Workshop Documentation

• Summary of Proceedings
• DAY1 & DAY2 Powerpoint Presentations
• Video Interviews (soon)
• Evaluation Survey 
• Slideshow for your entertainment by Workshop Photographer (soon)

Thank You Note ...

Dear Workshop Participants:

Group Photo outside DAL Excellence Centre 9Feb2014

This post is for expressing the gratitude of the Sudanese Knowledge Society to you and let you know that we appreciate your contribution and time to be with us at the workshop on “Knowledge and Innovation: Technology, Pedagogy & Culture” that was held last week at DAL Excellence Centre. I also hope, like us, that you had a good and fruitful time.

We want to thank the Keynote Speakers, Paper Presenters, Exhibitors, and everyone who offered a helping hand to organize the Workshop. There are many volunteers who worked tirelessly on translating papers, helping at the registration desk, setting up the exhibition, and documenting the workshop. We cannot thank you enough for your time and contribution.

We also would like to give a big thank you to DAL Food for their generous sponsorship and logistic support that made the workshop possible and facilitated the smooth running of the programme.

A number of post-workshop efforts have started, for instance on the potential of “Service Learning” in Sudan. Another ongoing effort is collating the material gathered from workshop sessions. We will be posting that material as soon as possible, along with updates on promising projects that transpired from the workshop.

Best wishes.

Exhibition Map

Description of Round-Table Discussion Sessions

Information & Technology: The role of ICT in a “knowledge creating” society

Coordinator & Chair: Dr. Gada Kadoda

Discussants: Dr. Yahia Abdalla, Engineer Nadir Ahmed, Uz. Elamin Hassan

Summary:

The role of ICTs in developed countries have been seen as providing new and faster access and delivery of information, ways to do business, as well as bringing greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the functioning of their societies. In developing countries, the rapid growth in telecommunication services is widely regarded as offering new opportunities for economic development, ways for interactions and connections, as well as opening a gateway to the “knowledge society”. While the “knowledge age” brings opportunities it has also created new challenges. For developed countries some say it is civil liberty, whereas for developing countries it is often discussed in terms of how best to utilise the existing ICT infrastructure for development and as an enabler for building “innovative and distinctive knowledge societies”. This session explores the opportunities that ICT offers and the factors that influence how well it is utilised for development with reference to Sudan. Some of the themes that will be discussed in this session include:

·         In what ways does the development path of the local ICT industry affect economic development; and the areas where policies and/or partnerships can align ICT development with the overall national development objectives?

·         Which factors influence the diffusion and use of ICT (recalling examples of appropriate applications that can improve and increase access to services and information across the country)?

·         How should we balance intellectual property protection, data security, public domain promotion and knowledge sharing, and at the same time take advantage of the opportunities offered by ICT to digitise, store and transfer different forms of knowledge?

Process & Product: On “knowledge creating” organisations

Coordinator & Chair: Engineer Marwan Adam

Discussants: Engineers Elfatih Wadidi, Ihab Shoully, Tarig Ahmed Khalid, Hamid Mohamed Ali

Summary:

In high competence market sphere and open international trade, innovation is regarded as the “only valuable competency that can secure business sustainability and economic growth”. However, many questions arise: How can organizations adopt and embed innovation into their culture? What are the effective ways or tools that can optimize the innovation process? What strategies or mechanisms that can be put in place by organizations to enable the innovation and suppress the “idea killers”. In this discussion session we explore innovation as a process in organizational context, highlight the extent that such process can sustain the business and contribute to the national economy, and deliberate appropriate models for fostering innovation in Sudanese organisations.

·                 Why “Innovation”?

·                 What are the roles of Strategy in aligning, enabling and directing of innovation?

·                 Who's are responsible about the innovation in business organization; and how organization support Innovation process?

·                 Is there a need to transfer “Innovation” into a process? What is the best model that can describe this process?

·                 What is the link between “Innovation” and “Knowledge Creating Organizations”?

·                 How to foster creativity culture in the organization?

·                 Can we build a National innovation support Network? What form would it take (e.g. Competition versus cooperation, the system approach versus national innovation based on Value streaming?

Art & Culture:           The role of art and culture in “knowledge creating” societies

Coordinator: Uz. Iram Oshari & Uz. Ahmed Alsir

Chair: Dr. Musa Elkalifa

Discussants: Uz. Gasmalla Alsalahi, Dr. Abdulmutalib Alfahal, Dr. Mohamed Shareef

Summary:

Since the dawn of time, a lot of artistic techniques have been developed and used by human beings to transfer different kinds of knowledge in several aspects, the role of art and culture have been widely recognized in contributing specifically to:

-        Strengthening cultural values and preserving heritage and history

-        Building community character and sense of place

-        Enhancing community engagement and participation

-        Enhancing economic vitality

 With reference to the Sudanese context, this session will discuss:

·         Firstly, to what extent do art and culture in Sudan have contributed in the four points mentioned above?

·         Secondly, the role of cultural institutions and private sector, media education sector, in improving people`s awareness about the sense of art and heritage.

·         Thirdly, inhibitors of innovation in Sudanese art and cultural organizations and colleges.   

·         Fourthly, the right of freedom of expression by art, how it is inhibited or enabled?

·         Fifthly, what creative strategies are useful for culture sector in Sudan to bring about contributions sought after?

Teaching & Learning: The role of pedagogy in “knowledge societies”

Coordinator: Dr. Gada Kadoda

Chair: Professor Mohamed El Amin Ahmed El Tom

Discussants: Uz. Asha Musa, Dr. Hisham Abushama, Dr. Arig Gaffar

Summary:

In educational circles, debate about education system reforms is often linked to national questions on ways to meet new challenges brought about by the changing social and economic circumstances. The role of policy-makers and teachers is to transform the processes and content of the educational system to enable more students reach higher levels of achievement and contribute to the economic growth of their countries. Conventional educational practice, with its emphasis on knowledge transmission, is regarded by many as insufficient for equipping students with skills for factual understanding, teamwork and creative thinking. In addition, higher education curriculum developers rely, for the most part, on standards developed in the US or Europe, which is criticised by some researchers that it gives less attention to how the curriculum addresses the local social and economic context. New models for education claim to address the need to equip students with skills for life-long learning, learning-how-to-learn and how to apply their knowledge to unfamiliar circumstances. This session explores the challenges to the educational system in Sudan and the kinds of basic and tertiary education that should be provided.  Some of the issues the session will consider include:

·         What is the purpose of curriculum? Who does the curriculum serve?

·         Which criteria should underpin curriculum development or define the minimum knowledge that any individual should possess on leaving school or university?

·         While considering challenges to the existing educational system, what kinds of policies or forward thinking educational approaches are needed?

·         Which kinds of learning activities and technology can support students to become inquirers as well as learners and help them acquire skills seen as important for the knowledge economy?

Local Knowledge & Innovation: The role of local knowledge in innovation

Coordinator: Uz. Fatima Salaheldin & Uz. Samah Makawy

Chair: Professor Ahmad Al Safi

Discussants: Prof. Mohamed Elmahdi Bushra, Prof. Altigani Allam, Dr. Hago Alfadil

Summary:

Local knowledge is often described as embedded within the cultural, heritage, social, economic, political, ideological and belief systems. Some consider local knowledge as capable of serving best the intimate need of the people and argue that it represents “the most socially sound, economically viable, technically sound, naturally fitting and sustainable practices”. Although we cannot/should not always assume that local knowledge is superior or will lead to success, methods and experiences which have been conditioned over centuries and proved compatible to the environmental, ecological, biotic and physical conditions in these societies can be interrogated by the different disciplines and used to foster local innovation. This session attempts to discuss the links between local knowledge and innovation using the following questions:

·         What does local knowledge really mean (recalling Sudanese examples)? Is it important?

·         Is there innovation in local knowledge? Is it growing? Stagnant?

·         Can local knowledge be an obstacle for innovation? Or an enabler?

·         Is local knowledge appreciated among different sector of the community (e.g. policy making, academia, business) in Sudan?

·         What are the characteristics of an enabling environment for the promotion and development of local knowledge that can drive innovation and economic performance?

Civil Society & “undone science”: Prioritising research for creating inclusive “knowledge societies”

Coordinator: Dr. Gada Kadoda

Chair: Professor Sondra Hale

Discussants: Uz. Adila Alzaibak, Uz. Omayma Gutbi

Summary:

The concept of “undone science” is used as a tool by social scientists to highlight the politics of research priorities where selection leans towards the interests of the powerful and rich. It can also be utilised for the theme of this workshop to highlight the gaps between those who work with the most pressing needs of the society and those who produce organised/institutional knowledge (e.g. research centres, universities). While there are some activists who have been deeply shaped by intellectual work as well as scholars and students who are involved in activist groups, and while there are study fields like “Appropriate Technology” and corporate practices like “Social Responsibility” that try to address social justice issues; still it is governments, corporates and donors who have influence over where greater efforts go. What if, to leapfrog collectively, a country takes the view of “socially-relevant Research & Development” where researchers select their agenda according to the wider social priorities? For example, what if they use non-peer-reviewed NGO reports which often include considerable expertise and knowledge, for research ideas and setting priorities? It can be argued that in this case, the cycle of knowledge creation will be more in touch with genuine social needs. This session aims to discuss these ideas as a tool to highlight gaps that exist in knowledge production (taking Sudan as an example) and to discuss how well research efforts are aligned with “pressing needs” as seen at grassroots level. For examples:

·         In which areas are gaps more prominent between R & D priorities and pressing societal concerns, and should/can we measure the success or failure of projects by how closely aligned they were to local needs?

·         Is it more positive to have the alignment be exact (not that it can ever be completely exact), or would it be better to have some nonalignment so that each “side” stimulates the other in new ways?

·         What strategies or tools can be used by research and development bodies to engage the poor in innovation processes, or to find ways that the subjugated knowledges can be re-emerged to help with alignment?

Abstracts of Keynote Talks & Paper Session

Keynote Talks

Critical Pedagogy and the Politics of Knowledge

By

Sondra Hale, Research Professor

 University of California, Los Angeles

ABSTRACT        

In this paper I discuss (1) forms and sources of knowledge, especially unrecognized forms of knowledge, subversive  knowledge, subjugated knowledge, and knowledge as resistance; (2) the ways in which we can innovate with that knowledge; and (3) the ways in which we can transmit that knowledge, i.e., referring to pedagogy—how we teach.  By “critical pedagogy,” we refer to a method for figuring out how to bring the specific context to life.  I argue, like Paulo Freire, that pedagogy is a form of resistance and insurrection, and a generator, not only a purveyor, of knowledge.  Because much knowledge comes from within, the task of the teacher, the mentor, and the community activist is to facilitate that process of bringing knowledge to the surface and then putting that knowledge into action. 

            We can transmit knowledge in very diverse ways:  for example, through our technologies, our arts, media, and culture, through hermeneutics (interpretation of texts), academic writings, propaganda, modelling, silence and body language and other unspoken messages.  We most conventionally think of the transmission of knowledge as a process of teacher-to-student.  However, pedagogy is not only a linear way in which we pass on knowledge, or receive it.  Something can happen to the knowledge in the process of the transmission; innovation can occur, and thus, changing knowledge in the process.  Therefore, we have to consider the ways in which we change not only the listener/viewer/student, but ourselves in the process because of what the listener/viewer/student might be giving back, but also because the context might be changing. 

Pedagogy, Technology and Culture - Using Service Learning and Appropriate Technologies for Capacity Building*

By

John Tharakan

Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA

ABSTRACT

                        Pedagogies underpinned by service and experiential learning (SL), and incorporating appropriate technologies for community development, lend themselves to incorporation into engineering curricula to be made part of regular degree programs. This provides a mechanism to grow and expand human capital that can enhance capabilities and leverage engineering education for capacity building. SL involves students in course based service activities that combine service efforts with academic experience. Students can be provided the opportunity to reflect on the service, formalizing the service learning.  It appears that the lack of engagement of educational curricula and institutions by governments, especially and most particularly in developing countries, to leverage national and private educational efforts to enhance capacity building activities has had unfortunate consequences, resulting in brain drain, underdevelopment and reduction in sustainable development capacity.  Pedagogies based on service can build capacity in rural communities, as the Engineers Without Borders Chapter of Howard University has demonstrated with the Choimim community in the Nandi Hills of northwestern Kenya. The service project focused on providing sufficient and clean water to the community, while also building community capacity to expand appropriate technologies for water sourcing and treatment.  Such projects can be implemented within the framework of SL courses focused on water resources, storage, treatments and conservation technologies. The presentation will argue for integration of community-based SL courses into engineering curricula, showing how this has built capacity in a poor developing community. We suggest broad implementation of such a model across engineering programs in developing countries can lead to substantial increases in capacity building capabilities.

*An earlier version of this paper was originally presented at:

International Engineering and Technology Education Conference, 2013 (IETEC 2013)

Ho Chi Minh City, November 3 – 6, 2013, and published in the Proceedings of IETEC 2013

Education, innovation and development in Sudan

By

Mohamed El Amin Ahmed El Tom

Garden City College for Science & Technology, Khartoum, Sudan

ABSTRACT

Education plays a key role in the development of individuals and society. Sudan’s educational system is characterized by low access rates, significant regional and urban-rural disparities in educational provision and poor quality. The implied challenges cannot be addressed effectively using traditional approaches. Two innovative models that address similar challenges are presented.

Sudanese Medicine: An Alternative Educational Model

By

Professor Ahmad Al Safi

Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation, Khartoum, Sudan

ABSTRACT

Medical education in Sudan is passing through several and profound changes that weakened patient care, disturbed public trust, and downgraded the country’s reputation. The educational institutions have increased in number in an unprecedented rate, and the number of biomedical students increased proportionately. Physicians emigrated in large numbers, and those who stayed behind drifted to the private sector. Institutions lost teachers, trainers, and mentors. The generation gap widened. The demography of students changed and so were the ways of acquiring and exchanging knowledge.

National expenditure on medical services, medical research, teaching and training is the lowest in the world. The network of medical services, preventive medicine, environmental and community health almost collapsed. The public grew more informed of their right to health; they demanded better care, and litigations increased.

Paradoxically, the system of medical education is still callous to these changes, and is not relating medical practice to its historical beginnings or social realities. Biomedicine is enhanced by gaining knowledge of the social history of its ideas. Without belittling the importance of acquiring ample amount of biomedical knowledge, the model takes students into a different path. Students are provided with new material that helps them develop deeper insight of the community they live in, and stimulate them to develop critical awareness of indigenous knowledge.  They are encouraged to appreciate the riches of their indigenous (traditional) medical knowledge, and be open-minded and tolerant to the non-conventional medical systems. There is a lot to learn from the local heritage and the heritage of other nations if scrutinized rationally, objectively, and critically, and if the objective is to look for what is useful and appropriate.

This model hopes that medical curricula would be liberated from subordination to the systems that look down upon indigenous knowledge. To realize these goals, medical institutions are asked to open up dialogue with the social sciences that study people in their communities in health and disease. We need physicians who are culturally and socially competent, physician-philosophers who rise above the obsolete medical approaches, and who are capable of dealing with cosmic issues in illness and who relate patients to their cosmos.

The model stresses that physicians should be more sensitive to the syndrome of backwardness (disease, poverty, and ignorance), and aware of its political, social and economic implications. This model asks physicians to appreciate the fact that the conditions they and their patients live in are not inevitable and unavoidable. On the contrary, these conditions are destined to change and to the better, and physicians are capable of achieving this if they liberate themselves from bookishness and if they work in and with the communities they serve. To change these communities, physicians need to know these communities first.

We expounded this theme over the last forty years in different platforms and through different initiatives. We established Traditional Medicine Research Institute in 1981 and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Traditional Medicine in 1984. We founded the Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation in 2005, and currently laying down the foundation of a Medical Archive and Documentation Centre. We contributed to the documentation of the Sudanese indigenous medical knowledge by publishing three seminal books: Native Medicine in Sudan, sources, concepts and methods (1970), Traditional Sudanese Medicine (1999), and Al Hakeem (2013). We wrote two prima fasciae in 1985. One asked universities to introduce medical anthropology as a discipline in Sudan, and the second requested the state to establish a national museum of health. And our published series on the lives and legacies of the notable Sudanese medical pioneers is building up steadily.

The impact of these initiatives and those of other workers, on the medical profession is evident. The fight for introducing indigenous medical knowledge to the academia as a field worthy of study is gradually gaining grounds. The Sudan Medical Council has defied all biomedical traditions and established Non-Conventional Medicine Directorate with a mandate to oversee the fields of traditional and alternative medicines. Ahfad University for Women is establishing the first department of Medical Anthropology in Sudan. More candidates are enrolling in MSc and PhD programmes in Medical Anthropology. Students and graduates of medicine and social sciences are visiting indigenous knowledge more than ever. Traditional Medicine Research Institute and Sudan Medical Heritage Foundation have started nuclei of museums of Sudanese medicine and health. Medical schools and specialist medical societies are taking studies in history of medicine and indigenous knowledge more seriously. They started to talk more about the milestones of their specialties.

To conclude, in this model, we do not assume that indigenous medical knowledge is superior to biomedicine, neither biomedicine superior to traditional knowledge. Instead, we believe that both systems have strengths that can help each other when they are invited to work together.

It has been said: “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present we shall find that we have lost the future.” I think we have enough quarrels, indeed, wars. We shouldn’t ask for more.

Mini-Sudan – a project for multiculturalism

By

Dr. Osman Elkeir

NewTech Consulting

ABSTRACT

There is a shear need for educating Sudanese about historic, geographic and cultural facts of their land, of arousing a sense of belonging and demonstrating the possibility of co-existence.

With the help of a surveyor, two industrial designers, a sculptor and a painter, in addition to civil and electric engineers and architects, work is proceeding in building a 3D model of Sudan. Two things became crucial in the realization of this dream: Google Earth and Video Mapping and Projection.

On a plot of nearly two acres, and with a modest budget and simple means, a true representation of the terrain, as much as the scale permits, is molded in concrete and color. On this model the rich history of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth, the diversity of the cultural context and the natural setting will be revived. Visitors take a tour or may be seated within the model among screens and speakers for a thrilling edutainment experience. School kids return home with jigsaw puzzles of the model, interactive CDs and published illustrated material. It is also hoped that future expansions will incorporate a data centre for digitally networking universities and research institutions, and a mobile version of the model that will reach out to remote areas.

Not completely finished, the model is already attracting an interest among experts who contemplate using it for producing scenarios such as birds in the Sudan, epidemics, climate change and water harvesting.

Paper Session

An Educational Reform Model for Sudanese Universities: From Instructor to Facilitator

By

Dr. Adil Yousif

University of Science & Technology, Sudan

Garden City College for Science & Technology

The traditional pedagogical learning approaches at Sudanese universities emphasize the task of the lecturer or the instructor as the holder of knowledge.  The instructors are content experts; they stand in front of the classroom and deliver their knowledge in form of lectures. The students passively observe that knowledge. However, in most cases if the instructor tests the students understanding with a conceptual problem, the students will not answer the problem or at least they will struggle tremendously. In fact, in many cases students memorize the subject but do not understand the knowledge.

There is a need for a change in how students learn and how they gain knowledge, and accordingly in how lecturers conduct their classrooms. In this presentation we propose the use of facilitating learning model in which lecturers serve as facilitators of the learning process rather than classroom instructors. The facilitator model substitutes learning by telling with learning by questioning. The facilitator is process manager rather than content manager. His job is to facilitate and enable the process where the students in the classroom actively engage in the knowledge sharing and learning process. The facilitator constructs an environment so that learners are able to transform raw data and information into knowledge. The aim of this model is to develop student’s capabilities of creative and collaborative knowledge work.

The critical and the essential objectives of the use of this model are to develop a “knowledge-creating” environment for the students and to engage them into a culture devoted to life-long learning.

Paving the Road to Sustainable Innovation Life Cycle

By

Engineer Marwan Adam,

Research Student

Innovation stems from the needs, inspires by creativity and imagination and furnishes by art, economic, and science; but a few ideas from thousands will be transformed in to innovative products, services, approaches or processes the phenomena similar to funnel. In some environment the firm for a long time be stagnant and continue to tackle problems using the same old tools in dynamic environment failing to secure creative and vibrant workspace, while other although can develop creative environment but failed in the business validation and engineering transformation or to catch market opportunity. The presentation will discuss the sustainability of Innovation Life cycle; it examined how the problems and needs are carefully observed, studied, quantified and their requirement are captured, how to build creativity and imagination culture to fuel the hardest step in the innovation the creativity, how to hold a team and network that examine the business validity of the Ideas, product development and fulfilling market need all these in integrated Value (creation) Stream chain , how the collective memory or new creation knowledge organizational acquired and stimulate the new cycle, and at the end are all these area adopted strategically or not.

Here we propose a blending of Value Chain analysis for environment scanning, Innovation as Process, Knowledge Creation platform, and strategically adoption of innovation in order to ensure sustainable innovation environment

دراسة عن أثر النظام السياسي السائد علي اكتساب المعرفة - التعليم نموذجا

تقديم

د.منال خضر محمد عثمان

استاذ مساعد كلية الدراسات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية

قسم العلوم السياسية، جامعة بحري

      تهدف  هذه الدراسة للإشارة  لأهمية المناخ السياسي السائد في المجتمع وعلاقته بالمعرفة  واكتسابها وتطبيقها . متخذة من تأثر التعليم بالنظم السياسية السائدة  نموذجا مما يؤثر في بناء المجتمع  موضحة أن    بناء ﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﻴﺨﻀﻊ ﻟﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﺍﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻭﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ﻭﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ ﺘﺴﻬﻡ ﺒﺘﻬﻴﺌﺔ ﺍﻷﺭﻀﻴﺔ  ﺍﻟﺼﺤﻴﺔ ﻟﺒﻨﺎﺀ مجتمع    ، ﻗﺎﺩﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺇﻨﺘﺎﺝ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﻭﺘﻭﻅﻴﻔﻬﺎ ﺒﻜﻔﺎﺀﺓ ﻋﺎﻟﻴﺔ  ، ﻟﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﺩﻡ ﻭﺍﻻﺯﺩﻫﺎﺭ ﻟﻺﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻓﻘﺩ ﺍﻋﺘﺒﺭﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺍﻷﺩﺍﺓ  ﺍﻟﻜﻔﻴﻠﺔ ﺒﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﻨﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﺒﺸﺭﻱ  ﻭ ، ﻟﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ ﺃﻫﺩﺍﻓﻪ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺭﺘﻜﺯ ﺒﺎﻟﻀﺭﻭﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ، ﻭﺍﻟﺭﻓﻊ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻜﺎﻨﺘﻪ ﻭﻨﻘﻠﻪ ﻤﻥ ﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﺨﻠﻑ ﺇﻟﻰ     ﺍﻟﺘﻘﺩﻡ المنشود.  ﻭﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﻟﻲ ﻓﺎﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺘﺴﻬﻡ ﻓﻲ  ﺘﺄﻫﻴل  ﺍﻷﻓﺭﺍﺩ ﻟﻠﻌﻴﺵ ﻓﻲ ﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺩﻴﻤﻘﺭﺍﻁﻲ،ويشكل مجال التربية والتعليم مجالاً حساساً وسيادياً للدول والمجتمعات كافة، ويعكس خصوصياتها من النواحي المرتبطة بالهوية كالّلغة والتاريخ والمعتقدات ومنظومات القيم،  إضافة إلى رؤاها وطموحاتها ومشاريعها في ما يخص موقعها ودورها في العالم.ويعتبر بلا شك التعليم هو البوابة الأساسية للولوج الي المعرفة وتنمية الابداع والابتكار بجانب عوامل أخري هامة لذلك، وفي الوقت الذي تنوء فيه البلدان والمجتمعات الفقيرة والضعيفة النمو تحت أعباء توفير التربية والتعليم ضمن الحدود الدنيا المقبولة، تعتبر الدول المتقدمة الاستثمار في التعليم استثماراً ذا طبيعة استراتيجية وشرطاً من شروط التنمية المستدامة على المستويين الاجتماعي والاقتصادي وتتنافس أنظمتها التعليمية على مستوى الفعالية والأداء كما على مستوى تطوير الرؤى التربوية وأهداف التعليم، توصلت الدراسة ﺇلي  ﺃﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺍﻟﻜﺜﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻷﻓﺭﺍﺩ ﻻ ﺍﻟﺫﻴﻥ   ﻴﺴﺘﻁﻴﻌﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺼﻭل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺭﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﻠﺒﻲ ﺍﺤﺘﻴﺎﺠﺎﺘﻬﻡ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻷﺴﺒﺎﺏ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ،  ﻭأن ﺍﻟﻤﺸﻜﻠﺔ   ﻟﻴست فقط ﻋﺩﻡ ﺘﻭﻓﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﺒل ﻋﺩﻡ ﺘﻭﻓﺭﻫﺎ ﺒﺎﻟﻁﺭﻴﻘﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻴﻤﻜﻥ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻔﺎﺩﺓ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ. كذلك توصلت  لعدم تمكن بعض اصحاب المعارف من تقديمها بشكل مفيد للمجتمع نتيجة لعدم العدالة الاجتماعية في توزيع الوظائف الأساسية  في مجالات التعليم  والثقافة حسب الكفاءة    أوصت الدراسة  بأﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺄﻜﻴﺩ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻼﺌﻤﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ كقبول ﺍﻻﺨﺘﻼﻑ وعدم ، ﻏﻴﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻴﺎﺕ  وحقوق ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ، ﻭﻋﺩ ﻡ ﻏﻴﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺩﻴﻤﻘﺭﺍﻁﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﺭﻜﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ.وتكافؤ  فرص التعليم  والمعرفة والمشاركة للجميع. دون التقيد بمنح الفرص الؤثرة للموالين للأنظمة السياسية الحاكمة أو ايدولوجية النظام .

  

دور  شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي في تعزيز قيمة التكافل في السودان

تقديم

أ/ حمدي صلاح الدين

محاضر ومذيع وصحافي

         

التكافل موجود فى السودان فى صور متعددة ومنذ قديم الزمان . من امثلة التكافل تجد (النفير) حيث يتجمع الاهل والاصدقاء والجيران لانجاز عمل ما لشخص ما بدون مقابل مادى مثل (البناء – الحصاد - الزراعة – عواسة الابرى- وقراءة القران للمتوفى).من صور التكافل ايضا نجد المشاركة فى (بيت العرس) و(بيت البكاء)بالوجبات والمياه  والدعم المادى واستضافة الضيوف  و(الكشف)حيث يقوم المشاركون فى المناسبة بدفع مبلغ مادى كل حسب استطاعتة – لصاحب المناسبة.  ومن امثلة التكافل النسوية نجد (الصندوق) او (الختة) حيث تقوم مجموعة من  النساء بجمع مبلغ محدد من المال يذهب لاحداهن بصورة دورية. كل هذا التكافل كان ويظل موجودا فى نطاق الحى والاهل والاصدقاء والجيران ولكن بعد ظهور شبكات التواصل الاجتماعى فى المسرح السودانى امتدت رقعة التكافل عبر مجموعات العمل الطوعى التى استخدمت الانترنت لجمع عدد من المتطوعين لانجاز برامجها التكاملية فنجد  مجموعات مثل (صدقات – شارع الحوادث – تعليم بلاحدود ) استطاعت ان تخرج بالتكافل من كونه طقس يمارس (داخل الاحياء) الى طقس ممتد بلاحدود فى الخرطوم والولايات وخارج السودان فتجد نموذجا مثلا لوردية مجموعة شارع الحوادث يشترك فيها متطوعين اثنين جاءا لخدمة الاطفال الاول من (جبل الاولياء) اقصى جنوب الخرطوم والثانى من (الجيلى) اقصى شمال الخرطوم والمسافة بين المنطقتين تفوق ال120كيلو مترا .اذن مجموعات العمل الطوعى استطاعت تعزيز قيمة التكافل ونقلها   من محيط (الحى والاهل والجيران ) الى محيط (العالم)عبر شبكات التواصل الاجتماعى.