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| Weaving
the knowledge web for development sector of Pakistan |
6/28/2003 |
Dawn, By Seema Javed Amin
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We all come across a lot of useful informative material
in our daily lives, some of which we read; the rest, more
often than not, piles up in our to-read-later tray. The
problem is that many organizations in Pakistan are working
hard and quietly behind the scenes in collecting and analyzing
important data. Much of this information exists in isolation;
organizations, constrained by policy, are reluctant to share
them with the public at large, and are almost never woven
together in the form of knowledge networks.
But the question is: what is Knowledge Management? There
are many definitions, but according to Karl E. Sveiby's
epistemology-based understanding of Knowledge Management,
it is, "The art of creating value from an organization's
Intangible Assets." www.kmnework.com/kmdefs.htm.
The Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP)
Pakistan www.sdnpk.org,
has been trying to bring together development sector organizations
that have valuable information to share on the internet.
SDNP is now a part of the education, communication and knowledge
management group of IUCN, the World Conservation Union's
Pakistan Programme. Formerly, a global programme of UNDP,
SDNP has been working since early 1993 to promote access
to information on sustainable human development among different
sectors of society. During its initial phase, when there
were no public electronic networking services available
in Pakistan, SDNP introduced the facilities, such as email
and internet. Later, as large service providers entered
the arena of internet connectivity, it focused its efforts
on setting up development information services and building
the capacity of Pakistan's development sector in this area.
SDNP has also trained more than 260 organizations from the
development sector to set up, maintain and update their
websites, contributing significantly to the local content
about Pakistan on the web.
SDNP also held an international workshop on Urdu internet
domain names, keywords and routing to bring together experts
working in this field www.urduworkshop.sdnpk.org. Training
in web publishing has also been conducted in Urdu and Sindhi.
More than 160 information-rich Pakistani websites, related
to both Government and NGO sectors, have been set up as
a result of this activity. Other initiatives undertaken
by SDNP include the creation of district websites and Cyber
Community Centres, promotion of open software, such as Linux,
special training for women in Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs), and an Asia Pacific Development Information
Programme's (APDIP) grant to research, in collaboration
with the Pakistan Institute of the Deaf www.pad.sdnpk.org the effectiveness of
ICTs on learning of the deaf.
SDNP has also developed an online searchable news database
http://asp.isb.sdnpk.org/sdnpnews/today_news.asp
containing two years' news of over 19026 records as of 29th
May 2003 for Pakistan's development sector. News items are
only collected from five top Pakistani newspapers available
on the web. They are Business Recorder www.brecorder.com;
Daily Times www.dailytimes.com.pk; Dawn www.dawn.com;
The Nation www.nation.com.pk
and The News www.jang-group.com/thenews/index.html.
The copyright remains with the newspapers as nothing is
added or omitted.
The news items are placed in the online database under categories
that are both thematic and regional. They are agriculture;
Azad Kashmir, Balochistan, civil society, culture, drought,
economy, education, energy, environment, FATA, federal capital,
gender, governance, health, human resources, information
technology, media, Northern Areas, population, poverty alleviation,
Punjab, relief and disaster, Sarhad, science and technology,
Sindh, special sector, transport and communication, and
water.
This news system is an integral part of its flagship product
on the internet, the Pakistan Development Gateway www.pdg.org.pk, a portal for development information
and news related to Pakistan. National and international
information resources are described under 26 different development
categories. These include advocacy, agriculture, forestry
and fisheries, area development, communication and information,
culture, development administration, economic development,
education, energy, environment, gender, governance, health,
human resource development, humanitarian assistance, relief
and disaster management, human settlements, industry, knowledge
management, natural resources, political affairs, population,
poverty alleviation, science and technology, social development,
trade and development and transportation. News and discussion
forums on wide-ranging development topics are also available
on this site.
Aware that the majority of Pakistanis speak Urdu, their
national language, SDNP has also developed the Pakistan
Development Gateway in Urdu at www.pdg-urdu.org.pk.
A downloadable Urdu font is required to view this website.
SDNP has also been working on and developing databases related
to education, health, human resources and population at
the federal, provincial and district levels in the form
of District Management Information Systems in Rawalpindi
www.dmis.sdnpk.org and Thatta.
Models of e-governance, such as district websites of Abbottabad
www.abbottabad.sdnpk.org,Chakwal
www.chakwal.sdnpk.org, Chitral www.chitral.sdnpk.org,
Dadu www.dadu.sdnpk.org, Gwadar www.gwadar.sdnpk.org,
Kech www.kech.sdnpk.org,
Kohat www.kohat.sdnpk.org,
Mardan www.mardan.sdnpk.org,
and Tharparkar
www.tharparkar.sdnpk.org
have already been launched. These websites represent the
diversity of cultural heritage, customs, governance and
other related information of these districts. Both government
and civil society sources have contributed to information
on these websites and there is a great ownership among the
stakeholders for them. The issue, though, is to find an
institutional home for them.
SDNP is willing to build capacity of the relevant stakeholders
so that they are able to maintain them on a regular basis.
Work on some other district websites, such as Kalat and
Peshawar is also in progress.
SDNP is also in the process of supporting the Bureaus of
Statistics of Sindh and NWFP, and the Planning and Development
Department of Balochistan. The website of the Sindh Bureau
of Statistics contains socio-economic indicators and district
profiles of the province available at www.sbos.sdnpk.org.
The NWFP Bureau of Statistics at www.nwfpbos.sdnpk.org also contains FATA's
socio-economic indicators on area and population, agriculture,
crops production, education, health, transport and communication,
housing, labour force, electricity, local bodies, public
health engineering and annual development programmes.
The Balochistan Districts Database contains comprehensive
information on the twenty six districts in the Balochistan
province. The information goes beyond mere statistics to
cover more than 50 categories, such as administrative division,
agriculture, energy, finance, climate, health, and population,
etc. It is accessible at www.bdd.sdnpk.org.
And now, as a part of IUCN Pakistan's ECK Group, SDNP has
also developed an electronic Knowledge Web to highlight
the web resources that IUCNP has set up for the conservation
and development communities in Pakistan.
Founded in 1948 and based in Gland, Switzerland, IUCN, the
World Conservation Union www.iucn.org
is a world leader in developing knowledge and understanding
for effective conservation action. A unique worldwide partnership,
IUCN brings together states, government agencies and NGO
members, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181
countries in a global web of networks to provide a neutral
forum for dialogue and action on environment and sustainable
development issues.
IUCN Pakistan www.iucn.org/places/pakistan/index.html
has five programme offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar
and Quetta, multiple field offices, a large portfolio of
projects and a staff of nearly 300. It is one of the six
country offices of IUCN's Asia Programme www.iucn.org/places/asia,
covering 17 countries with a workforce of more than 500.
Aimed at government, civil society, media, experts, donors
and the general public, the recently launched Pakistan Water
Gateway www.waterinfo.net.pk is intended to enhance
access to information related to water resources and issues
in Pakistan available online.
The Northern Areas Development Gateway (NADG) www.northernareas.org.pk aims
to provide access to development information related to
this most picturesque of areas in Pakistan. Sixteen background
papers can be downloaded from the Northern Areas Strategy
for Sustainable Development (NASSD) www.northernareas.org.pk/nassd.
Twenty-three chapters, together with twelve maps and seven
appendices of the Balochistan Conservation Strategy (BCS)
can be downloaded from www.bcs.iucnp.org.
Eighteen chapters of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation
Strategy (SPCS) are accessible at www.spcs.iucnp.org. The district Conservation
Strategies of Abbottabad www.acs.iucnp .org, and studies and sector papers
of Chitral www.ccs.iucnp.org are all available online.
IUCN Pakistan's education unit www.edu.iucnp.org is committed to raising
the awareness of the broader community about environmental
issues and motivating all sectors of society to make commitments
to sustainable practices. The site has rich and in-depth
content pertaining to different environmental issues like
biodiversity, conservation efforts and various technical
research papers. It has two separate sections. One is for
teachers, so that they can raise environmental awareness
among
the students.
The other one is meant for kids, the content of which is
very simple and easy to understand. A unique feature of
this website is an Urdu section on environmental issues
for children.
Completely developed in Urdu, Jareeda Online www.jareeda.iucnp.org
is IUCNP's Urdu magazine and by far it's most popular publication.
Launched in 1992 under the Pakistan National Conservation
Strategy, it is dedicated to raise awareness about the challenges
of conservation and sustainable development in the country.
Pakistan is facing acute drought conditions in certain areas
of Sindh and most of Balochistan. The Drought Situation
in Pakistan www.drought.iucnp.org
keeps stakeholders updated on the latest news.
IUCN's Sindh Programme www.sindh.iucnp.org
focuses on Pakistan's coastal and marine areas; freshwater
resources; forestry and biodiversity. The Coastal and Marine
Resources Management and Poverty Reduction in South Asia
TA for Integrated Coastal Zone Management www.iczm-sa.org/index.html will identify
and pilot test the approaches to promote and protect ecologically
sensitive coastal and marine areas, poverty reduction interventions
and regional cooperation in India,
Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
IUCNP's Mountain Areas Conservancy Project (MACP) www.macp-pk.org aims to protect biodiversity
and ensure its sustainable use in Pakistan's Karakorum,
Hindu Kush, and Western Himalayas mountain ranges through
application of a community-based conservation approach.
The Biodiversity Action Plan for Pakistan is also downloadable
from this site.
The primary goal of the World Commission on Dams Consultative
Process in Pakistan Project (WCD-CPP) www.wcdcpp.iucnp.org is to ensure that
future water and energy development in Pakistan with respect
to large dams is
economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally
sustainable. Critical consultation reports, downloadable
presentations and documents form key components of IUCNP's
website prepared for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) www.wssd.iucnp.org.
SDNP's upcoming projects for IUCNP include developing comprehensive
web resources for the Support for Environmental Rehabilitation
in NWFP and the Punjab (SERNP), Northern Areas Management
Information System (NAMIS), Sarhad Sustainable Development
Gateway (SSDG) and the Balochistan Development Gateway (BDG).
SDNP is also the only organization in Pakistan which is
a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN's) ISP Constituency; but more importantly,
of the Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency.
The latter has been formed to defend the rights of not-for-profit
organizations against increasing commercial interests on
the internet.
The writer is a content developer for SDNP/IUCN Pakistan's
Education, Communication and Knowledge Management (ECK)
wing
© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2003
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