[GRACE] APC's Message to the Grace Researchers on Changes in the Grace Management Structure

[Chat Garcia Ramilo]

APC's Message to the Grace Researchers on Changes in the Grace 
Management Structure
8 June 2006

Dear Grace researchers,

We in APC would like to let you know of a change in APC's role and 
participation in the Grace project. Before we outline this change, we 
would like to give you the background that will give it context.

Beginnings of Grace
-----------------------------
Following on our successful collaboration with them in developing GEM 
(Gender Evaluation Methodology) IDRC approached APC with a concept 
document and motivation for a study on 'The women and men of Africa's 
ICT revolution' to be worked on at a Pan African study preparation 
workshop. Emerging from the discussion of this idea APC-Africa-Women 
(AAW) assisted in organising the "Finding the GEM in the Haystack" 
workshop, held in April, 2004. It was at this workshop that the GRACE 
project was born and conceptualised as a Pan-African research project 
on gender and ICTs.

An important component of APC's work is developing and documenting 
new knowledge through research, evaluation, networking and analysis. 
And, the work of the Women's Networking Support Programme, since its 
launch in 1993, has been about women working and learning together; 
to understand the impact of ICTs on their lives and communities, and 
to be able to harness the potential of these technologies and 
processes for their empowerment.

Thus GRACE was and is an exciting and relevant project for APC to engage with.

Roles and management structure
------------------------------------------------
GRACE evolved as a partnership project between APC, Ineke Buskens and 
IDRC, working interactively with the group of researchers who were 
part of the founding workshop.


APC, IDRC and Ineke reached agreement in late 2004 on our respective 
roles and responsibilities. APC is responsible for overall project 
management which includes:

*integrating the research aspects that will be undertaken by Ineke 
Buskens and the GRACE researchers into the development of a network 
of gender researchers in ICT
*ensuring that finances are in order and that everything is 
underwritten with contracts
*reporting to IDRC, and, developing knowledge sharing tools and 
networking platforms to facilitate the research activities of the 
GRACE researchers

We agreed that APC will also be able to:

*make input into the methodology where possible
*input into mentoring and capacity building which lies outside of the 
research realm
*play an active role in the overall project research and the 
networking component and have APC's learning contribute to the methodology.

Ineke Buskens/Research for the Future's responsibilities include:

*overall research direction
*selecting a support person
*finding a publisher
*assembling a group to act as a sounding board on research issues
*commissioning a person to undertake a literature review
*deciding who will be involved in research capacity-building, 
ensuring a role for APC
*co-operating with APC in determining how knowledge of gender and 
ICTs can be communicated to researchers
*determining the form of workshops, following consultation with APC
*communicating with and reporting to her research participants and 
their collaborators;
*conducting research and mentoring others, providing quality control 
of the research outputs, and managing methodological issues; and

APC's decision to pull out of GRACE project management

APC has decided to change our role and participation in the Grace 
project and to pull out of our project management role from 30 June 2006.

While we feel that APC and Ineke have tried to work together amicably 
and constructively in the first year of the project, there have been 
differences in how we interpreted partnership and the ownership and 
management structure of the project, as well as in work style and 
culture. Differences, per se can lead to more creativity in a 
project. However, in this case, they led to impasses that have 
hampered effective decision-making and coherence in the leadership of 
the project.

For APC, one of the major areas where we feel we felt that we have 
been unable to participate is in the research process. The project 
management plan of the GRACE proposal states that APC has a role in 
providing input where appropriate into the research methodology and 
the research process. This however has been very difficult to realise 
in a meaningful way given the separation of the research spaces and 
processes, which we have very little access to. We have raised this 
problem a number of times with Ineke as Research Director, requesting 
for more openness and sharing. However we have not been able to come 
to an arrangement that both parties were completely comfortable with. 
We feel that this situation does not just impact on our ability to 
honour our commitments as project manager, but also on our ability to:

*help facilitate the research process through sharing our experience 
of online work
*deliver effectively at the level of providing and facilitating the 
knowledge sharing platforms
*share our extensive experience and understanding of gender and ICTs in Africa
*help in facilitating the growth of GRACE as a network, one of the 
primary goals of the initiative

APC feels that the best way to resolve these difficulties is pull out 
of our project management role. After discussion with Ineke and 
Heloise, it was decided that project management be handed over by 
IDRC to Research for the Future (Ineke Buskens). This process will 
take all of the project's contractual arrangements with researchers 
into consideration.

Jenny Radloff has also decided to discontinue her research project as 
the multiple roles she was fulfilling with the GRACE project were 
difficult to sustain.

APC and GRACE in the future
--------------------------------------------
As mentioned above we are aiming to transfer management to Research 
for the Future by June 2006. Until then APC remains GRACE project 
manager and Chat Garcia Ramilo, the Project Leader, will ensure we 
fulfill all the related responsibilities. Ineke felt, in the light of 
our decision to withdraw from being the project manager, that it was 
not appropriate for Chat to participate in the workshop. Jenny will 
be there later this week to convey our good wishes in person. We 
outsourced logistics to Helena and we trust that all has been going 
well. It has been good to read the positive feedback from Durban.

We are not cutting our ties with the project or the network. We hope 
to continue to engage and relate with GRACE, but in different 
capacities. We work with most of you as members and partners and 
those relationships will continue. We value our relationship with 
IDRC enormously, and have the greatest respect for their work. In 
particular we want to acknowledge Heloise, without whom GRACE would 
not have materialised.

APC will remain responsible for the technical support of the 
project's networking platforms leaving facilitation and content 
development to Ineke and Anne.

We hope to be involved in the dissemination of the GRACE publication 
and in supporting the researchers in using their work to influence 
policy should they wish us to. If the idea of building a network of 
researchers remains, we would certainly like to be involved.

We sincerely wish the best for all the researchers and the project 
and the new management team, Ineke and Anne. We hope to work with 
each one in partnership, whether singly or as a network. We look 
forward eagerly to the research outputs which will contribute 
significantly to the body of knowledge on gender and ICTs in Africa.


Jenny Radloff, AAW Coordinator
Chat Garcia Ramilo, APC WNSP Coordinator
Anriette Esterhuysen, APC Executive Director
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Chat Garcia Ramilo
Coordinator
Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support 
Programme, (APC WNSP)
www.apcwomen.org     www.apc.org   www.genderIT.org
chat at apcwomen.org
Manila, PHILIPPINES