Using Knowledge exchange for Capacity Development: What Works ini Global Practice?

Diposting oleh Unknown Rabu, 23 November 2011

Knowledge exchange—the sharing of infor-mation and experiences for customized learning—helps to lessen the knowledge divide, build consensus and coalitions for reform, and promote the concept of Open Development. In other words, knowledge exchange meets immediate, operational knowledge gaps by fostering the sharing of countries’ experiences. South-South knowledge exchange encourages cross-country partnerships that can help strengthen local ownership and leadership of development issues by providing just-in-time support on “how-to.” Lessons drawn from the practical experi-ence of others can improve stakeholder buy-in and subsequently create an enabling environment for designing and implement-ing difficult development initiatives and reforms. As a result, a country’s ability to identify, design, implement, and evaluate 
development solutions becomes more efficient and effective, leading to an overall improvement in performance. 

However, the results of knowledge exchange programs have not been rigor-ously explored in a systematic manner. How then do we know how effective they are in meeting countries’ needs? And how do we know what works and does not work so we can replicate successes or avoid potential pitfalls?
In this joint study, the Korea Devel-opment Institute (KDI) and World Bank Institute (WBI) assess three of their South-South knowledge exchange programs to analyze their effectiveness as well as gather 
lessons that can inform global practice. WBI’s Capacity Development and Results Framework (CDRF) provides the conceptual foundation and methodology for facilitating the assessment. The framework supplies logic for understanding how institutions change, as well as sets of institutional and intermediate indicators that can be flexibly applied to measure and analyze capacity development outcomes across sectors and countries. 
The study examines three programs:  
  1. KDI’s Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP) for advancing export development in the Dominican Republic; 
  2. KDI’s KSP for pro-moting public-private partnerships and pre-feasibility studies in Mongolia, along with providing support for deposit insurance reform; and 
  3. The World Bank’s South-South Experience Exchange Facility for the New Economy Skills for Africa Program (NESAP) in India for sharing knowledge on information and communications technology with African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria.
The study’s findings reveal concrete evidence of institutional outcomes from knowledge exchange and how these results were achieved through intermediate capac-ity outcomes. The results highlight lessons for the design and management of knowl-edge exchange programs for future replica-tion or improvement, including ways to:
  • Respond to the demands of the partner country, to better target the knowledge exchange for a more efficient and effective program.
  • Ensure local ownership and commitment to the reform process, to establish conditions on the ground to promote change.
  • Strategically select participants on both the demand and supply sides of the knowledge exchange, to ensure participants have relevant experience to share and are in key positions to effect change.
  • Promote and sustain cross-country and within-country peer-to-peer interactions, to facilitate the exchange of tacit knowledge and contribute to local institution-building.  
The assessment also identifies good practices in managing knowledge exchange for results, by demonstrating the value of a results focus, clear change logic, and indicators to monitor and measure progress.The merits of South-South exchanges have become increasingly evident for capacity development, and the role of knowledge in the development agenda will only continue to grow. Thus, it is necessary for those involved in designing and implementing knowledge exchange programs to focus on improving their effectiveness and results. Development practitioners and local partners can apply the lessons learned from this study to help improve future knowledge exchange programs.

0 komentar

Posting Komentar