{"id":63,"date":"2012-01-24T04:56:54","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T04:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knowledgeetal.wordpress.com\/2012\/07\/30\/knowledge-management-in-africa-reflections-on-kmca"},"modified":"2016-10-26T13:40:30","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T12:40:30","slug":"knowledge-management-in-africa-reflections-on-kmca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knowledgeetal.com\/?p=63","title":{"rendered":"knowledge management in Africa: reflections on KMCA 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Its 3.30am and I am sitting at Khartoum airport waiting for the flight back to Heathrow at the end of one of the most exacting yet rewarding weeks I\u2019ve had in over 35 years of working across many continents.<\/div>\n

Sudan challenges you: its people are warm, inquistive with an insatiable desire to learn. And yet time management is a work in progress and the ubiquitous presence of officialdom and the ongoing sanctions a significant drain on effectiveness and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Despite these constraints the young are vibrant, highly intelligent and moved to laughter and song with little prompting.\u00a0 The society is very oral; stories are the currency of communication. External opinion is highly sought after and there is a work ethic that is both surprising and refreshing. By way of illustration:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 5.45pm on the first day of Knowledge Management Capacity in Africa 2012 conference held in the Friendship Hall Khartoum.\u00a0 This inaugural event on Knowledge Management which kicked off at 8am has attracted over 500 delegates and nearly 50 international participants though I am the sole European. The timing has gone awry by some distance.<\/p>\n

I get to my feet to begin my presentation entitled \u201cmissions and knowledge production\u201d and having summoned water bottles and moved everyone around, ask the assembled throng in the Omduran Room what they want to do.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

By a unanimous show of hands they indicate a desire to continue and we ultimately finish at 7pm in time for a Knowledge Cafe.<\/p>\n

The audience listens attentively and I get a lot of positive feedback.<\/p>\n

At the Knowledge Cafe I lead a \u2018table\u2019 of young Sudanese women who are keeping up the pace.\u00a0 The session eventually ends at 8.30pm some 12 hours after the day began.\u00a0 It is an indication of things to come over the following two days (and nights).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Conference Chair Gada Kadoda, a woman of astonishing capacity and vision, has assembled an impressive array of speakers and presentations: from Washington to Malaysia via the UK with a big representation from Africa. I have two presentations to give and as it transpires to facilitate the closing conference session on Saturday morning before a caravan of minibuses sets off in search of the Sudanese Pyramids.<\/p>\n

Over the next week or so I will be drawing on some of the conversations and highlighting examples of knowledge at work in Africa; for now here are some high level thoughts after 3 days of the conference.<\/p>\n