Harambee Timeline (Sep 2003 - Present)

From HarambeeWiki

The following represents the key milestones in the journey from early dialogues through proposal development to implementation of the Harambee project, starting from the first formalised agreement on the part of the initiating organisations. It should be noted that informal dialogues along similar lines had been going on in a variety of context prior to Sep 2003 as well.

Harambee Milestones

• PICTA Meeting, Tunis, Sep 2003: Here the idea of a Knowledge Sharing Consortium was initiated.
• Proposal discussions and development, Addis Abeba, May 2004: this is where dialogues among APC, Bellanet and UNECA led to the Harambee concept (hosted by ECA and funded by Connectivity Africa).
• Focus Networks Workshops, Addis Abeba, Sep 2005. Hosted by ECA and funded by Connectivity Africa, two workshops were held. The first provided Focus Network (FN) representatives, as well as GKP Africa partners, with hands-on training in face-to-face facilitation. The second provided assistance and space for FNs to beginning conceptualising Action Plans for their engagement with Harambee.
• Harambee workshop wiki,Sep 2005. As part of the workshop training, a wiki was created and used to capture dialogues at the events. Much of the information in this wiki was later transferred to the current Harambee wiki.
• Development of FN Action Plans, Oct-Dec 2005. These plans were developed by FN coordinators as a follow-up to the initial workshop. The idea was for each FN to customize the Action Plan to its real needs, rather than having Harambee pre-define those needs. Thus, the earlier training in the initial workshop was geared to providing FN Coordinators with the tools they needed to develop Action Plans that would make engagement with Harambee that would be effective for each FN easier.
• Approval of funding for Harambee, Dec-Jan 2005-2006. The Harambee proposal for a two-year project was approved by the two principal funders, Connectivity Africa and Hivos. Hivos funding became available in Dec 2005, Connectivity Africa funding in Jan 2006. Although the original plan was to time the funding of the project with the initial Focus Network Workshops in Sep 2005, there was a gap of several months, which necessitated a delay in Action Plan funding. It was generally agreed that this gap contributed to a loss of momentum in the project.
• Action Plan Implementation, from Apr 2006.
• 'Website/wiki development beginning Apr 2006. Although wikis were created to capture ongoing interactions in the Harambee project (one closed wiki for the project Coordination Committee, made up of representatives from APC, Bellanet and ECA, and one open wiki for publicly accessible materials), development of the main Harambee website itself ran into a series of difficulties which centered around finding a productive relationship between Bellanet Africa (the main project Coordinator) and a service provider that could develop and host the site. This delayed launching of the site until Oct 2006.
• Coordination Committee (CC) Meetings, ongoing from Feb 2006. Weekly teleconference or Skype (using voice over IP, and occasionally chat) have taken place regularly since Feb 2006 and have helped the CC collaborate effectively and keep in close touch.
• Learning and Evaluation Framework, beginning in Mar 2006. The Learning and Evaluation Framework for Harambee, was developed over several months in 2006 and, from Oct 2006, is being implemented as the project progresses.
• Outreach Strategy, beginning in Apr 2006. The outreach strategy, since mid-2006, has informed development of the Harambee website and related wikis, as well as the strategy for publicizing the round of Small Grants being awarded as part of phase 1 of Harambee.
• Development of Small Grants Facility, Jun-Sep 2006. The first Call for Proposals was launched in Sep 2006. 200 applications received by the deadline in Oct 2006.
• Preparations for Learning and Consolidation and Planning Workshops, Nov 2006. The CC, in consultation with FNs and SGF applicants, began intensive planning for the worskhops to mark the end of Phase 1 and beginning of Phase 2 of Harambee.
• Announcement of successful applicants of first round SGF, early Dec 2006. 12 Concept Notes were approved to submit full proposals (representatives of the successful Concept Note applicants were invited to the Learning and Consolidation and Planning Workshops). Of those, 6 will be selected for Harambee funding in Jan-Feb 2007.
• Deadline for SGF Proposals Dec 29, 2006.
• Learning and Consolidation and Planning workshops, Kampala Jan 12-13 and 15-16, 2007.

For the Future

Some of things we anticipate as highlights in Phase 2:

• Implementation of projects of successful SGF applicants.
• Continued Implementation of FN Action Plans.
• Development of research component of Harambee.
• Consolidation of mechanisms for shared learning and evaluation among Harambee participants.
• Other activities as initially defined at the Consolidation and Planning Worskhop.