Learning and Knowledge Management

The Vrinda Handbook

see  General Index

Managing, Evaluating and Communicating in Development

Issue 10 - Sharing knowledge and resources. Why and how development actors support each other

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Reccomandation:  Collect and share knowledge resources and Good Practices

Knowledge sharing is an activity through which knowledge (i.e. information, skills, or expertise) is exchanged among people, or members of a community or an organization. Development actors have recognized that knowledge constitutes a valuable asset for creating and sustaining development efforts. The sharing of knowledge constitutes a major challenge in the field of knowledge management because organizations tend to resist sharing their competitive advantage with other organizations that may compete with them in fundraising. At the same time knowledge-sharing is an essential requisite for advocacy activities and policy coherence for development  Organisations need to give more importance and emphasis to collecting, compiling, organising and sharing knowledge, experiences and Good Practices.  Developed training curricula, manuals, and learning materials need to be widely disseminated and shared with relevant government and other departments to encourage their mainstreaming. This activity could include, among others, codifying and demonstrating the efficacy of specific methodological approaches and providing clues and advice to prevent the repetition of unsuccessful practices.


What are the links between knowledge management, learning and institutional development?

Capitalize and utilize knowledge derived from the lessons learned evaluating the projects

Knowledge derived from the implementation and evaluation of a program that can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses of program design and implementation. This information is likely to be helpful in modifying and improving program functions in the future.
Monitoring and Evaluation constitute a separate activity in each programme/project and must b
e planned well. In order to make corrective measures, it is important that the information emerging from monitoring is analysed at the end of each project year. This exercise of analysing monitoring information is called monitoring review. The objective of monitoring review is to empower staff in delivering programmes effectively. The learning that emerges from a monitoring review must be integrated into current programme implementation. In order that the learning become integrated into new programming, the information must be shared, among the wider programme team, during country learning reviews usually held every alternate year. 
 

Empowering human resources means:

On the basis of the Lessons learned output of the  M&E actions  we can  the  programme teams and partners by increasing their knowledge and understanding on programme quality, impact, accountability and learning and assisting them in developing and prioritising work plans and processes to this end.


The centrality of the “knowledge worker” in the “learning organization” approach to programme cycle management.

As organizations are increasingly asked to operate in a competitive environment they tend to focus on “outcome centred” management approaches. This implies the capacity to move from centralized bureaucratic structures to interrelated but self-governing programme/projects teams. A consequence of this shift of managerial focus is that managers need to foster an organizational process so that the employees learn from the programme/project results and can contribute to sharing the information required to better plan future actions. A further consequence is the growing need of staff, within the organization, able to access and use organizational knowledge and to contribute to further capitalization and sharing of new knowledge.
In knowledge-based organizations, learning is no longer restricted to the initial start up phase of new workers, but becomes a continuous process that moves along the implementation of tasks assigned in programme/project implementation. On the other hand, computers and Internet make possible new ways of capitalizing and sharing such knowledge. So the two factors of change reinforce each other, and their combined influence is rapidly changing work and learning environments. Learning organizations are those that have in place IT supported systems, mechanisms and processes, that are used to continually enhance their capabilities and those who work with it or for it, to achieve sustainable objectives - for themselves and the communities in which they participate.
 


 

Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice.
 


 

Knowledge management can be viewed from two perspectives:
  • Knowledge can be viewed as "Knowledge = Object" which relies upon concepts from "Information Theory" in the understanding of knowledge. These researchers and practitioners are normally involved in the construction of information management systems, AI, reengineering, etc. This group builds knowledge systems, while the next group changes the way we use knowledge, which ultimately changes human behavior.
  • Knowledge can be viewed as "Knowledge = Process" which relies upon the concepts from philosophy, psychology, and sociology. These researchers and practitioners are normally involved in education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc. and are primarily involved in assessing, changing and improving human individual skills and behavior.


 


 

 

Capitalize and utilize knowledge

What is Knowledge management?

Characteristics of a "learning organization"

The Knowledge-Based Organization: Managing Its Human Resources

Training and Knowledge Management

Training as a Communication Strategy

Testing and Evaluation of Training 

Even if learning is meant to be a positive change, it is still a change which may have to overcome resistance and so it has to be managed carefully considering the typical dynamics of organizational and individual change.

 

Training programmes:

Communication for results based programme management 

Integrating Web Based Training (WBT) and classroom training

Proposta SIM per Fondi Paritetici inter-professionali

Web Site Creation Strategy

 

 

 

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The program / project team training plan

Theory of Knowledge

Scenario del KM

2 views

cosa è un rapporto e perchè farlo

How to set a performance standard

La condivisione della conoscenza come  fattore primario di competitività negli scenari economici del prossimo futuro.

Communication research methods

Web Based Training (WBT) Course Evaluation Form