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Documenting and Communicating Impact16 September2011
Simon Hughes
Director, Hatfield Consultants Africa

2. Hatfield Consultants

Canada, Indonesia, Botswana and Lao PDR

3. Environmental Consulting 4. Natural Resources Sector(s) 5. Development sector 6. Open attitude to collaboration , partnership and development2
7. Who am I?

BSc Hon U. Stirling, UK

8. MSc U. Stellenbosch 9. Former Researcher - CSIR 2000 2005 10. Hatfield Consultants 2005 to presentWhy am I talking to you?

Next user

11. Develop information products using outputs of research 12. Knowledge management3
13. Cut in the middle-man

Realised early on, not a scientist

14. Technical understanding 15. Can speak to decision makers and non-technical people 16. Get things done 17. Facilitating role between technocrats and stakeholders4
18. What is impact?

Impact = making a difference +/-

19. Use of results and outputs to influence policy and planning 20. Different per audience/perspective 21. Impact pathway 22. Is the question right in the first place?5
23. Your Responsibility

Research good science

24. Publishing papers International Journal of xyz, Nature/Science #1 goal 25. Research in a development context must have impact in/on society 26. Need to be flexible 27. Find ways to document and communicateimpact of research to society6
28. Networks, Partnerships Impact Pathways and the value chain
Leverage networks and partnerships
Maximise opportunities within these networks to establish relationships
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Modeller
GIS
Stake-holder
29. Knowledge Management

Knowledge

30. Training, measurement, data, information, knowledge, wisdom . 31. Networks = collective knowledge 32. Management 33. Not just storage 34. Making knowledge and information available 35. Appropriate channels, mechanisms and forms 36. Legacy/continuity8
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Dr. Peter Ashton, CSIR
38. Information hegemony
Information = power
Transboundary water management depends on cooperation
Cooperation built on trust
Trust comes from understanding
Understanding = access to information and interpretation
Need transparency and access to information to support cooperation ,and transboundary managementand planning
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39. Example of Limpopo RAK
Repackage information collected over decades by donors, technical agencies, national depts/ministries
Centralise the information for access to RBO and those engaging with TWM at institutional level
Base for access to information about the basin
1 September 2010 to 1 September 2011
38,168 Visits (97,910 Page Views)
Q. Where is the biggest user-base?
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40. Example of Limpopo RAK
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43. Documentation of outputs
Must adapt to communicate in appropriate ways, at the right time, to the right people
Communication ->> presentation
Identify boundary partners or next users who will need your results
What do they need?
What can they cope with?
How should it be presented?
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44. Presentation of information
Concise presentation
Correct language
Hit the high points what do they need to know for their interests and yours?
Develop a standardised platform for such communication- policy briefs, exec. summaries, official flyers/1-pagers
Graphical communication for impact
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45. Context
What is the context?
More water, product, money?
Indices Big Mac Index
Information graphics infographics
Maps
Report cards
Movies
Social media Facebook, LinkedIn
Media broadcast, print, etc
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46. 47. Graphical Techniques
Clich ->> picture = 1000 words
BUT, avoid horrendograms
Convey the information
Focus on the audience
Thematic information maps, diagrams
Diagrams and maps persist
Windhoek aquifer example
Map to communicate aquifer protection zone
Still on walls in government offices today
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48. Color Brewer www.colorbrewer.org
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49. Infographics Examples
50. What does a trillion dollars look like?
In $100 bills
51. 52. 53. Distance to the nearest McDonald's
54. Distance to the nearest McDonald's
55. 56. 57. 58. 59. Resources
www.flowingdata.org
www.informationisbeautiful.net
Flickr - cool data visualization techniques group http://www.flickr.com/groups/datavisualization/
New York Times Visualisation Lab www.nytimes.com
http://www.smallmeans.com/new-york-times-infographics/
TED - Technology Entertainment Design www.ted.com
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60. SADC Economic Accounting for Water Use
EU funded project = 13 reports
1000s of pages
Numerous tables, equations and formulae
GIZ supported development of website and CD-ROM to resent information in digestible form a springboard into deeper content
www.sadcwateraccounting.org
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61. Limpopo River Awareness Kit
275+ pages x 2 languages (EN & PT)
Text, maps, interactive media, documents
4 themes:
River Basin
People and the River
Governance
Resource Management
Website & CD (DVD)
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62. Rationale
Not the answer for Knowledge Management in a RBO
But provides a foundation for KM

1 Stakeholders e.g. Institutional

River Awareness Kit

2 Stakeholders e.g. Academia/Local government

63. 3 Stakeholders e.g. communities/grassrootswww.limpoporak.org
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64. CONTACT INFORMATION
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Simon Hughes
Director
HATFIELD CONSULTANTS AFRICA
PO Box 3415, Main Mall,
Gaborone, Botswana
T: +267 397 2661
C: +267 726 596 91
shughes@hatfieldgroup.com
www.hatfieldgroup.com