The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) is a six-country program of regional cooperation to sustainably manage coastal and marine resources in the Coral Triangle (CT) region. The CTI has now been embraced by leaders of the CT6.

The CTI was proposed by Indonesian President Yudhoyono in August 2007 and launched in Bali in during the first CTI Senior Officilas Meeting (SOM) in December 2007. President Yudhoyono requested that ADB provide technical and financial assistance to support the preparation of CTI plans of action (POAs) and serve as the lead agency for CTI to access resources from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This "Regional Cooperation on Knowledge Management, Policy, and Institutional Support to the Coral Triangle Initiative" (RETA 7307) is a direct response by ADB to the request of the President of Indonesia.

Aims

• This RETA aims to strengthen regional policy dialogue and coordination among CT6 stakeholders. It will focus on cross-border issues directly affecting the sustainability of the Coral Triangle region's economy and its environment. It will also promote measures for good governance in the use and management of the marine resources in the subregion.
• It will facilitate CTI-wide information exchange and learning, including program management and coordination support.
• The RETA will also encourage policy and program development based on scientific knowledge, global best practices, and participatory processes involving the CT6 and the CTI DPs.

Expected Impact, Outcome, and Outputs

Its intended impact is strengthened management of coastal and marine ecosystems in the CT. Its expected outcome is strengthened cooperation among the CT6 countries and the establishment of policies, institutions, and associated investments to realize the sustainable management of CT coastal and marine ecosystems.

Outputs:

1. Strengthened CTI regional cooperation
2. Established regional learning mechanisms for CTI
3. Implemented communication and information dissemination plan
4. Established sustainable financing schemes for NPOAs

Vision for Knowledge Management

The RETA values knowledge as an important resource for sustaining the CTI for food security and improved livelihoods in the region. Knowledge can be defined as the capacity for effective action ("what works").

The RETA will strive to ensure that appropriate knowledge is available at the right time, at the right place, in the right shape, of the required quality, and at the lowest possible cost. This is the essence of knowledge management (KM).

KM involves sourcing or deploying at least four types of knowledge assets:

• people
• processes and structures
• stakeholder or support from outside the organization, and
• technology

so that they create value for individuals, organizations, communities, and countries in the CTI region.

Promoting a culture of knowledge sharing on the CTI

The RETA is committed to the following KM principles :

• a knowledge culture characterized by wide information distribution and shared responsibility for building knowledge;
• trust and respect among CTI stakeholders as equals and valuing collective decision-making and action;
• openness to mistakes in a rationale, positive way as part and parcel of ongoing learning and improving processes for the CTI; and
• commitment to shared CTI goals and respect for diversity in initiatives and ways of working in the region.

At the same time, the RETA will respect country protocols and intellectual ownership of data, information, and knowledge. It will build a strong country focus that can then shift to regional sharing where appropriate.

Developing knowledge products for diverse stakeholders

The RETA will build knowledge products around the integration of the three overarching themes of coral reef conservation, fisheries management, and food security into the CTI. Examples include policy briefs and appropriate modules/presentations for policymakers and events where policy recommendations may be discussed at various levels. These knowledge products will help identify the potential benefits and costs of policy and management options. The RETA Team's outputs will show the economic benefits from adopting policies and management systems that build the linkages between these three overarching CTI themes.

The RETA supports a vision of a knowledge system that is adaptive, i.e., it would evolve in the process of implementation and generating feedback, allowing for innovation and strategy among CTI stakeholders. It will adopt an overriding KM framework that involves interactions and interrelationships among three components of adaptive and social learning, knowledge sharing and use, and knowledge creation, as illustrated below.

Strategy

Learning, knowledge exchange, and communication initiatives in the CTI will primarily be taking place within the initiatives of the CT6. Key stakeholders will include the following:

• National Coordinating Committees (NCCs) lodged in focal government agencies that have oversight over the implementation of National Plans of Action (NPOAs)
• researchers who would make up the science advisory committees (SACs)
• the development community
• policymakers and legislators
• civil society, including local communities and the private sector, and
• other champions engaged in marine and coastal activities within the CTI area.

The idea is to facilitate horizontal and vertical integration of various ongoing marine and coastal resource management endeavors via multi-way communication flows towards a concerted CTI.

This KM and communication strategy will provide for capture, storage, and search facilities for information and database management, mindful that a full-functioning knowledge management system makes for 10 processes of (i) capturing and storing, (ii) searching and retrieving, (iii) sending of critical information to individuals or groups, (iv) structuring and navigating, (v) sharing and collaborating, (vi) synthesizing, (vii) profiling and personalizing, (viii) solving or recommending, (ix) integrating, and (x) maintaining.

The TA will engage these key stakeholders in building up a State of the Coral Triangle Report (SCTR). The SCTR will provide the thematic areas for learning, knowledge exchange, and communication strategies, where the CT6 may feed into a regional platform of needs-based solutions exchange and peer mentoring.

Knowledge obtained from different sources and expert inputs from various ongoing government- and donor-supported initiatives would then be organized along the thematic areas covered by the SCTR, as scattered within the large circle in Figure 2 above.