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About ILN-Africa
Local-level Integrated Information System At the core of the ILN-Africa strategy is a Local-level Integrated Information System (LIIS) which aims at addressing the development information and knowledge access needs at the community level, with a focus on the challenge of what might be called a 'local knowledge gap' in the development process. The goal is to increase the capacity of local communities to draw on and utilize global information to better their lives. It is hoped that this increase in the ability of local communities to get better information will go a long way in addressing their needs in important areas such as food security, income generation, health and education, among many others. The social setting in which information and knowledge are encountered determine their value. Therefore, LIIS takes an inclusive, participatory, people-centred approach to information and knowledge management, making the process of generating and collating information part of the local development process, - as the outcome of people constructing meaning out of their circumstances and social interactions, enabling them to derive benefits from what they know, and thus empowering them to act. In this regard, the design and implementation of LIIS is anchored on an understanding of the traditional systems of knowledge and information acquisition and use within respective communities in relation to their adaptation to the vagaries of life, and by extension their quest for sustainable livelihoods. LIIS supports integrated local-level development. The strategy is based on what has been termed as the sense-making methodology,1 with a focus on empowering communities to use to take informed actions for their own development. It builds upon and integrates indigenous knowledge and the outcomes of socio-cultural interactions through which communities gather, share, and create meaning of information. The thrust of the implementation strategy is the creation and facilitation of a livelihoods-oriented decision support environment that helps local communities to seek and receive information and knowledge relevant to their needs, and that helps them to take collective action for progress. An opportunity-seeking approach is adopted - that is, to identify potential benefits from available assets, focusing on enhancing and maximising the value, and using these assets efficiently and sustainably as a basis of development. As an information and knowledge management capacity development framework, LIIS provides a mechanism for information collection and management, networking, exchange of ideas and knowledge, sharing experiences, learning, and the facilitation of the intelligent use of information and knowledge at the local level. By pursuing this approach, local communities are able to participate in their own development process through the preparation of community action plans that are aligned and integrated into local and national development plans. LIIS implementation involves the building of partnerships with various organisations and institutions at various levels, and providing information and knowledge support/services to and through these partners to support bottom-up capacity development for communities and group that are in direct contact with them. LIIS builds on infrastructure being put in place as part of governments' and private-sector roll-out of information and communication technologies. LIIS is currently being implemented on a pilot basis, as part of the implementation of ILN-Africa, in Ghana and Uganda in partnership with the Africa 2000 Network and other civil society organisations with support from the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, and in Zambia with the support of the UNDP Country Office. |
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Information and Learning Network (ILN) – Africa Local-level Integrated Information System (LIIS) |
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