Weekly highlights – 18 June 2015

1. Community quote

“The skills I have acquired would not only help me source for evidence but [also] enable me filter and narrow down to the most relevant ones to use.”

Participant at recent VakaYiko evidence-informed policy making course in Ghana

2. Updates

–          This week the VakaYiko consortium, led by INASP’s evidence-informed policy making team, submitted its latest quarterly report to the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). Highlights from the past quarter include: GINKS piloting the full four modules of the VakaYiko EIPM course at the Civil Service Training Centre, Ghana; reports in South Africa assessing the external environment for the Department for Environmental Affairs’ evidence and exploring the factors that shape the emergence of development outcomes in South Africa; ZeipNET delivering the second module of the EIPM course in the Zimbabwean Parliament and the third module in the ministries; finalizing plans for a fourth policy dialogue in Zimbabwe; and the second and final rounds of grantees being selected. Over coming weeks we will be publishing stories from some of the recipients of VakaYiko grants.

–          The programme for the 2015 Publishers for Development conference is now available here. In the run up to the conference, we are running a series of blog posts sharing consortia partners’ experiences of positive and negative ways of working with international publishers. See the Practising Development blog and follow the #inaspPrinciples hashtag.

–          New Facebook album shares photos from the recent information literacy strategy workshop in El Salvador. There is also a Storify of the workshop.

3. Upcoming events

–          Next week Annelise and Jan will be in Uganda for the second workshop of the learner-centred training  of librarian trainers course. This follows on from the workshop held in Ghana in February and subsequent discussions between participants via a Community of Practice.

–          The Publishers for Development conference will take place in London on 30^th June. It can be followed using the hashtag #pfd2015 and discussions will particularly focus on responsible engagement between publishers and library consortia (see the hashtag #inaspPrinciples).

–          From 28^th-30^th July the VakaYiko consortium will hold its annual meeting at GINKS’ headquarters in Accra, Ghana.

4. Recent publications

–          On Building a Concert Hall or a Career – AuthorAID, June 14, 2015

–          Worldwide research writing takes off with INASP’s biggest ever online course – INASP News, June 11, 2015

–          #inaspPrinciples for publishers 1: Taking the time to understand country context – Practising Development blog, June 11, 2015

–          What do #inaspPrinciples mean for Publishers? – Practising Development blog, June 11, 2015

–          Experiences from Pakistan (INASP Principles 2 & 4: Consortium involvement and sustainable pricing) – Publishers for Development, June 11, 2015

–          Experiences from Uganda (INASP Principle 1: Understand the Country Context) – Publishers for Development, June 9, 2015

–          Meeting supports publishers and libraries to strengthen Southern academia – Publishers for Development, June 8, 2015

–          Tip of the Week #237 – AuthorAID, June 9, 2015

5. External coverage

–          KLISC Workshop on Institutional Repositories and E-Resources Sensitization held on 5th June 2015 at University of Nairobi – Kenya Library & Information Services Consortium, June 5, 2015

–          Taller Desarrollo de Habilidades Informativas -Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de El Salvador

–          Workshops for system librarians – The Independent (Bangladesh), May 28, 2015

–          Two workshops for librarians held at BRAC University – Financial Express (Bangladesh), May 28, 2015

–          Providing Access to Those Who Need It Most – Taxo Diary, May 21, 2015