This document discusses learning and knowledge sharing within a network. It asks members what they want to learn, how they like to learn, and their most meaningful learning experiences. Members requested tools like online tutorials and a knowledge base. The document discusses how the network and its facilitators can help members access and disseminate knowledge more efficiently. Members are divided into breakout groups to discuss challenges, knowledge dissemination, and the roles of facilitators in addressing needs.
7. What is the most
significant learning
experience you have
had since joining the
network?
What is the most
significant
professional learning
experience you have
had in your life?
What made these
experiences so
meaningful?
8. Your role, our role
You asked for:
•Toolkit development
• Online tutorials
• Knowledge base and exchange
• Product development and innovation – testing platform
• Academic research
‘YBI-facilitated interaction’ – how efficient?
9. Your role, our role
To maximize the potential of our network, are there more
creative and efficient ways we can get knowledge and
learning into the public space for those that need it, when
they need it?
11. Informing a practical future strategy:
discussion in breakout groups
Group 2
Russia
Bangladesh
Dominica
Indonesia
Poland
Bulgaria
Jamaica
Nepal
Sietske
Group 1
USA
Brazil
Chile
France
Paraguay
Bhutan
Hoang Anh
Group 3
Singapore
Belize
Bolivia
Hong Kong
Kenya
Uruguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Gina
Group 4
Australia
China
Guyana
Israel
Mexico
Sri Lanka
Syria
Ukraine
Andrew F
Group 5
Argentina
Barbados
Canada
India
Scotland
South Africa
Saudi Arabia
Anne Marie &
Kevin Cornwell
12. Questions for discussion
1. What are our most significant learning/knowledge challenges?
1. How can we best access/disseminate the knowledge and experience
within the network to address these needs?
2. What is the role of YBPs and YBI in this process?
Intro: 20 mins
Breakout groups: 30 mins
Each group reports back: 5 mins each
Q&A: 15 mins
STEVE
There is much we can learn from one another in the network
Different programmes will have different learning needs and interests
Some will be quite specific to a particular stage of development (eg. starting a programme from scratch, scaling-up from a single location)
Some of these will be more about core programme activities (eg. mentoring, lending, entrepreneur training)
Some will be more related to support activities, especially critical activities like fundraising, or advocacy activities that promote the cause of entrepreneurship and your programme (eg. G20, GEW)
SARAH (Before bringing up the pictures):
Everyone likes to learn in different ways; group interaction and sharing – like we are all doing here at the global forum, or in smaller group workshops, is often one of the most intensive and fun ways to learn. But it’s expensive and not always the most efficient!
Aggregating knowledge and making it available to people online is a good way of helping people to access the information they need when they need it;
the effort and cost to produce these sorts of tools and guidelines is great, and it is not always clear how well utilised they are (recent stats: 30 countries have accessed it, 170 visits, each YBP has visited 5.5 times)
Ref Boris’ presention in previous session: it needs YBPs to understand their learning needs and identify what they need to know and improve on)
More informal ways of sharing, building on existing platforms such as linkedin are a good way to get lots of opinions and experiences shared very quickly.
But! It relies on people responding and being ‘linkedin’ in more ways than one.
It has taken some time for the linkedin group for the global forum to really start functioning, and it is still only engaging perhaps 1/3 of the network.
There is no substitute for one-to-one support and guidance.
In our network, YBI makes visits to YBPs, but YBPs also support one another, especially more mature organisations who are able to mentor less mature programmes in their region, or in other regions.
We are also developing an ‘external advisor’s scheme which will secure experts in a particular field to provide specific targeted support to programmes that need it on a pro bono basis. This should be operational during the first half of 2011
STEVE
(Bring up the first question):
You will find a pad of post-it notes on your table with different colours . Take one post-it note and write a response to this question
(Bring up the second question):
Then write a response this question
(Bring up the third question):
Now write a response to this question
Keep hold of your post-it notes. You will need them later!
SARAH
As Andrew mentioned in the previous session, from August-November 2009, Accenture employees on an ADP project undertook research for YBI’s Targeted Support Strategy with a group of programmes in the network (12 accredited YBPs and 2 pilots, Russia and Indonesia). The project asked ‘In what way can YBI and the YBPs best support the Network’s growth ambitions’.
‘Knowledge-sharing’ emerged as one key component for meeting YBP needs. Here are some of the things you said would be helpful in this area. Some of them we are already doing/working on:
Toolkit development – YBI will develop a number of toolkits which will contain information and best practices about how to run the core operations and support operations of a YBP (eg. YBI’s Mentoring Toolkit; YBI currently working on a YBP Start-Up Kit)
Online tutorials – YBI will conduct online training (real-time or recorded tutorials) for the YBPs about how to run the core operations and support operations of a YBP or how to use a specific toolkit (eg. YBI currently working on something like this for the mentoring toolkit and for OMS)
Knowledge base and exchange – YBPs will send their knowledge documents (eg. operations manuals, successful proposals) to YBI who filters and posts these on an online knowledge exchange which can be accessed by the whole network. (We currently do this informally but are still working out the appropriate IT platform to host these documents)
Product development and innovation – YBI will originate new product/services from within the network or external parties and test them with one or a select number of YBPs. If successful this can be rolled out to the rest of the network; and YBPs who want to develop an innovative new product/service can submit a business case seeking YBI support (ie. financing, co-development) – (this is very much the approach that YBI took with OMS; keen to explore this further)
Academic research – YBI will set-up relationships with research institutes (eg. universities) which will perform specific research on aspects of YBP activity eg. mentor attrition rate, YBP financial benchmarking etc
All of these suggestions emphasised YBI leading the interaction between YBPs for these
activities, but is this really desirable/realistic/appropriate? YBI has a finite amount of
resources, so we will have to prioritise these activities, meaning that some will have to
be postponed while we work on others. This means that some people’s learning needs
are not being met when they most need support. Not all activities need YBI to lead on
them, and some may be better led by programmes (eg. online tutorials, knowledge-
base and exchange).
In the spirit of being an active network, are there more creative and efficient ways we
can get knowledge and learning into the public space for those that need it, when they
need it?
STEVE
One creative approach we have been working on is the Making Entrepreneurship Work series (Steve handover) You should all have received copies of these publications in your delegate packs. We launched the series in 2009 with a paper called Recommendations for Action that sought to demonstrate key actions that governments, businesses and civil society organisations could take to help young people start up their own business.
More recently, we launched the YBI Network Approach which highlights effective operational approaches and strategies of 3 member organisations (BYST in India, CYBF in Canada and Fundacion Impulsar in Argentina).
These publications were put together by Helen Gale, YBI’s newly appointed Research & Policy Manager, who has been in touch with several of you to see how we can work together to produce more reports like these two.
These publications started out as advocacy tools, but as we’ve seen with the most recent one, they can serve a dual purpose since they represent a capturing of knowledge that can be used internally and externally. Is this a clever and efficient way of maximizing our limited resources to best effect? Is this something we should be doing more of?
Keep slide blank
In light of what we have just shared, we would like to invite you to reconsider the subject of knowledge-sharing as a complete group now (rather than the more select group in the targeted support strategy), and help us to shape a workable future plan that makes the best use of everyone’s skills and resources.
We would like to divide you into 5 groups that we hope reflects, to some extent, your peers in terms of programme development and maturity (bring up groups slide) We have also put one YBI staff with each group to help facilitate the discussion
SARAH
You have 30 minutes to discuss these questions in your groups, then we will reconvene as a group. Please nominate one person in your group to take notes and report back to the main group again. Please bring your post-its to the group to get the conversation going.