Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization by Steffen Soulejman Janus

Author:Steffen Soulejman Janus
Language: eng
Format: epub

1. Create a facility to identify and broker needs and solutions.

2. Assess audience, needs, and objectives for each knowledge-sharing activity.

3. Implement knowledge sharing.

4. Adapt the knowledge and replicate it (or scale up) to achieve results.

Knowledge Sharing in Action

Transferring Authority to Localities through a Knowledge-Sharing Solution

The Kenya School of Government and Knowledge Sharing on Devolution

After the 2013 elections in Kenya, the national government embarked on a far-reaching reform embedded in the 2010 constitution: devolve significant central government functions to the nation’s 47 counties. The devolution agenda aims to reduce deep disparities across regions and increase social accountability. The process required new institutions at the county level as well as new responsibilities for existing local agencies. The risk inherent in the program was that the quality of local public services and governance would deteriorate under the burden of change instead of improve.

To manage the devolution process and build local agency capacity, the government asked the Kenya School of Government (KSG) to become one of several key partners for knowledge sharing and learning on devolution. KSG had a strong record of developing structured learning for the public sector in Kenya as well as in neighboring countries. Its additional role in the counties covered the creation and oversight of a peer learning platform on devolution, capturing local devolution experiences to be included in trainings, and leadership training to facilitate multistakeholder processes across the country.

The idea of systematically capturing and sharing local devolution experiences marks a tectonic shift in government thinking about the transfer of knowledge. In the traditional top-down process, national departments and schools develop and deliver local training based on a national perspective. In contrast, knowledge sharing naturally establishes a participatory approach in which local knowledge appears front and center in learning offerings. Local needs for knowledge are now increasingly being met with local experiences.

KSG is developing its capacity to act as knowledge capturer, broker, and facilitator in the devolution process. It is building a common vision and enhancing skills for its staff across all five of its campuses. If done right, the knowledge-sharing strategy for devolution promises to help reduce inequalities across counties and increase the quality of local public services in Kenya.

Early evidence is promising. Some counties that had generally been perceived as low capacity and low performing have surfaced as exemplary high performers in some areas. Their example is empowering. As counties lose the stigma of being eternal recipients of know-how and resources, knowledge increasingly flows between them.

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