From netcom.com!amcgee Wed May 5 10:55:03 1993 Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 10:46:46 -0700 (PDT) From: "Arthur R. McGee" Subject: North and South To: "Dr. Mayuri Odedra-Straub" Cc: Carlos Alfonso , Francis Eshun , Patricia Kuntz , Bob Barad , Roy Pereira , Michael Vore , "Dr. Laurence Press" , "Dr. John Klensin" , Mark Prado , Randy Bush , Arthur McGee , Malcolm Chapman , Dee Knight , Gary Garriot Message-Id: Status: RO ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 4 May 93 18:40:27 PDT From: "Genevieve Grafe Marcus -- Ph.D." To: amcgee@netcom.com Hi Art, You've probably seen this, but just to be sure...... /* Written 12:30 pm Mar 31, 1993 by gn:ecotec in igc:en.unced.news */ /* ---------- "-- Ingredients for Networking" ---------- */ technology and information -------------------------- On the 23rd of February, 11 people from the South met in the Climate Network Africa office in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the Balancing the Future II document. On the one hand, the meeting was critical of the background materials of the conference: "too intellectual, too long, lacking in focus, and Northern in character". Nevertheless, two pressing issues were proposed for consideration in Balancing the Future II: donor/NGO relations, and networking. Networking requires a common structure, a common framework for collaboration. This framework is loose in the sense that it is continually updated through communication between its members. The autonomy of the members of a network is a basic principle. The interests of the network never surpass the interests of its members. In this respect, networks differ from organizations. What criteria can be developed/ mentioned in order to make networking the most powerful instrument available for successful collaboration? In an earlier paper of WISE and Both ENDS some principles of networking were formulated: 1. Support to NGOs in the South has to strengthen the indigenous structure of NGOs instead of undermining them. 2. Cooperation between NGOs from the North and the South has to be based on mutual respect for and understanding of the fact that the processes of growth and development are different for each of the participating groups. 3. The impact of North/South connections needs to be balanced by providing more opportunities for the development of South/South relationships. The meeting in Nairobi defined networking very much in terms of an active combination of communications technology and strategic information flows. Lack of collaboration between technology and information people has caused lots of money to be wasted on technology that is not used, as well as frustration for people who need to communicate and are lacking the means to do so. These two groups need to be brought together in a common strategy that has relevant information exchange as its goal, and use of the various available technologies as a means to achieve the goal. As current NGO discussions on global information exchange are very much dominated by technical people who are interested in establishing the "pipelines" (which does not mean that the information will flow), it was proposed to convene a session in Balancing the Future II to define a global communications strategy that focuses on: 1. The nature of the information that is needed by Northern and Southern groups. 2. The process of "tailoring" that information to reflect people's realities. 3. Available tools for linking the providers and users of information. The conference organizers feel that the meeting in Nairobi reflects the objectives pursued in the Balancing the Future II process very well. The networking workshop during the conference will have to determine whether the criticism of the African meeting on the Balancing the Future II materials is because ofsubstantial differences in orientation, or whether it is just one example of the difficulties in the practice of networking. Wiert Wiertsema (Both ENDS). To quote the report from the recent Nairobi meeting: "People at any level will only receive information if it is tailored for them, i.e. if it takes into account their traditions, is expressed in their language, and reflects their realities. The process of information sharing requires decentralized networking. There need to be many "brokers" between the international and grassroots level....... The role of the links [in a networking chain] is to provide the necessary translation of materials both ways, from international to grassroots and vice versa." Balancing the Future News Vol. 2 No. 2 March 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------------