Peer Assist

As part of the agenda, a special session has been planned during which issues or problems related to regional/headquarters interactions were discussed to identify new insights and innovative approaches, while promoting an open environment for problem solving and learning from each others' experiences.

A 'Peer Assist' methodology was used, which consists of bringing together a group of peers to get feedback on a problem, project, or activity, with the help of a facilitator, and then drawing lessons from the participants' knowledge and experience in areas related to the problem, project, or activity.

During the Peer Assist, participants:

• learned how others would approach their issue.
  
• got ideas and devised solutions to their problems with the collective input of their peers.
  
• gained input from people outside their teams.
  
• learned new approaches or methods for problem solving.
  
• developped stronger bonds with their colleagues.
  

Regional Presentations

In CIAT Knowledge Sharing Week 2004, the emphasis was on discussion and dialogue rather than on formal presentations. For this reason, there were relatively few presentations during the week. One area in which staff and management felt that a few presentations from the Regions were essential to stimulate dialogue relates to the regional programs and their relations with other parts of CIAT (other regional programs and headquarters-based staff, units and projects).

Guidelines were provided to encourage the three presenters to focus on a few key areas of importance to CIAT's staff and programs, rather than on presenting large amounts of information to the audience.