Using (South-South) knowledge exchange for capacity development: What works in global practice?
26 January 2012
While knowledge exchange, especially between countries facing comparable challenges, is widely
recognised as a tool for facilitating development innovation, there has been little empirical work
to assess the effectiveness of such programmes with a view to informing global practice. This joint
study by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and World Bank Institute (WBI) assessed three of
their South-South knowledge exchange programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The three programmes assessed were: (1) KDI’s Knowledge Sharing Programme for advancing export development in the Dominican Republic; (2) KDI’s Knowledge Sharing Programme for promoting public-private partnerships and pre-feasibility studies in Mongolia and (3) the World Bank’s South-South Experience Exchange Facility for the New Economy Skills for Africa Programme (NESAP) for sharing knowledge on ICTs between India and African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria.
The study found some evidence of institutional outcomes from knowledge exchange and and highlights lessons for the design and management of knowledge exchange programmes, including ways to:
- Respond to the demands of the partner country, to better target the knowledge exchange for a more efficient and effective programme;
- 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.
Source: Capacity Development Ning
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