Democratic Governance Knowledge Exchange Forum

1. Leading by Knowledge
THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
STORY
A.H. Monjurul Kabir<monjurul.kabir@undp.org>
DGG/BDP/UNDP, February 2010, Dakar
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

2. Thoughts from the DGCoP
 “Democratic governance is at the center of the ongoing epic struggle/drama
for development” – Olav Kjorven, Director, BDP
 “Knowledge and ideas are the greatest asset of UNDP”- President Mbeki
 “We aspire for UNDP to be a world class knowledge-based organization,
which generates and disseminates knowledge at all levels, both internally
and externally. That knowledge must be explicitly linked to the needs of
the programme countries and regions to which we respond, both deriving
from & embedded in real development experience, and we must be open
to capturing and adding value to knowledge from the widest range of
sources.” - Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

3. Stories from the Field
• Crying out for Help:From Dakar to Dhaka Value of being part of the DGCoP
•DG Networks responded thousands of queries/requests for assistance
•DGG Fielded Hundreds of Advisory missions.
•We don’t have a history of Knowledge Product/Advisory Service Recall!
We behaved somewhat like Toyota even Toyota recalled!)
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

4. Stories from the Field
• Innovation and leadership are real issues, happening
round the clock, around the world
• From Individual approaches to Standardized Advisory
and Knowledge Services (SDMs) – a new reality!
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

5. The Achievements
The Networks & Portals
1. The Global DG Networks: DGP-Net (3000 members), DGFP-Net (250 Focal Points)
2. Interagency Thematic Network: The ACE Electronic Knowledge Network, HuriTalk
3. Inter-agency Knowledge Portals: iknowPolitics, HRBA Portal,
Governance Assessment Portal, Agora (Parliament) …
4. Metanetworking: DPKO Rule of Law Network, The Anti-corruption Research Network
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

6. The Achievements
The DG Knowledge Base
• Culmination of network knowledge in one place:
10+ years of knowledge sharing
• Unsurprisingly, It’s the people, not the technology
that dominated the DG history!
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

7. The Achievements
The CoP and Sub-practice development
• Most global F2F meetings with mixed experiences on follow-up
• Well developed sub-practices, linked to global/regional events and partners
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

8. The Challenges of Knowledge Sharing
• Missing link: The Political Economy of Knowledge
•Lack of Global-Regional-Integration, Regional-Sub regional integration
• Cross-regional sharing: We are not there yet!
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

9. The Challenges of Knowledge Sharing
• Responding to Demands, not centralized planning or donor driven work plan
• Tracking Real Demands: Whose demands anyway?
• Transitions from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 …happening now - Teamworks!
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

10. The Challenges of Knowledge sharing
• No or minimal Incentives
• Quality Assurance: The 7 Step process is time intensive.
• But if followed, would ensure quality.
Needs to be adopted by Regional Bureaux
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

11. The Challenges of Knowledge Sharing
• Quality Assessment: Who will ring the bell?
• Knowledge Uptake: Learning & improving via application
of knowledge – Still not happening in UNDP
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

12. The Future Agenda
• From Networks to Teamworks, Corporate Knowledge Strategy
• A cohesive UNDP/DGG strategy to maximize the potential for inter-agency portals
• Building the Knowledge Base and structure within Practice Architecture
ensuring real participation and leadership of COs and RSCs
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)

13. The Future Agenda
• Addressing the issues of Incentives and sponsorship
• Enhanced Metanetworking – at the regional and national level
• Encourage and Reward Innovation
• Democratic Governance Knowledge Exchange Forum (DGKEF)
Democratic Governance Knowledge
Exchange Forum (DGKEF)