Findings from knowledge management (KM) needs assessment workshops held by the six countries belonging to the Coral Triangle (CT6) were analyzed and synthesized at a Needs Assessment and Detailed Implementation Planning Workshop held in Tagaytay City, Philippines on 2-4 February 2011.
The last countries to hold their respective needs assessment workshops were the three CT countries in the Pacific: Papua New Guinea (PNG) on 17 February 2011, Solomon Islands on 4 November 2010, and Timor Leste on 17-18 November 2010.
In the Solomon Islands, 22 participants from government and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) shared strategies for effectively sharing information on the CTI. Ms Delvene Boso, Research Analyst of The WorldFish Center and a CTI Knowledge Integrator helped organize the workshop. She said there is a need for local knowledge to be utilized and acknowledged in CTI knowledge sharing. She suggested that among those considered as appropriate media for knowledge sharing were handheld radios, video, and materials that use the local language.
In Dili, Timor Leste on the other hand, a total of 60 participants, including 12 from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), attended the needs assessment workshop on 17-18 November 2010. MAF Secretary General Lorenco Fontes Borges graced the opening program.
The Philippines was the first to hold a needs assessment workshop on 27 August 2010 back-to-back with the Philippine CTI NCC-organized Workshop on the Implementation of the CTI National Plan of Action (NPOA). Malaysia had their assessment with two formal meetings with the Malaysia NCC, the first held on 20 September 2010 with Kuala Lumpur-based NCC members and the second with the Sabah-based NCC members in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
The needs assessment for Indonesia consisted of two formal meetings with the Indonesia NCC and several one-on-one meetings with selected officials and staff of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), the institutional Chair of the Indonesian NCC, on 23-24 September 2010.
These workshops were held under the auspices of ADB RETA 7307: Regional Cooperation in Knowledge Management, Policy, and Institutional Support to the CTI.
The two-day workshop held recently in Tagaytay City sought to build consensus on the findings of the needs assessment work conducted by the PRIMEX TA Team in the CT6, particularly on the strengths and weaknesses of the countries in applying KM principles and processes. Knowledge products and processes to be implemented in each CT country were also agreed upon at the workshop, and a detailed implementation plan for institutionalizing KM in support of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) was prepared by the workshop participants from the CT6 national coordinating committees (NCCs).
The outputs of the workshop will be incorporated in the Needs Assessment Report, now under preparation by the TA Team. The said report will be presented for validation by representatives of the CT6 NCCs, ADB, and CTI development partners at the Regional Needs Assessment Workshop to be held at the ADB headquarters in Manila on 15-16 March 2011.