Vision

Our Vision is a world where essential information is shared for the improvement of people’s lives; one in which the information gap is increasingly being bridged and higher levels of sustainability of ecological, social and economic systems is achieved through effective knowledge management and information sharing.

Mission

Our Mission is:

• To build up a network of people extending way beyond our organisation who believe in the aims of IKM, and will put effort and resources into the pursuit of our collective Vision
• To gather information relevant to sustainable livelihood in its widest sense and act as a management centre of practical knowledge and lessons learned together with our partners
• To harness all available technology and information sharing mechanisms in order to spread information to those who need it most, especially those that are far from conventional learning centres
• To support the practical implementation of knowledge, plans and projects that will improve livelihoods in ways that are sustainable ecologically, socially and economically
• To create and foster partnerships that will bring additional value and power while ensuring local ownership of initiatives as far as possible and in doing so, generate lessons learned to support the replication of successful initiatives

Our Approach

In line with our human development philosophy of capacity transfer, local ownership and collective effort, our focus is on assisting local entities or projects in ways that they have the ownership rather than IKM taking credit. A good example is DLIST (see: www.dlist-asclme.org; www.dlist-bclme.org), which has produced films, plans, books, databases, heritage projects, radio shows, etc. We are interested in the footprint that we leave rather than build the organisation in a self-serving way.

Our involvement extends beyond its own contracted projects. We also provide support to community, government, public and private institutions and projects, often on a pro bono basis when funding may be difficult to access, provided that such activities promote the company’s aims and objectives. We stand on the belief that our agenda and activities should not be shaped only by available funding but rather by needs that can be served through partnerships between entities with a common cause. We have unlocked support from filming companies, educational institutions, consulting firms, government entities, the private sector and donors that were contacted to move along specific initiatives.

In brief, we...

Provide a platform for information sharing, and pooling and distribution of knowledge.

Provide a structural framework through which smaller organisations can harness their collective powers.

Encourage collective thinking from a wide variety of players to negotiate difficult situations and obstacles.

Provide an avenue that can be used by community-based and historically and economically disadvantaged groups.