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Project Description
What is a Learning Society?
It is a society in which knowledge creation and transfer become a fundamental development tool. The revolution in information and communications technologies (ICT) greatly facilitates this process, but is no guarantee of success.
In a learning society, communities, businesses and organizations progress by sharing, assimilating, applying and systematizing knowledge that they either create or obtain locally, or access from abroad. The learning process is strengthened when undertaken collectivly: in networks, associations, inter and intrainstitutional communications, among communities and nations. A learning society means more competitive and innovative nations and economic actors; it also results in improved standards of living all around.
Learning is both horizontal (among groups, communities, sectors or nations) and vertical (among those more advanced on an issue or area and those striving to advance). Knowledge transfer has always been a major key to success worldwide, and throughout history. However, it has been an difficult endeavor –particularly for developing countries– due to problems of distance and lack of communications infrastructure.
Today, the ICT revolution places communications, as well as unlimited quantities of information, at the reach of almost everyone. Information necessary for learning, and for social and productive activities, can be easily transferred, infinitely duplicated and broadly disseminated. Those who lack access to information and communications are at a serious competitive disadvantage.
However, even more important than information access is its use. Information is only the representation –or codification– of human knowledge. Learning is achieved by transforming knowledge and applying it to local situations. It means identifying opportunities and putting them to work through the assimilation of world knowledge and local realities.
How do we build a learning society in El Salvador? How do we effect that transformation and assimilation of information, in order to turn it into knowledge and apply it to concrete activities? How do we filter and select the most useful and relevant information? How do we generate new knowledge and turn it into information that others can use? What incentives and disincentives to learning have we encountered? How do we measure learning, in both formal and informal settings? How do we measure the impact of learning on productive and social endeavors? How do we build a learning culture?There are no easy answers to these questions. However, many developing nations are tackling them with a spirit of exploration and innovation, driven by the need to be more competitive in global markets as well as to resolve their wide-ranging social problems at home. At the same time, they are comparing methodologies and results in order to enrich horizontal learning on this issue that is so crucial for economic and social development.
In El Salvador, there are already networks, tools and examples of learning techniques which have changed traditional styles of development in certain cases. We must identify these projects and initiatives, analyze their success factors, difficulties and prospects, in order to learn from their experiences and project new innovations.
Conectándonos al Futuro has taken on this challenge together with all sectors of Salvadoran society. Our mandate was to conduct a participatory exercise to design a national strategy for building a learning society in El Salvador. Our methods ranged from studies of obstacles and advantages to the creation of pilot projects, which will allow stakeholders to measure learning in specific situations, and thereby build sustainable and replicable undertakings.
Activities
Based on conversations with a broad range of individuals and organizations interested in building a learning society in El Salvador, we defined a series of approaches to help us guide discussions and reach concrete results. The project has organized six learning circles around the following areas:
The groups are made up of representatives from national and local government, private sector and civil society organizations and institutions. The groups defined critical areas, obstacles and opportunities related to their specific areas and the learning society ideal, as well as possible pilot projects and strategies which could help build that vision. Concrete, fundable projects were produced, and alliances among different sectors were forged as a way to broaden involvement and distribute risk.
The learning circles have helped develop certain pilot projects, for example multi-purpose infocenters (telephone - fax - Internet - computer training), as tools for local development. Other pilots could be sectorial infocenters (agricultural, small business, etc.); networks and information tools, distance education projects, and others. The pilot-creating process includes measurement of learning and its impact on development, as well as the generation of Salvadoran electronic content.
The project also held a series of forums and workshops throughout the coming months, as part of the process of launching and sustaining the learning circles, as well as their pilot projects. We have invited representatives of best practices in other countries to share their experiences and motivate involvement and innovation. In early 1999 we held an electronic conference on the issue of learning societies, as a way to promote dialogue among those who are or have been involved in similar efforts in other countries and those who are working on the issue here in El Salvador.
A national symposium was held in San Salvador in April 1999, in which the learning circles presented their conclusions and proposals, and began building a national vision and strategy, as well summarize as the lessons and conclusions drawn from building and/or evaluating pilot projects. The strategy paper was presented to the nation in June 1999.
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| updated 31 May 1999 |
| Conectándonos al Futuro, San Salvador, El Salvador |
| e-mail: webmaster@infocentros.org.sv |
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