Watch the latest webinar on Integrating Local Knowledge in Development Practice (May 17, 2022).
The knowledge of USAID staff and partners is one of our most valuable resources, and using that knowledge well is critical to the effectiveness of our development efforts. This requires the processes, systems, staff skills and infrastructure to help us ensure that the knowledge we have throughout the Agency and among our partners informs the decisions we make as individuals and teams. While the Agency KMOL function is mutually reinforcing with Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA), it extends beyond the Program Cycle to include organizational processes as well as programmatic ones.
To continuously improve our work, USAID intentionally builds knowledge management and learning into organizational infrastructure, systems, and staff skill sets. The USAID Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (KMOL) Policy strengthens these processes to generate, retain, transfer, and use knowledge to achieve Agency priorities and systematically embed KMOL throughout USAID’s structure and functions.
The vision of the KMOL Policy is to improve USAID’s ability to harness our cumulative knowledge, learn from it, and apply those lessons to its work to achieve better results. To achieve this, the Agency will improve KMOL efforts, infrastructure, and norms to strategically leverage knowledge and reduce burdens associated with accessing and transferring knowledge. Ultimately, this is intended to improve USAID’s ability to achieve humanitarian and development outcomes.
The Policy’s goals are for USAID to:
- Steward knowledge as a shared Agency asset
- Leverage knowledge and learning to enhance program impact
- Invest in local knowledge systems to support locally led development
Knowledge Retention and Transfer Model
The Knowledge Retention and Transfer (KRT) Model aims to institutionalize effective knowledge retention processes throughout the cycle of staff transition and effective knowledge handover from outgoing to incoming staff, which in turn improves productivity, reduces stress and frustration, and provides incoming staff and new hires the tools and information they need to start contributing to organizational goals and objectives right away.