What does our knowledge management research aim to achieve? The knowledge research component aims to implement a knowledge management approach that will effectively convey the project’s findings to a wide spectrum of audiences and stakeholders including organisations, institutions, communities, administrations, and individual actors.
It also develops new tools for assessing a research organisation’s knowledge management needs and performance, including a self-assessment framework to encourage researchers to reflect on their knowledge management capacities and to identify needs. This component is seeking to build researchers’ abilities to ensure current and new knowledge is disseminated and shared, to maximise the opportunities for informed decision-making at all levels.
Research is also being conducted to identify the key characteristics and dynamics of decision-making processes around Indonesian peatlands; to investigate how to improve knowledge pathways to ensure that up to date understanding can be adopted by stakeholders in the peatland restoration knowledge system; and distil lessons from the project regarding effective strategies for engaging and informing stakeholders.
To this end, intensive field-based research is being conducted in the Jabiren subdistrict of Central Kalimantan to better understand the existing knowledge pathways both within the community and between the community and government. Through direct engagement with village planning processes such as the midterm and annual village program planning mechanisms, this effort will clearly map out the decision-making system, including key actors and processes.
The project’s outreach and capacity building activities are informed by the major project outputs (target audiences, intended outcomes and anticipated impacts), together with a suite of measures identified at the different levels of the project’s operation. As such, the project is able to report on the extent to which its outreach and capacity building efforts contribute to different dimensions of the conceptual framework for capacity building, namely: defining the organizational business; setting the standards and expectations; accessing infrastructure and resources; strengthening institutional structures and processes; underpinning with effective business systems; developing and sustaining networks and relationships; growing the knowledge base; and building the information base and tools.
Implementation of the Knowledge component began with partner training on Knowledge Management, followed by a detailed and comprehensive stakeholder mapping activity to determine the key stakeholders and target audiences at various levels. This data is included in the project’s ‘Outreach and Capacity Building Strategy’ which is available in Our Resources.
This component has also focused on project communications the main objective of which is to support the effective management and dissemination of knowledge for peatland restoration and fire prevention by ensuring that local and national authorities are well-informed. Project communications are being enacted through publications, a website, social media and other media materials and channels suitable for a range of audiences including national government levels.
Our knowledge research adds new insights into the way research can better inform policy and practice in Indonesia; seeks to overcome barriers to knowledge exchange and improve the way scientists generate information and the way decision-makers use information; and enables better understanding of local contexts and stakeholder needs.
Our emphasis on capacity building and participatory action is particularly relevant to Indonesia’s peatland context as peatland fire prevention and peatland ecosystem restoration require a landscape-level approach that involves rigorous biophysical science alongside community participation and engagement.
Our Knowledge Management approach has placed emphasis on processes that can lead to impact at a project level. The project has adopted participatory research approaches, the use of a knowledge broker, and tailored knowledge management systems to improve the uptake of peatland-related research information into policy and practice.
The project concludes in 2022 with analysis, evaluation and dissemination of new knowledge to prevent fires in peatlands and improve peatland restoration practices, while enabling meaningful, profitable and sustainable alternative livelihoods.
