Sola Folayan

Executive Director, Pan African Civil Society Research and Documentation Centre (PACIRAD Africa), Nigeria

Knowledge curation is very essential if we are to achieve the Agenda 2030. Africa is making much more efforts in the last decade on documentation. Yet there is still a long way to go. The hidden knowledge is much more than what has been shared through different fora.  Consequently, emphasis needs to be placed on advancing and promoting local knowledge ecosystem from the global South. There is a big store of knowledge that can be gathered from rural communities which are gradually fading out as a result of rural –urban migration and indifference to knowledge transfer.

For African non-profits, knowledge management is gradually becoming an essential unit of the various organisations. The real question is how many of these local organisations are really open about their knowledge and practices? Charity begins at home. If African civil society is to succeed in its quest to demand open data from government, then it also has to be responsible by opening up through more coordinated knowledge sharing and collation of best practices. It is necessary to also have better linkages between the African civil society and academia in terms of research and publications. The knowledge from civil society must be harnessed for us to have a holistic inclusive development practice.

PACIRAD Africa is very much excited about knowledge for development.  We are advocating for better documentation, accountability and knowledge curation from African civil society. Knowledge, together with strategic partnerships and collaboration, will make much more certain the effective implementation of the SDGs in Africa. The Knowledge Development Goals are a good tool to help us determine our progress and make sure we don’t lose track of our progress.

PACIRAD Africa is happy to be one of the advocates for knowledge for development.