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Tim you’re the Director of Operations of the Climate and Development
Knowledge Network, running a global operation
with activities in three continents plus Europe because
we’re based in the UK; how do you manage that extraordinarily
geographic reach of what we’re trying to do?
I think it’s about understanding that space around turning knowledge
and understanding of climate change and development issues
into practical policies that can be implemented
into action plans and delivery on the ground.
Now I’ve been talking to people who are running regional programmes,
your perspective is global, an interesting challenge
for us will be to connect us across these various regions;
How do we do that?
Well I think it’s both the need to connect up
between the regions, it’s understanding what
we’re doing in Africa that is relevant in another region
within Asia or Latin America or the Caribbean,
but it is also about understanding the differences between them,
the differences between operating in Sub-Saharan Africa,
in Southern African, for us operating
in middle income countries in Latin America, different context,
different opportunities and we’ve got to understand that,
but we’ve also got to remain coherent and that’s what we’re thinking about
in terms of our unifying theme, which is conversion of knowledge
into policy and action.
In all these different fields of operation we have
whether it’s research or advisory services
or knowledge management or partnership.
Do you see scope for people from Latin America working Asia
and vice versa?
Absolutely and I think that’s the energy that we bring to it,
it’s the energy that we hold within the centre of what we do.
It’s the interaction between Stef Raubenheimer, in Cape Town
and Yolanda Kakabadse in Quito. It’s the sharing of the knowledge
and the experience that they have, within their own geographies,
within their own countries, within their own regions
and also globally.
Now I’ve been talking to the Chief Executive about the difficulty
of doing two things simultaneously. One is building the systems
and the procedures we need and finding the right people
to work in different place, and the other is being up
and running quickly and showing real results
on the ground as quickly as we can. Paul has described that as being
like building a car while at the same time trying to drive it
around the road; you’re actually at the sharp end of that
how’s it been, how’s it feel, what happens next?
If we sit back for too long then we fail to engage with the people
who we most want to help with, and very important to us
was within the first three months that we should be deploying
onto the ground, spending the time with countries,
talking to ministers as we have been with Rwanda
and Ghana to understand how it is that we can best
deploy the resources that we have at our disposal for their benefit.
And something else that I think you’ve been doing
which is an important part of our philosophy as well as our practice
is to push the decision making downwards and to decentralise
to Africa and Latin America and Asia?
Absolutely. We’re not following a blueprint here.
It is all about that process of exploration, the journey and that has
to be done at the country level, and by the people
that we have that are operating in the regions,
Now let’s look ahead five years, and stand there five years time
looking back at what we’ve managed to deliver.
What are your hopes? What will constitute success
from your perspective?
Probably the most important thing for me is that we should leave
an enduring legacy and that that means
that we make a difference to the lives of the poorest people
in developing countries, to their lives and their livelihoods
and that the development plans of the countries where they live
should not be disrupted by climate change in the years to come.
Tim this is a big operation and a very difficult car
to build and drive at the same time so good luck with it.
Thank you