Musing on Knowledge Management inclusion in the next set of the United Nations’ development goals.
A former Nigerian Minister for water resources and the First President of the African Ministers’ Council on Water, Barrister Mukhtar Shehu Shagari has expressed consideration on the introduction of knowledge management into the next set the United Nations’ development goals after 2030.
On 18 November 2020, the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) — a specialised technical committee on Water and Sanitation in the African Union launched a web-based Knowledge Management System. During the launching, the First President of AMCOW, Barrister Mukhtari Shehu Shagari (CFR) called on Africans in the water and sanitation sector to prepare for the introduction of knowledge management in the next set of UN’s development goals.
Barrister Shagari, who declared open the launching was among the 41 African Ministers in charge of Water and Sanitation who gathered together in Abuja, Nigeria, and started AMCOW in 2002. They established the Council as an intergovernmental organisation to provide political leadership, policy direction, and advocacy in the provision and management of water resources in the continent.
The launching of the knowledge hub witnessed the attendance of over one hundred development professionals including representatives of AMCOW’s Member States, the African Union, UNESCO, the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (Sida), Water and Sanitation Sector Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SUSANA), African Development Bank (AfDB), African Union Development Agency (AUDA) Water Centres of Excellence (WCoE), Universities and more. The rate of engagement in questions and comments was about 80 per cent — showing Africans’ keen interest in information and knowledge exchange.
Responding to development commitments
For AMCOW, the idea of building a knowledge management system was a response to the commitment made in 2008 by the African Union’s Heads of States and Governments when they assembled in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. These leaders committed to building institutional and human resources capacity, enhancing information and knowledge management, and strengthening monitoring and evaluation for a sustainable and integrated water resource management in Africa.
In 2019, AMCOW started creating the KM system comprising a physical library at AMCOW’s Secretariat in Abuja and a virtual knowledge hub — named after AMCOW’s First President as Mukhtari Shehu Shagari Resource Centre (MSSRC). The knowledge hub is an open-access platform described by AMCOW and its partners as a hub of other hubs. It can link and converge other similar virtual portals into a one-stop centre where people can access homegrown information and knowledge about Africa’s water and sanitation development.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) supported AMCOW’s effort to start the KM system. And the Water and Sanitation Sector Collaborative Council (WSSCC) also provided seed money to help acquire some equipment for the library and to improve the hub’s functionality.
Accelerating learning for development
“The knowledge hub forms part of AMCOW’s services to its Member States. It is timely, considering the new working conditions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. We also believe that such a virtual hub is an excellent way to facilitate collaboration and accelerate learning. The knowledge hub of hubs provides tools to help users enter through one door and have access to many other rooms to find information and knowledge. Users can also gain access through direct hyperlinks to other hubs or online resource centres”, says Dr Canisius Kanangire, AMCOW’s Executive Secretary.
While the hub presents a rich opportunity to harness and raise the profile of the sector’s relevant homegrown knowledge, it also provides students, researchers, policymakers, and development partners the access they need to reliable data, information, and learning. These resources will help to improve decisions by providing the necessary wisdom to achieve related development goals, the African Water Vision 2025, and the Agenda 2063 — the Africa we want.
Going forward and into the year 2021, AMCOW would be receiving relevant resources from its member states and other partners to fill up the knowledge hub of hubs for users who would be visiting the platform.