News and Events

Strengthening Knowledge Networks for Development: Understanding Issues, Facing Challenges, and Seizing Opportunities

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in cooperation with the KM4Dev Community successfully held the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) Forum last 8–9 February 2007 at the ADB Headquarters in Manila. A total of 108 KM practitioners from 64 organizations in 18 countries from Asia, Europe and the United States shared and learned about experiences, approaches, concerns, and programs on knowledge management. The event’s theme was “Strengthening Knowledge Networks for Development: Understanding Issues, Facing Challenges, and Seizing Opportunities”.

Dr. Bindu Lohani, Director General of Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD) warmly welcomed the participants and imparted the efforts of ADB in developing and improving its knowledge management framework. He then introduced the keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Thomas Menkhoff of Singapore Management University who talked about “Managing the Knowledge Trap: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Agencies.”

The highlight of Day One's morning session was an open forum of representatives from different development organizations who shared their KM experiences and challenges. These representatives were: Nestor Mijares of the Philippines’ National Economic and Development Authority, Frank McCosker of Microsoft Corporation, Kim Henderson of the United Nations Development Programme, Mike Pereira of Development Gateway, Erik Johnson of World Bank Institute, and Dr. Abdulnasser Minkara of Islamic Development Bank. Rory Chase,of Teleos, which conducts the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) Rankings, summarized the highlights of the discussion.

Six KM workshops were conducted in the afternoon, of which four workshops were 90 minutes long and two workshops lasted for 45 minutes. These sessions were:

• Organizational Knowledge Assessment by Erik Johnson
• Approaches in Knowledge Sharing with three mini-presentations by Chris Zielinski, Frans Neuman, and Prof. Vilas Wuwongse
• Sharing of Good Practices on Knowledge-based Development for the Poor by Prof. Serafin Talisayon and Alwin Sta. Rosa
• Knowledge Fairs for Development by Johan Arvling, Robert Juhkam, and Agi Veres
• Storytelling and Behavioral Change by Iris Tutuarima; and
• The Last Mile of Knowledge Management by Zbigniew Mikolajuk.

After the sessions, participants actively participated in the Poster Sessions where they presented their respective organizations’ KM practices and methodologies. Some 22 participants prepared posters and discussed their organizations’ KM programs.

Before the day ended, the participants laid out the agenda for the open space sessions for Day 2. They posted session topics and preferred time slots, and then chose the sessions they were interested in. To cap the day, ADB treated the participants to a welcome reception with the ADB Dance Guild performing some popular Filipino ethnic dances.

Mr. Rory Chase began the second day with a presentation on MAKE methodology entitled “Innovation and Intellectual Capital Management Set the Agenda.” It was followed by three sets of open space sessions. A total of 22 open space groups were convened and tackled varied topics such as Asian KM, knowledge sharing among competing agencies, engaging NGOs and civil society on KM, educating the youth on KM, embedding KM to doing business, and more.

The KM4Dev Forum ended with participants bringing with them an optimistic outlook on the role of knowledge management in development. They look forward to attend another engaging and enriching forum like this.

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The Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) Forum was conducted to:

• provide a venue for KM practitioners to interact, network, learn, and share experiences and concerns on creating, disseminating, transferring, and managing knowledge and information; and
• benefit the knowledge workers who will learn, create, and embed development knowledge into business processes and in drafting and designing effective programs.

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The objectives of the Forum were to:

• update KM practitioners on the latest trends, issues, challenges, and opportunities of knowledge management
• expand networks and develop camaraderie among KM practitioners;
• discuss and present new strategic KM approaches based on Eastern and Western views;
• share inputs on how to develop and encourage knowledge workers in their respective organizations; and
• acknowledge the importance of working across international boundaries with respect of different cultures and languages.

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A total of 108 knowledge management practitioners participated in the 2-day event. They came from 64 organizations in 18 countries in Asia, Europe and United States. Participants were representatives of international and local development institutions, nongovernment and civil society organizations, private sector, government agencies, and the academe. See participants’ breakdown by country and by organization/company. [ PDF: 58kb | 2 pages ]

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Read details of the program.

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The event’s panelists and workshop presenters were:

• Johan Arvling, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Rory Chase, Teleos
• Kim Henderson, UNDP
• Erik Johnson, World Bank Institute
• Robert Juhkam, UNDP
• Frank McCosker, Microsoft Corporation
• Thomas Menkhoff, Singapore Management University
• Nestor Mijares IV, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)
• Zbigniew Mikolajuk, independent consultant
• Abdulnasser Minkara, Islamic Development Bank
• Frans Neuman, InfoBridge Foundation
• Mike Pereira, Development Gateway
• Alwin Sta. Rosa, First Philippine Holdings Corporation
• Serafin Talisayon, CCLFI.Philippines
• Iris Tutuarima, Bank Indonesia
• Agi Veres, UNDP
• Vilas Wuwongse, Asian Institute of Technology
• Christopher Zielinski, World Health Organization

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View some photos [ PDF: 944kb | 5 pages ] taken during the 2-day KM4Dev Forum. Reminisce the interaction, networking, knowledge sharing, and fun!