Building A Community of Interest for Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and ActionAid (REFLECT) ActionAid and REFLECT are seeking to create a variety of partnerships to augment REFLECT networks with ICT. We wish to form strategic relationships across all sectors, from private business, funding agencies, academia, to those whose primary interest is technology, and to other civil society organisations. REFLECT is an approach to literacy which fuses the theory of Paulo Freire and the practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal. (PRA). The approach was piloted by ActionAid in 1993 and has since then grown to include more than 250 organisations in more than 50 countries. Although Reflect's origin was as an adult literacy technique, it has matured as a process and is used as a tool to facilitate a variety of community based communication practices. ActionAid plays a key role in supporting Reflect; providing training and facilitating exchange and capacity development for individual circles, and local and regional networks. We have been in discussion with the Reflect Circles regarding the possibility of incorporating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into our process. We feel that there is an opportunity for many of the Reflect Circles to enhance their literacy and communication capacities through harnessing ICT. We have already established an international circle of practitioners where ideas and best practices are exchanged. We are now considering extending the e-network to support improved and continuous training for the facilitators at the grassroots of the Reflect. There are many other possibilities inherent in the application of ICT in this area. There is potential for publication, organisational, Small Medium Enterprise (SME) and network development. The information and communication tools can be locally designed to meet needs in health care, education, governance, or cultural issues. Our planning process is consistent with our philosophy of inclusion and local ownership. Indeed the design of any ICT contribution will be strictly in partnership with the relevant circles in the specific locations. Even at this early stage the discussion has been broadened to include voices from a grassroots level. The resulting operations will therefore be born from local conditions and decisions, be customised to suite specific content demands and technological capacities. Clearly criteria for objectives will have to be negotiated with all of our stakeholders. We are for example viewing this endeavour very much from a research point of view. We see the wider importance of this project and wish to generate and share favourable practices. This will be factored into our strategy. We see ourselves as favourably placed to allow for great diversity at the grassroots level but also to match suitable resources to appropriate organisations. If you are interested in contributing to this partnership in any way, more details are available regarding ActionAid, Reflect, and our process. Feel free to forward this announcement to other parties who may be interested. Please reply to the email address above. Jon Mannion Reflect ActionAid [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
