MEETING HIGHLIGHTS KNOWLEDGE-SHARING NEEDS OF ICDS IMPLEMENTORS

POSHAN knowledge mobilization partner, Vikas Samvad, held a meeting on August 5, 2014,   in a Shivpuri District, Madhya Pradesh with 35 district and block-level officials of the Women and Child Development Department there.

The meeting aimed to better understand their activities, identify their information and knowledge needs, and discuss peer networks and knowledge sharing.

The participants discussed their current knowledge sharing practice and mechanisms. In many cases the officials turn to their peers for advice on day-to-day operational issues, or approach senior staff. However, there is currently no systematic mechanism or platform to support access to new knowledge, provide solutions to queries and offer technical advice on how to deal with new interventions.

It was agreed that a knowledge network of the district-level officials could facilitate discussion of the ground-level issues and help to mobilize knowledge across the district. The network could also be useful for sharing new research findings and updates in the field of nutrition, and possibly even to generate knowledge to reach state and national level actors.

Vikas Samvad and IDS, another POSHAN knowledge mobilization partner, will now be exploring ways to take this plan forward.