Services
This section details Supras’ consulting and advisory services. Supras engages in six core areas of concern and expertise, and offers services in these same areas. The core service areas should be understood as operationalization of Supras’ areas of competencies which, in turn, builds upon the vision and the strategy.
There is overlap and feedback between the core service areas. For example, there is a dialectic between the services Applied and Research. Likewise, the services are related causally, for example, Applied and Research often lead to Networking and increasingly to webservices, while Applied and Research work feed into Publishing. Webservices is largely ancillary to the other service areas.
The activities within each core service area are available in section Portfolio. Documents – more generally output – of specific activities within each core service area are available in section Library, and partly also in section Knowledge.
- Networking
- The focus here is on networks that to a large extent utilize and depend upon Information and Communication Technology (ICT) – specifically the Internet and email – as means of communication. There are two key aspects of such ICT-based networking: (1) Due to the key characteristics of modern networking, incl. the increasing complexity of their subject matter, the fact that they increasingly are virtual in character, and efforts to scale them up, means that knowledge management becomes increasingly important and (2) Networks that emphasize knowledge management may evolve into Communities of Practice (CoPs). Supras has been involved in setting up and managing a number of networks and CoPs, including for civil society and the World Bank. Presently, Supras is involved in coordinating CBNRM Net, which has proved to be a great learning experience for understanding the importance of the relations between technology and society in applying and optimizing the role of networks in a developmental context.
[portfolio|library] - Projects and operations
- Operational work, usually in connection with preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects. The emphasis is on social and cultural aspects of natural resource management and on knowledge management.
[portfolio|library] - Publishing
- The publishing activities covers: (1) Newspaper and paper series, (2) Websites and (3) Blogging. This is partly done in collaboration with CBNRM Networking.
[portfolio|library] - Research
- The research related work addresses several interrelated areas of concern, including culture and natural resource management, ICTs and development, knowledge management, language and communication, networking, and strategic communication. The overarching context is globalization. The research as a rule has a clear applied orientation and rationale. The output is often in the form of project reports and papers read at conferences or published in journals. Another output is CBNRM Net Papers.
[portfolio|library] - Training and capacity-building
- Comprises organization of and participation in training and capacity-building activities, organization of seminars and workshops, and lecturing. It also covers the training that CBNRM Net does as part of its day-to-day operation. Finally, in some cases the consultants in developing countries and countries in transition that are listed on the Supras site as staff / local consultants should be understood as a case of on-the-job-training.
[portfolio|library] - Web services
- Web design and web hosting. This service area is ancillary to some of the above service areas, in particular, Networking, Research, and Publishing. It aims partly at helping CBNRM Net’s members and others get online, partly at providing process documentation of projects that Supras is managing or is involved in, and partly at providing space on this site for special-purpose causes and activities.
[portfolio|library|Hosting]