This is my talk at various NGOs, and refugee camps. If you want to learn a new skill or help a community, and you don't know how or where to start, this is a quick starter guide that you should read

1. Knowledge to Action to Impact
By Robin Low

2. Creation / Acquisition of Knowledge
Knowledge Inquiry
Synthesis
Products/
Tools

3. Creation / Acquisition of Knowledge
• Knowledge gathering is represented by a
funnel surrounded by a the action cycle.

4. Knowledge Inquiry
Synthesis
Products/
Tools
Identify Problem
Adapt knowledge
to local context
Implement
Interventions
Understand Barriers
to knowledge use
Evaluate outcome
Iterate Solution

5. Action Cycle
• The Action Cycle outlines a process,
representing the activities needed for
knowledge to be applied in practice;
knowledge is adapted to the local context, and
barriers and facilitators to its use are explicitly
assessed. Involvement of stakeholders, and
tailoring knowledge to the needs of people
who are going to use it, is crucial.

6. Knowledge Inquiry
Synthesis
Products/
Tools
Identify Problem
Adapt knowledge
to local context
Implement
Interventions
Understand Barriers
to knowledge use
Evaluate outcome
Iterate Solution
Evaluate
Impact
Empower
Locals
Engage Local Stakeholders
Enable
Locals
Connect Locals
with External Resource

7. Impact and Sustainablity
• To create sustainability, there needs to be
local engagement from the start.
• The people should not be seen as the
problem, but instead as the solution.
• They locals hold the knowledge and they may
have untapped capacity, and they need to be
engaged, participate and collaborate on the
solution.

8. How to Turn Ideas to Reality
Why do ideas remain as ideas?
• Lack of planning
• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of action

9. Lack of planning
• This is a commonly used excuse.
• As an entrepreneur or employee, there are
many things which may be high priority.
• Getting to social impact, trying out new
technology, finding new markets, may all
sound important by running of main business
is the most important.

10. How do we plan better?
1. Block out time
– You plan meetings and schedules all the time, set
some time aside to develop your ideas.
– A good time would be Monday morning, where
you have a fresh start for the week.
– Friday afternoons are usually bad as you have
social activities as well as deadlines which may
over run and push schedules back.

11. How do we plan better?
2. Use Tools for planning.
– There are so many tools which can help you in
planning, meeting and collaboration.
– Time Tracking Software
– Workflow Mgmt Software
– Time & Expense Software
– Web Conferencing Software
– Its easy to plan, collaborate and execute with
free tools online.

12. How do we plan better?
3. Have a goal in Mind.
– Create milestones and small tasks to complete
within a short time frame.
– Map progress, visualizing progress is a great
motivator
– Review progress and adjust schedule to fit
timeline.

13. Knowledge acquisition
Knowledge Inquiry
Synthesis
Products/
Tools
Identify Problem
Adapt knowledge
to local context
Implement
Interventions
Understand Barriers
to knowledge use
Evaluate outcome
Iterate Solution
Evaluate
Impact
Empower
Locals
Engage Local Stakeholders
Enable
Locals
Connect Locals
with External Resource

14. Knowledge
• Some knowledge are harder to acquire. If you
want to create an app, but you don’t know
coding.
• There are a lot of online courses available to
get you to level 1.
• Otherwise there is always the question, are
you the best man for the job, or do you want
to outsource?

15. Knowledge
• A potential problem is not knowing what you
don’t know.
• It is very hard to start as a
beginner if you don’t know
how to ask for help.
• If you are totally new, you
can always volunteer,
intern or work for the
industry you want to be in.

16. Knowledge
• Focusing too much knowledge is also a bad thing.
More knowledge can actually hurt as you may
over rationalize and cannot decide.
• Information paralysis
– The Internet is changing how we access information,
and there is too much bad opinions out there that can
obscure real information.
• You need to develop the skill of "mindfulness." –
the act of being present and focusing your
awareness, objectively and without judgement.

17. Mindfulness
• Examine your trigger.
• Use mindfulness to determine your feelings
leading up to the event.
• Realize that you are not your emotions.
• Determine the root cause behind your
emotions.
• Distract yourself with something else and
focus on how great future you will feel.

18. Lack of Action
• With enough planning and knowledge, no
action may still be taken.
• Why?
– Self sabotage?
– Lack of confidence?
– Lack of perceived resources?

19. Accountability
• How to find motivation?
– Sometimes doing it for “yourself” is not a good
reason for you to act.
– You have to “do it for someone else” and take
accountability.
– Sometimes we need a “Gym Buddy” to be there,
spurring you into action.

20. Knowledge is power
• Knowledge is aplenty; it only becomes power
when you take action

21. K2A in action
Identifying strategies to improve diabetes care in
Alberta, Canada, using the knowledge-to-action
cycle
Through collaboration between health
researchers and the strategic clinical network,
and using principles of the knowledge-to-action
cycle, we identified barriers to and facilitators of
diabetes care using data from a patient survey
and a provider focus group

23. Identifying the Gaps
What is a “gap”?
• Measuring the “gap” between evidence and
actual practice or policy-making is one of the
first steps in knowledge translation.
• By evidence, we mean the best available
research-based evidence.

24. Which gaps to target?
• Given constraints in resources, it isn’t possible
to target every gap from evidence to practice.
• Strategies include consideration of the
burden, quality of life and cost.
• These discussions should be transparent and
involve relevant stakeholders, including
patients or the public, NGOs, etc.

25. How can we measure the gap?
• Needs assessment is a process for determining
the size and nature of the gap between
current and more desirable knowledge, skills,
attitudes, behaviours and outcomes.
• The strategy used for assessment depends on
the purpose of the assessment, the type of
data and the resources available.

26. The Gap Assessment
• Can happen at the population level.
Information and database may already be
available from various organizations.
• Can also happen at the organization level.
Most organizations are required by
accreditation to collect information on gaps.
• Can also happen at the project / care provide
level through direct observation.

27. Why do gaps exist?
• Gaps from evidence to action usually reflect
systems-related issue.
• Human beings have problems paying attention
to nonroutine tasks.
• Humans do not concentrate on repetitive
tasks once they are mastered.
• If we do not evaluate the impact of these
tasks, then gaps between evidence and
practice can occur.

28. What are the gaps in gap
identification?
• Identifying the gaps from knowledge to practice is
the starting point of implementing knowledge.
Analyses of gaps should involve use of rigorous
methods and engage relevant stakeholders.
• Strategies for completing needs assessments
depend on the purpose of the assessment, the
type of data and the resources that are available.
• Needs can be assessed from the perspective of a
population, an organization.

29. For more tips
https://www.facebook.com/socialhub/