Program for Knowledge Management and Information Sharing

The core work of this Program is to manage planning workshops with project leaders and to facilitate community outreach and information dissemination.

The Woodrow Wilson Center's China Environment Forum and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) office in Kunming, China are WKU's key partners in the Program for Knowledge Management and Information Sharing, as it pertains to the CEHP.

CEHP scientists will begin undertaking research in southwest China with the goal of eventually proposing solutions to pressing environmental health problems. The WKU Project staff is aware that such solutions cannot be simply imposed by outsiders, rather community and local governments must be involved in problem identification and input on possible solutions. Therefore, the CEF-IIRR partnership will be responsible for identifying and training Chinese NGOs who will help in designing and executing effective outreach and education programs that bring together community members, local governments, and scientists to jointly work on solutions. Such Chinese NGOs include: Yunnan PRA Network, Guizhou PRA Network, Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge.

CEF personnel, including CEF Coordinator Jennifer Turner, have extensive experience and an excellent infrastructure in environmental networking and communication in China, as well as serving as a clearinghouse in web, print, and live conference information on environmental issues in China serving the academic, federal agency, and policy communities.

IIRR promotes people-centered development through capacity building for poor people and their communities, development organizations and agencies. Through participatory approaches, IIRR builds capacities of communities and their organizations, encourages people-centered practices among other development organizations, and strengthens linkages between communities and their partners. IIRR shares experiences from working with the communities with development practitioners through training programs and publications and facilitates the sharing of field-tested knowledge from development organizations, which is useful in the fight against poverty. The Institute’s main outputs are training courses and publications on development issues, and learning from the work with communities.