The concept essentially involves the processes of knowledge capture, organising, storing and identifying the best possible means to apply and leverage the knowledge for sharing and distribution. It is a process of transforming knowledge and intellectual assets of an organisation into a product of value.

In the beginning of the 1990s, knowledge management emerged in the corporate sector with an aim of improving organisational efficiency. Since then, most of these establishments have incorporated ‘knowledge focus’ in their organisational strategies and are able to address the following issues of:

• Improving the efficiency in business operations

• Bringing in better coordination and reducing delays in decision making

• Retaining knowledge in the organisation to help managers use it for future contingencies

• Capturing information through various processes to enable companies to be more accurate in addressing the market needs

In case of not-for-profit organisations (NPOs), the influence of knowledge management could be felt only in the second half of the 1990s. NPOs deal largely with the socio-economic aspects of the society and work in geographically dispersed areas. But for the huge wealth of knowledge that is generated by these organisations, very little thought has gone into examining and managing it. It is through the initiatives of the World Bank, the United Nations, the Global Knowledge Partnership, and other international institutions that knowledge has been envisaged as the key factor for organisational performance and replicating successes in society.

In an increasingly globalised world, there are issues that do not recognise national boundaries and cannot be resolved by one country alone. For example, global climate change is an issue in which all have a stake in sharing knowledge and everyone needs to delve into matters related to its consequences. Collaboration in knowledge sharing and improved communication with development agencies, governments and civil society organisations is crucial for resolving important issues.

A partnership of this nature will not only analyse, design and manage knowledge systems but also provide a cost effective means to gain access to some of the world’s leading research and thinking on a particular topic. The effectiveness of such a partnership lies in the willingness to contribute knowledge, bring in different perspectives and exchange strategic knowledge in order to achieve mutually beneficial objectives. Also, internet-based technologies have a great role to play in providing a single platform and connectivity for exchange of knowledge and creation of partnerships, globally. Wikipedia is one such example of how opportunities for knowledge management can go beyond a single organisation.

An effective knowledge management strategy drives an organisation to harness potential of its people, processes and technologies to support the organisation’s objectives in order to have positive impact on its bottom line. In case of collaborations and partnerships, the strategic components should be:

• To foster partnerships for broader knowledge sharing and learning

• To develop infrastructure for knowledge sharing and learning among partners

• To build on the existing knowledge assets, partners and networks

• To identify ways and means to bring cultural and behavioural changes within the organisation for learning and knowledge sharing

• To undertake knowledge innovations among partners

There are many examples of knowledge management through partnerships, which have successfully led to knowledge sharing and societal development.

Solution Exchange, an initiative of the agencies of the United Nations in India, is a free, impartial space where professionals share their knowledge and experiences. The members represent a wide range of perspectives - from governments, NGOs, donors, private sector organisations and academia. This initiative was undertaken to harness the tacit knowledge gained by practitioners and help avoid reinventing the wheel. Furthermore, as knowledge gets documented in the process, practitioners can access it whenever needed.

The members are organised into Communities of Practice, built around the framework of the Millennium Development Goals. Through moderated e-mail groups, members interact on an ongoing basis, building familiarity and trust, gaining in knowledge that helps. At present eleven communities are operational and the current subscriptions are over 21,000 from across the country.

The SANet is a technology transfer knowledge management support system which cuts across national boundaries and economic sectors, and supports the implementation of international environmental agreements. This is a partnership between the Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics (DTIE) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

It builds on established communication channels of more than 150 national and regional member organisations and other international associations.

The partnership’s strategic objective is to help the decision-making process concerning viable technology transfer choices and to build the required knowledge management capacities to facilitate project replication. It offers a tailor-made advisory service with access to local experts, one-on-one consulting, and a host of online information resources, including case studies of businesses that have successfully switched to cleaner technologies.

The Rural Finance Knowledge Management Partnership (KMP) brings together the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); A French NGO called the Centre International de Développement and de Recherche (CIDR); and the multi-donor regional financial services initiative MicroSave (later replaced by Decentralised Financial Services) to strengthen IFAD’s engagement in rural financial service delivery in eastern and southern Africa. The operations became fully functional in 2006.

The objectives of the KMP are:

• To improve the delivery, outreach, appropriateness and sustaina-bility of financial services for poor people in rural areas

• To strengthen the policy and regulatory framework for rural financial service delivery

In order to achieve these objectives, KMP undertook the following set of activities:

• Supporting the implementation and enhancing the impact of the KMP member institutions’ rural financial service programmes in the respective regions and identifying important empirical issues in rural finance for future exploration and studies

• Reviewing and sharing the experiences and mutual learning gained through these programmes, and highlighting opportunities and challenges for scaling up well-proven approaches

• Using the lessons learnt as a basis for conducting research on critical issues relative to rural financial service delivery

• Collating, packaging and disseminating information in manageable/user friendly formats for different target audiences

• Capacity building of member institutions to foster dialogue and partnership among researchers at an international level

Knowledge management has scaled new heights in recent past. But its further spread, and that too quality spread vital to knowledge dissemination for development. Initiatives by international agencies, especially the United Nations, come in handy while conceptualising sharing of intellectual assets at individual organisational level too. Sharing and storing knowledge helps in optimum utilisation of human resources and potential. Thus, there is a strong case for greater commitment to this issue. q