Knowledge Management & sustainability

1Supporting Integrated and Comprehensive Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa

Knowledge Management& sustainability

Wednesday 14th November 2012

Presented byMarc Lepage

What’s KM?

Supporting Integrated and Comprehensive Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa

Refresher: what’s KM?

knowledge management is concerned with three things:

• What is known;• How that knowledge is used; and• How fast something new can be learned.

Simply put, it enables us to find and organise data and information so that it can be articulated and applied to make better decisions.



Session outline


What will it take for AAP’s work to be sustainable? What might be the role KM has to contribute to that sustainability?

UNDP & adaptation


Internal challenges

• Identifying and leveraging mutually-held knowledge for its benefit

• building its innovative capacity by “knowing what it is it knows” and applying this intellectual capacity in new products and services;

• taking on the educational challenge of building higher order skills eg resilience; coaching; negotiation; networking etc.

Leadership

Our respective organisations need to acknowledge that it is an open-system, nestled within an environment that contains other systems.

It means leadership has to ask - how do we lead differently in a world of multiple stakeholders?


KM leadership will involve..

– Commitment to building knowledge – Allowing self-managing teams greater flexibility

and adaptability; less ‘command & control”– Leadership cascading throughout the system– Leader as “servant”; not ‘hero”.


It means..It means replacing old values with new ones:

• Cooperation not competition• Understanding the whole picture not step-by-step linear planning

and micro-management• Co-evolving with the environment not controlling it

• It calls for authentic dialogue so that all stakeholder needs and concerns are understood and it involves understanding that value is created by building long-term sustainable relationships with stakeholders and consulting with NGOs, voluntary cooperatives etc...


BUT UNDP (and we humans) LOVE predictability and balance.

• To move towards sustainability, the organisation has to be in a state of non-equilibrium (i.e. keeping off balance/edge of chaos) so it can dynamically grow and adapt. It must receive new information and knowledge even if it disturbs the system.

• The new environment we are facing globally will force the organisation to be off balance.

• So just as the heat has been turned up on our planet, so the heat is on for the contemporary organisation.


KM has a key role in DRIVING sustainability

• If sustainability is all about stakeholder engagement; building bridging capital; broadening the knowledge base of what we do beyond its boundaries, then KM has a critical role to play.

• When a system is off balance, it must constantly innovate and adapt. It is known as the space of creativity or edge of chaos. KM can push the system towards the edge of chaos and force it to be continually challenged, continually respond to external stimuli; continually refresh itself.


How?

– Building rich connections and conversations– Communities of practice – Value networks – where knowledge is exchanged

and economic success for all participants in the value network is achieved.

– Coaching/mentoring– Learning how to adapt and be resilient in the face

of rapid change


Overview of UNDP engagement on climate change

UNDP is the lead capacity development UN agency and have a long history of assisting countries to address climate change, climate variability & extremes; land degradation and biodiversity loss, and developing capacity in these areas.

UNDP’s CC adaptation portfolio includes 25 LDCs and 17 SIDS

UNDP has supported 31 LDCs to develop NAPAs, and 26 LDCS to develop National Communications

UNDP is currently supporting over half of all LDCs to access financing for NAPA follow-up priorities funded by the LDCF, etc

UNDP assists 23 LDCs to conserve & sustainably use biodiversity; an additional 12 LDCs will soon be supported

UNDP supported 32 LDC to undertake National Capacity Self-Assessments and work with several to address priorities

UNDP’s Approach to Adaptation

1. Develop Technical Capacity Identify climate change risks and opportunities Prepare long-term risk management strategies

2. Internalize Climate Change Risks Integrate climate change risks into planning,

budgeting, management Incorporate climate change risks into decision

making process for key economic sectors

3. Policy and Institutional Support Revise and formulate national and sectoral policies Establish institutional support mechanism

4. Demonstration Projects Test approaches and technologies for climate

change risk management

5. Capacity Building Codify and disseminate knowledge and best

practices

UNDP assists over 75 non-Annex I countries to adapt to climate change. Of these, 54 countries are already implementing programmes/projects to

manage uncertainties of climate change. This includes 25 LDCs and 17 SIDS.

UNDP Climate Change Adaptation Assistance: Distribution of Funding by Activity

UNDP Support to Least Developed Countries (LDCs)

NAPAs UNDP has supported 31 LDCs to develop NAPAs The final 2 UNDP-supported NAPAs for Nepal & Timor Leste were completed in 2010

Implementation of NAPA Follow-Up Activities UNDP is the first development agency to support NAPA follow-up activities

UNDP is currently supporting over half of all LDCs to access financing for implementation of NAPA follow-up priorities funded by the LDCF

UNDP has been instrumental to the development of National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA) and Implementation of NAPA Priorities

UNDP also supports LDCs via initiatives funded by the SCCF and AF

Some examples: Coping with Drought & Climate Change (SCCF): Ethiopia, Mozambique Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (SCCF): Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu Enhancing resilience of communities to the adverse effects of climate change in

agriculture and food security (AF): Solomon Islands

Countries supported through UNDP LDCF/SCCF/SPA Initiatives

Equator

Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Capricorn

Antarctic Circle

Arctic Circle

Pacific Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Indian Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Robinson ProjectionCentral Meridian 0.00

Stay connected!


Join global networks (1)


Join global networks (2)


Share at the regional level


UNDP staff: remain engaged!


Don’t let others talk alone: join the conversation!


Connections are everywhere


SDGs: have your voice heard!


The KM ladder


So, what’s next?

• Share the top 10 documents you worked on while at AAP: make your work visible!

• Recommend/give feedback on work of others

• .. Climb the KM ladder!


Questions?

[email protected]


Documents

Knowledge Management & sustainability