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FAQs on UNFPA and Knowledge Assets
- What is a Knowledge Asset?
- What role does
the Knowledge Asset play in knowledge sharing at UNFPA?
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- What does a Knowledge Asset look like?
- What
is the purpose of a Knowledge Asset?Who is responsible for creating,
maintaining and updating a Knowledge Asset?
- Who is the audience for UNFPA’s
Knowledge Assets?
- How is the content of the KA reviewed before
publication?
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- Description
- When a topic is agreed
who should be responsible for ensuring that the KA is set
up?
- What
are the demarcated roles in a Knowledge Asset and what
do they mean?
- Who decides the topic of a new Knowledge Asset?
- What
is the role of the Knowledge Sharing Branch in the creation
and development
of Knowledge Assets?
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- What are Knowledge Networks
and what is their role in creating knowledge assets?
- What
is the difference between a Knowledge Network and a Community
of Practice?
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- How often should a KA be updated?
- Can
Knowledge Assets be viewed by non-UNFPA staff?
- What can I
do if the question I have is not in the Knowledge Asset?
- What
do I get for contributing to a knowledge asset?
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- What mechanism(s) are in place
to support capture of lessons learned and good practices?
- What is a "recommended
practice"?
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Knowledge Assets are the living
repositories of our collective know-how.
A Knowledge Asset:
- Contains the distilled experiential knowledge
of UNFPA
- Is based on Work Processes of the organization
and provides a logical structure to display
knowledge
- Presents information in a Question and Answer
(Q&A)
format. Questions are simple and direct and are designed
to elicit essential and basic information for immediate
use by staff. Sample questions would include, "How
does this subject relate to UNFPA's mandate?" "Do
we have a specific policy?" "Who are the
experts in this area and how do I get in touch with
them?" "Has this area been reflected in
PRSPs, SWAP, and UNDAF?" "In what countries
has UNFPA implemented this strategy?" "What
process indicators do I use to measure results for
this subject?" "Where
can I find a good example of a results-based
objective in this area?"
- Has answers that are short (no
more than 200 words) and clear, with
links to examples and further readings
- Has links to experts or individuals
who can provide additional information
or offer guidance
- Is developed, updated and supported by a network
The Knowledge Asset plays
a central role in UNFPA's knowledge sharing strategy.
Knowledge Assets are 'living' repositories that provide
focused, useful, and
insightful
know-how from actual work around the world. When matured, a Knowledge Asset
will
represent the very best and most current knowledge in areas that are critical
to UNFPA.
A typical knowledge asset would be structured around the critical stages involved
in a
given process, such as the UNFPA programming process. In this example, the
KA would
target capturing and packaging knowledge around critical programming stages,
starting
from the policy level and following a sequence that would ultimately provide
feedback at
the policy level, in such a way that UNFPA policies would be constantly updated
based on
the experience gained by the organization.
UNFPA is one of the first organisations to decide
that knowledge is actually a clear
solution-based product and the Knoweldge Asset represents
this realisation. In contrast, other development organizations
view knowledge sharing as a series of elements such
as
Communities of Practice (CoP), websites, chat rooms
or document systems.
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Knowledge Assets are graphically displayed as Knowledge
Maps. Examples of Knowledge Assets can be seen by
using the pKADS software demo in this website.
The purpose of an Asset
is to serve as the definitive readily accessible online
resource
that staff can access to find out about programmes
and methodologies used by UNFPA in various areas of
endeavour. The specific purpose of each Asset will
depend on the topic the Asset is designed to address.
Knowledge
Assets are created by groups known as Knowledge
Networks. Knowledge Networks
include UNFPA staff and invited outside experts.
The composition of each
network will depend upon the topic of the Knowledge
Asset. The UNFPA Knowledge Sharing Branch
assists, as needed, with the Asset development process.
Once developed, a Knowledge
Network Coordinator who is appointed by the Network,
will maintain the Knowledge Asset.
The Asset should be reviewed at least twice a year
at least by the Network members to determine
the need for addition of new information and deletion
of outdated or superseded
materials. During the update, new examples will be
included as well as the names of colleagues
additionally identified as resource persons. Networks
will also take on the responsibility of responding
to new questions that are submitted by staff. The
review will update the Asset with respect to UNFPA's
experience
in a given area.
Knowledge workers inside and outside of UNFPA.
The Knowledge Network that has been assigned responsibility
for the development and updating of a given asset
will review the material before it is published.
Most networks assign specific network members to
serve as focal points for a particular set of questions.
These focal points will review all material before
publication. The Network and the Network Coordinator
are ultimately responsible for the quality of the
information in the knowledge asset. However, it is
expected that the users of the knowledge assets will
feedback their own experiences and we are all encouraged
to improve on the information presented based on
our own experiences.
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Defining and implementing the job responsibilities
of those involved in the Knowledge Asset's existence
When based on the workplan
of the office, there has to be a clear designation
of
responsibility for implementing the development of
a KA. Usually this is the head of a
branch or office. The new PAD will facilitate this
designation.
A Knowledge Asset has three "hard" roles
that are intrinsic to the creation and maintenance
of the Asset. They are:
Asset
Members: The members of
the asset are either explicitly assigned from the
Asset Template page or are automatically added when
a person
is listed as being a contributor
to a question in the asset. A member does not have
any special privileges other than
being credited with particular answers in the asset
and being listed as a point of
contact for the asset.
Asset
Administrators: Asset
Administrators are a subset of Asset Members. Asset
Administrators have the ability to edit any facet
of the Asset. Administrator privileges should therefore
be doled out very carefully.
General
Populace: Anyone
within the UNFPA community can view any asset,
whether it be
under construction or ready for public consumption.
The highest level of UNFPA,
the Executive Committee, will determine the organisational
priorities each year. These priorities will be supported
by knowledge assets to ensure that the knowledge generated
and required for implementation is available to all
staff. After deciding organizational priorities, the
Executive Committee will decide the areas that require
the development of new knowledge assets and will then
assign responsibility for asset development to the
appropriate person(s) in the organisation.
Overall the role of the
KSB is to oversee the implementation of the Knowledge
Sharing Strategy of UNFPA. It provides advice and support
to
organisation staff that have been tasked to implement
specific knowledge sharing activities such as setting
up a network or creating a knowledge asset. The KSB
also determines the organisational needs for overall
document management as a core element of knowledge
sharing and works with MIS and others
to select the proper tools for the organisation as
well as to manage the overall document system when
in place. It represents the organisation in major networks
globally on KS.
Additionally the KSB also manages UNFPA's full involvement
in the Development Gateway. On
the technology side, KSB is responsible for the development
and maintenance of knowledge
sharing tools, such as the Knowledge Asset Wizard,
and the instructions and guidelines that accompany
these tools. KSB is also responsible for the creation
of templates to
facilitate knowledge sharing and for defining the criteria
and processes for knowledge
sharing and Knowledge Asset development.
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Knowledge
Assets are created by groups of staff selected for
their in-depth knowledge
about the topic covered by the Asset. These groups
of staff are known as a Knowledge Network. Knowledge
Networks should include UNFPA staff and, where required,
outside experts.
The role of the Knowledge Network
is a practical matter in that it is unlikely that
one person will be sufficiently
knowledgeable to answer all the questions that an
asset requires. Once the topic is selected and the
process
which will form the structure of the asset agreed
on, it is essential to identify those in the organisation
who are experienced with the subject and would command
the respect of the identified audience for the asset.
For many areas of specialisation within UNFPA there
are already identified 'experts' whose job is to
advise
on the subject. For instance, HIV/AIDS Branch is
the organisational unit responsible for managing
UNFPA's
organisational strategy in the areas of HIV/AIDS.
However, our colleagues in the HIV/AIDS Branch cannot
be expected
to know the details necessary for all aspects of
operationalising the strategy at the field level.
Therefore, a KA on
this subject aimed at field staff would have to include
experienced CST and country office staff in the network
to provide the direct experience to other colleagues
in the field.
Once an Asset has been matured,
the Knowledge Network will be responsible for responding
to new questions
that are submitted by staff. The Knowledge Network
is also responsible for reviewing the Asset twice
a
year to determine the need for addition of new information
and deletion of outdated or superseded materials.
During the review, new examples will be included
and the names
of new resource persons may be added. The review
will also update the Asset with respect to UNFPA's
experience
in a given field.
A
Knowledge Network is a team of UNFPA staff and
invited others,
who are formally
assigned to work on a Knowledge Asset about a topic
of organizational importance. Knowledge Networks
have an elected Network Coordinator, assigned roles
for
members that are part of their standard jobs and
individual performance plans, clear accountabilities.
Networks
use action-oriented collaboration to achieve measurable
results.
A Community of Practice is
an informal grouping of staff who have similar
interests or face
similar
challenges.
CoPs may be interested in, or working on, a particular
problem or topic. CoPs informally share tips, hints,
ideas and best practices. CoP members can be professionals
within an organization, or in several organizations,
or they can simply form a non-work-related community.
Staff members are not formally assigned to participate
in a Community of Practice and participation is
not formally recorded in individual workplans.
A Community
of Practice may or may not create a Knowledge Asset.
CoPs are informal and, while they may be of great
value to an organization, they are
really focused on benefit to the individual community
members.
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Knowledge Assets will be reviewed twice a year to
by the Network members to determine the need for
addition of new information and deletion of outdated
or superseded materials. New examples will be included
as well as the names of colleagues that are additionally
identified as resource persons.
The Knowledge
Assets currently under development are primarily
for use by UNFPA staff
and may contain sensitive or incomplete information.
For
this reason, they are situated behind the UNFPA firewall
and can be viewed only by those who have UNFPA email
addresses, identifications and passwords. KSB is
working with MIS to enable viewing by selected non-UNFPA
staff
who are invited members of Knowledge Networks.
Knowledge
Assets can be printed out as Word documents and
shared but the staff member must use their judgment
that the information in it is appropriate for the
person
they intend to give it to.
It is again worth keeping
in mind that what is unique to the UNFPA approach
to knowledge assets is that they
are designed with a particular user group in mind
based on the needs of that user group. At present
it is UNFPA's
priority to focus on our own staff as the primary
target for knowledge sharing and we hope to gain
high impact
with UNFPA's clients through strengthening the capacities
of our staff.
While the starting point is to
improve knowledge sharing within the organisation,
the Knowledge
Sharing Branch
will also be experimenting with some of our colleagues
on developing knowledge assets that are specifically
aimed outside of UNFPA and we would plan to use the
Development Gateway for such exchanges.
A knowledge
asset is intended to be a dynamic approach to knowledge
sharing so it
is quite likely that there will be gaps in the knowledge
assets from time to time. This may particularly be
the case when a knowledge asset is first launched.
Where you find there is a gap in a knowledge asset,
please submit a question to the network. This is
essential for ensuring that the knowledge assets
respond to the
needs of the users. If you can offer an initial answer
to a new question it would be highly appreciated.
One
of the advantages of the knowledge asset approach
is that it can also serve as a means to identify
gaps in our knowledge base and this is very important.
The
network members will then try to find suitable responses
to such questions. For instance, a CST advisor could
aim at answering a question as an integral part of
a country visit. The network may also poll colleagues
who have experience in the particular field for help.
UNFPA
has regarded knowledge sharing as a major organisational
strategy for a number
of years and it has increasingly become clear that
our
systems and staff must support it if is going to
benefit us all. While we do have this new knowledge
asset tool,
we also have knowledge sharing as a core competency
within the new Performance Appraisal and Development
(PAD) system. Being a core competency, it means that
all staff in the organisation will be assessed in
terms of their participation in knowledge sharing
in UNFPA.
We are developing approaches to
ensure that staff
who contribute to knowledge sharing by supporting
the development and updating of knowledge assets
or by
providing assistance to other colleagues, get acknowledgement
in the PAD.
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UNFPA
has a long history of developing lessons learned.
However, it is essential
that we provide a much clearer
context and process for developing and reviewing
lessons learned. Over the next four months the
Knowledge Sharing Branch plans to work with a group
of CST's
and TSD to develop much greater clarity for creating
and validating lessons learned.
An
initial draft proposal for a lessons learned template
has been developed
and is attached. We would be very
pleased to get feedback on how to use and develop
such a template in UNFPA.
Recommended practices are those that experience has
shown to be most productive and beneficial in a given
situation.
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