UN initiative to aid national development efforts in India
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060519/cth1.htm#7

Chandigarh, May 18
For some time now, the United Nations has been
supporting a unique knowledge-sharing experiment to
aid national development efforts in India. Branded
Solutions Exchange, the initiative has been launched
for the first time in India where its objective is to
tap tacit knowledge in areas of development.

Structured to help development practitioners share
their experiences and support India's Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), Solutions Exchange works by
the formation of communities of practice through
electronic mail groups. These communities have been
formed in areas that best reflect India's 11th
Five-Year Plan targets as well as MDGs.

Right now there are eight communities for
practitioners in maternal and child health, primary
education, employment, gender equality and women's
empowerment, decentralisation, HIV/AIDS, water and
sanitation, and food and nutrition security.

That the project is inspiring curiosity is evident
from its heavy subscription - over 5000 since the
first community was launched last year. The range of
subscriptions is vast - from 800 for HIV/AIDS to 200
for gender.

Of the total subscriptions, however, the share of
government subscriptions remains lower than expected
(just about 15 per cent). That explains why the UN
Country Team in charge of the project has decided to
revisit it with government functionaries in mind.
Having covered Kolkata and Delhi, UN's National
Coordinator for Knowledge Management Partnership
Project Monica Raina was in Chandigarh today to
sensitize officials from health departments of Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh in Solutions
Exchange and show them ways of building "knowledge
networks".

Speaking to The Tribune she explained the process
which has resulted in key partnerships between
resource persons and volunteers in areas like
education and HIV/AIDS. She also explained how the
initiative has, for the first time, allowed Indian
civil society to make precious contributions to the
National AIDS Control Programme -III. "Thanks to
Solutions Exchange, the Government of India for the
first time invited responses of the community to
NACP-III. The debate lasted for some weeks on
electronic mail groups.

When it ended, consolidated responses were posted to
the group. They thus became a vital resource base.
That's what our initiative allows--an impartial
exchange of knowledge and positive action on
suggestions made for specific issues."

In fact, the process works quite simply. Everyone in
Solutions Exchange is a member of the moderated mail
group. When anyone faces a challenging situation,
he/she can post an e-mail query. The moderator will
then post it to all members in that particular
community. A discussion will follow and after some
days the moderator will post the synopsis of responses
to the mail group. These responses will enrich the
knowledge resource of the community in question, and
it will become
a tool in enhancing awareness.

For her part, Raina is vigorously promoting the
concept which has inspired several achievements in the
past.

"Communities of practice in education and health
debating the mid-day meal scheme and its nutrition
value recently suggested that every school should have
its own kitchen garden. The Union Government may well
be considering the option. Similarly the
Decentralisation Community is developing ways to use
Panchayati Raj institutions for HIV/AIDS awareness,"
she says.

A vibrant e-consultation, involving over 800
participants from India and abroad, is already helping
address concerns related to HIV/AIDS.

The consultation is a part of the Knowledge Management
Partnership initiated by the UN. The project's
national coordinator, however, feels this is just the
beginning. Anyone wanting to join the initiative can
sign up at http://www.solutionsexchange-un.net.in

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UNAIDS and UNDP India organized Advocacy Workshop on Solution
Exchange(e-governance) programme on HIV/AIDS on May 18, 2006 at
Shivalik View Hotel, Chandigarh. I express our sincere gratitude to
State AIDS Control Society, U.T., Chandigarh, Punjab & Haryana for
attending the said workshop. I also take this opportunity to thank
them for mobilizing different professionals to make this workshop a
stepping stone in the region. I am also thankful for their
wonderful interactive participation during the workshop. This
workshop was a success and same would go a long way in HIV/AIDS
prevention and advocating solution exchange programme.

Yours truly,
(Dr.Avnish Jolly)