Our Knowledge Management Approach
Within the context of UN-INSTRAW’s Strategic Framework 2008-2011, the Institute’s Knowledge Management Strategy sets out certain priority activities and mechanisms that aim to: i) maximize the visibility and the policy and programmatic impact of the Institute’s work in applied research and capacity-building; and ii) strengthen the involvement of stakeholders in establishing and implementing a participatory and accountable research and capacity-building agenda.
UN-INSTRAW’s knowledge management is linked to the Institute’s research and capacity-building activities in a continuous cycle of analysis, learning and action, so that research results feed into the management and sharing of knowledge, and the design of training and capacity-building programmes, as well as the formulation and implementation of policy. In turn, participatory knowledge management activities allow the Institute to identify and address new and emerging areas of research as identified by multiple stakeholders.
Based on the results of various evaluations and UN-INSTRAW’s experience since 2004, the Institute’s knowledge management activities have been oriented to focus more on the formation of “knowledge communities” or “Communities of Practice” around specific issues. These knowledge communities come together through mailing lists, networks, virtual dialogues, online forums, and other interactive tools in order to exchange information and experiences and enrich ongoing debates through new perspectives and analyses.
Knowledge Communities and Communities of Practice
Knowledge Communities are defined as “…multi-user networked environments that support group communication and collaboration. [In these] on-line environments, users can engage socially with one another and, in the process, discover, develop, evolve, and explicate knowledge relevant to shared projects and goals.”
UN-INSTRAW has taken the idea of knowledge communities, which have been built around its research programmes and projects, and expanded them to establish Communities of Practice, which take the information and debate exchanged in through knowledge communities and attempt to apply it on a more practical level, through concrete policy and programme-oriented discussions, the production of policy briefs and other practice-oriented tools, and the analysis of existing practice and experience.
“The concept of a community of practice refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations. It refers as well to the stable group that is formed from such regular interactions. More recently, Communities of Practice have become associated with knowledge management as people have begun to see them as ways of developing social capital, nurturing new knowledge, stimulating innovation, or sharing existing tacit knowledge within an organization.”
