Developing Regional Networks in Asia

• In Event: What We’re Learning About Learning Networks

Proposal

Regional networking across Asia is a key component to one donor-funded project that works through local sub regional partners based in Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia who coordinate with selected local staff nominated by missions across Asia to create learning networks and linkages across countries. The main purpose of these regional networking activities is to ensure that missions and their host governments, ministries of education, and other key educational stakeholders learn from and build upon each other’s knowledge and experiences. This presentation will discuss how we are measuring our progress, along with the challenges and lessons learned through the process of developing regional networks in partnership with an international development agency’s local staff.

The project’s overall purpose is to provide analytical and implementation support services to missions across Asia and the Asia regional bureau in Washington, D.C. The majority of the project’s activities (80%) are funded through “buy-in” activities in which missions identify specific areas of need and topics for which they dedicate mission funds for project implementation. As the project works across multiple countries and subregions in Asia, it provides a unique opportunity for donor missions and their country counterparts to learn from activities and initiatives addressing similar challenges in different contexts and can help them identify innovative solutions to their own challenges. As such, during its initial months, the project worked with its sub regional partners to develop plans for regional networking activities that identify key topics of interest and target stakeholders to engage in relevant technical discussions and sharing of experiences.

To help in this process, the Asia regional bureau established a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of six local staff nominated from across the missions in Asia, with two local staff representing each subregion. The inclusion of this TAG has greatly enhanced the planning and strategies of the regional networking activities so they more accurately address the needs of missions, and their host governments and engage with them in a meaningful and productive way. As local nationals, these staff members have years of experience working both at the U.S. mission and within the education systems of their countries, so they are able to effectively identify how to best engage with their education counterparts.

In addition, the project has been coordinating with a global learning network platform to leverage its three existing learning networks to build on each other’s activities, events, and MEL processes to increase knowledge sharing, collaboration, and linkages. As part of this effort, the project is working to establish a regional chapter for a higher education learning network that may become a model for other such chapters.

Author

• Stephen Backman, RTI International