Rwanda as a Knowledge Society

Generating and developing knowledge societies is a key element for sustainable development as defined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Based on a limited natural resource base, Rwanda chose to take an approach to development that differs from that of its neighbours by making ICTs the cornerstone of its development. With this focus, government of Rwanda (GoR) took a Pro-ICT led public policy that has led to several public reforms such as but not limited to liberalization of the telecom sector, enactment of laws to govern electronic messages, signatures, transactions, data protection, cyber-security and ICT usage, development of relevant infrastructure and establishment of key institutions such as the Rwanda Utilities and Regulatory Agency (RURA) and Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA). These reforms have in turn led to a fast-growing ICT sector in Rwanda compared to that of the neighbours. To-date, Rwanda is one of the fastest growing African countries in ICT. In 2015, Rwanda emerged as the third best ICT country in Sub-Saharan Africa behind South Africa and Seychelles. In 2016, it moved one position up and emerged 2nd behind Seychelles. The fast-growing ICT sector has stimulated entrepreneurial creativity and growth across the economy. This chapter examines the best practices that Rwanda has applied in her journey to a knowledge society that could possibly help other countries in the region pursuing the same objective. The chapter also briefly reviews challenges and gaps in Rwanda's journey to a knowledge society and suggests recommendations for further improvement.

Knowledge Societies Landscape and Framework for Distinct Context Settings

The chapter attempts to do a comprehensive literature review on knowledge societies describing its main concepts, dimensions, aspects, and actors/players. In addition to the literature review, it proposes a framework to build knowledge societies. The framework presents seven dimensions, which have been extracted from the literature where each dimension is characterized by several aspects collected from the literature. The framework can be used by decision makers around the world as a useful tool for building robust knowledge societies in different context-specific environments.

Education and Knowledge Under the Impact of Economic Stress

This chapter intends to have answer the questions: How did Ian Smith structure his government and economy and survive sanctions for sixteen years (1965-1979) and become innovative? Why, under almost similar conditions, did Robert Mugabe fail to bring the economy do its toes? In cases, what was the role of knowledge societies and what role did they play to bridge the gap between society and them towards meaningful development? The study uses desktop review as the basis of getting data and information useful in building this theoretical case study of Zimbabwe in the period 1965 to 2018. The robustness of an economy under a stringent economic environment is a function of its ability to tap and harness the prowess of its knowledge societies. It is recommended that strong links between the private, public, and knowledge sectors are required and this must happen in an environment with trust, transparency, accountability, rule of law, and commitment translating into a powerful connubio for transformation.

Developing Knowledge Societies

This chapter explores how the knowledge societies are being developed in different local, national, regional, and international societies and more in particular how the women and girls in Kanungu are developing their knowledge within the clans. The methodology followed to generate a set of questions: What are clans? and Does belonging to a clan group have an individual or group impact on their identity (as Bakiga/Banyankole/Bahororo/Bairu/Bahima) Ugandans? Why are women in Kanungu district organizing in paternal clans? How new is the trend? What is its origin? Are there women, girls who do not identify with clans? What are the basic socio-economic challenges confronting the girls and women of Kanungu? Has local government and development partners tried to deal with the challenges of women? With what results? Is organizing in Clan Groups matriarchy? Is it empowerment or cementing submissiveness? Is it increasing women work load? What is its effect on men-masculinity? In order to understand how the clan groups' learn, a feminist qualitative ethnographic approach was used. Women's personal stories were collected through focus group discussions and interviews to explore their experiences on the prospects and challenges of clan group activities. A sample of five women and five men randomly picked was used. Therefore, this chapter aims to stimulate sharing knowledge and learning about women's lives in rural areas; document women's narratives; show the economic development trends in Uganda; promote self-actualization, self-awareness, and pride among women as equal citizens of Uganda; and motivate reading and learning and contribute to creation of rural libraries.

Transforming and Facilitating Quality Education in Developing Knowledge Economy

In 2015, world leaders gathered at the United Nations (UN) to adopt 17 Sustainable Development Goals to achieve several extraordinary things by 2030. Among these 17 goals of sustainable development, ‘Quality Education' has been recognized as the fourth most important thing in order to transform our world. Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people's lives and sustainable development. India, which is now one of the fastest growing economies of the world, is continuously thriving to transform and facilitate quality education for all, irrespective of the gender, caste, and socio-economic status to leverage county's demographic dividend. Such initiatives have been helpful in creating and sustaining a knowledge society and economy where people learn and build their capabilities to add value through knowledge development, improvement, and innovation. The efforts taken by India to improve the creation, storage, and dissemination of knowledge have helped her to build human capital and face the challenges of dynamic and ambiguous environment. This chapter discusses critical activities contributing to the desired change, highlights prevailing structural and socio-economic issues, and in the course of the analysis identifies some critical areas for improvement.

Knowledge Co-Production and Sustainable Socio-Economic Development

This chapter illuminates the significance of researcher-practitioner engagement in knowledge production and the impact it has on socioeconomic development. Knowledge production and sharing have a significant impact on the transformation of society. It highlights the importance of knowledge co-production through engaged scholarship research that achieves the twin goals of rigor and relevance. Engaged scholarship research creates a more pleasant relationship between scholars, non-academic practitioners and communities in creation of knowledge. This research approach however, is rarely applied in many research institutions and universities. Engaged scholarship research approach is therefore preferred because it empowers local communities to participate and contribute in making decisions that affect their lives. The chapter concludes by reiterating collaboration and stakeholder involvement that generate knowledge based on practical experiences and which are mutually beneficial and relevant in solving society problems.

Information and Knowledge Needs of Artisans in a Knowledge Society

The chapter demonstrates the concept of information, knowledge, and the knowledge society. Stress was given to highlight the information and knowledge needs of artisans, problems faced by them, and how they can achieve socio-economic development in a knowledge society. The particular ascent was given to highlight the perceptions and beliefs of willow-works artisans of district Ganderbal, India. The sample of 100 artisans was surveyed and it was founded that majority of them are between the age group of 20-40 years; 63% among them are educated (ranging from 5th–PG above), and there are both genders which practice willow-works, but the majority of them are males. Their tenet is that knowledge can change their standard of living, if there are provisions in knowledge society for creating and disseminating the new knowledge among these artisans pertinent to technology, scientific cultivation of raw materials, marketing, availability of new markets, and potential exploitation by entrepreneurs.

Influence of Information Systems and Technology on Hospitality Business Performance in Albania

The transition from a closed economy to an open, market economy created new opportunities for the development of tourism in Albania. Tourism is known as one of the industries with the largest use of information technology (IT), but for various reasons, application of information systems (IS) in Albanian hotels is lower compared to other countries in Balkan region and other countries in Europe. Many processes and operations are handled in old and traditional ways. Most of the entrepreneurs do not know the benefit of using IS in the daily processes of the hotels. However, the demand of hospitality services dictates the need of using contemporary IS to gain competitive advantage and to survive in the market. IS and technology impacts competitiveness, management of information flow, and the decision-making process. They have influenced performance of the hotel sector through changing the nature of tourism services and the target market. This chapter aims to establish the extent of usage of these systems in the overall performance of the hotels in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

Knowledge Society, Globalization, and Impacts on Knowledge Management

Continuing knowledge, skills, and practice update through continuing education, which then becomes the lever of society and the recipe for a successful future. This chapter aims to initiate a discussion about the concepts of knowledge societies, globalization, and their perceptions and impact on knowledge management in relation to the Brazilian educational reality. From a theoretical-methodological perspective, continuing education is considered as a key element that can sustain knowledge management and foster knowledge societies. This question is the reason why this intensity of the offer of continuing education nowadays becomes pertinent, as well as to look at how the knowledge societies have seduced people to consume more and more knowledge. The conclusions raise the question of how societies of knowledge have become a contemporary imperative, justified by the acceleration of time in different spaces and driven by globalization. As knowledge management has contributed to this movement, it is necessary for professionals to be more flexible and resourceful, as well as about what can happen to the individuals who cannot keep up with the demands of the market and become disposable in society.