Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization: A Handbook for Scaling Up Solutions through Knowledge Capturing and Sharing

This guide seeks to help organisations working in social development become more effective in systematically capturing and sharing knowledge to improve performance and take solutions to scale. It shows how to build the enabling environment and develop the skills required to create a knowledge-sharing organisation.

As explained in the guide, “[M]any development challenges are common across the world, but the solutions to them usually remain localized — they never get adapted for replication, or the key element is forgotten…Knowledge sharing is the conduit through which solutions travel from place A to place B. But, quite often, rather than being documented and shared, solutions are simply left behind, hidden in remote rural communities or tucked away in the heads of officials and development practitioners who have moved on to the next big task. Knowledge gained from development solutions is permanently at risk of getting lost or forgotten.”

The recommendations in the guide are “grounded on the insights gained from the past seven years of collaboration between the World Bank and its clients around the world - ministries and national agencies operating in various sectors - who are working to strengthen their operations through robust knowledge sharing.” Although the handbook is informed by the academic literature on knowledge management and organisational learning, the operational background and the many real-world examples and tips offered in the chapters provide practical guidance for public sector officials in developing countries and for development practitioners. Most chapters, for example, feature a “Knowledge Sharing in Action” segment, which offers a snapshot of a particular initiative that illuminates a productive, real-life engagement with knowledge sharing in the developing world.

The guide starts with an introductory chapter, which explores the meaning and importance of being a knowledge-sharing organisation. It presents some key concepts and outlines the framework on which the next 8 chapters of the handbook are built. Following the introduction, the handbook is divided into the following 9 sections:

1. Leadership and Culture
2. Governance Structures and Systems
3. Budgets and Financing
4. Partnerships
5. Preserving Knowledge: From Identifying to Formatting
6. Using Knowledge for Learning and Scaling Up
7. The How-To of Knowledge Sharing
8. Monitoring and Evaluation
9. Summing Up: Becoming a Knowledge-Sharing Organization

Chapters 1-4 address the enabling environment needed by an organisation to systematically identify, capture, and share relevant operational experiences. Chapters 5–8 detail the technical skills required to execute the programme. These 8 topic areas, or pillars, represent the capacities organisations need and the actions they can take to develop them. Chapter 9 summarises the essential points. The appendix includes templates, checklists, a sample knowledge asset, and sample job descriptions.