The Right to Knowledge

At a time when the future shape of international development and the meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly uncertain, this book outlines a years-tested, learning-systems approach for cost-effectively scaling the reach, engagement, and adoption of gold-standard research-for-development (R4D) innovations to support the SDGs to the widest possible demographics. If you are researching, producing, or disseminating public-good e-extension solutions for problems at any scale, this book’s interventions at all points along the value chain—from basic research to solution development, distribution, uptake, and end-user feedback—enable reaching even the most difficult-to-reach groups, especially those in the global South, those who speak local rather than majority languages, may have low or no print literacy, are geographically isolated, or face barriers to inclusion and participation (particularly women, minorities, and marginalized groups). Describing or offering “menus” or “encyclopedias” of accessible educational content on R4D innovations placed in diverse local languages to help reach the SDGs requires coordinated global partnerships among content creators (SDG 17), delivery systems using formal and informal pathways to provide life-sustaining knowledge (SDG 4), and diverse digital communities of practice with the access necessary to locally exercise their right to that knowledge (SDG 16). Implementing this book’s learning-systems approach opens channels for advancing all the SDGs, especially prioritizing the eradication of poverty and hunger, improving health and well-being, providing safe shelter, and ensuring gender security.