authors should be shared. These articles require more preparation time.

Letters are open letters to either the editors or any person (as a reaction to a discussion, document or otherwise). These should not exceed 1000 words.

Annotated bibliographies are indeed collections of publications (books, papers, articles and other written items) that deal with one specific topic. These articles should not exceed 4000 words or 30 references. Each reference should contain full author, access, publisher and publication details. See an example in volume 7.2: ‘Bibliographie commentée sur la capitalisation d’expériences dans le développement international’