Client: World Food Programme (WFP)
Country: UK, Italy, Egypt
Year: 2008-9
WFP, through its Grants Management Unit (GMU), is receiving extra-budgetary grants and trust funds from several governments. These grants have enabled country offices, regional bureaus and HQ to undertake innovative activities that would not have been possible without ring-fenced funds. However, a recent Triple Line led review of the Institutional Strategy grant – £15 million over 3 years from the Government of the United Kingdom – showed that lessons have not always been shared between grantees, and more widely within WFP. This has limited the impact of activities to those immediately involved in their implementation. A consultancy was therefore commissioned with the following two objectives:
- Focusing on key thematic areas relevant to the Strategic Plan implementation, identify tools, systems, approaches, lessons learnt and other outcomes of the various grants that are suitable for sharing within WFP. This included good practice, but also lessons from failure, and communicating these to relevant units in WFP as well as through the planning and implementation of 1-2 regional workshops;
- To identify current processes and tools that exist for knowledge sharing at regional branch and headquarters level, to propose strategies appropriate for sharing of knowledge emanating from the operational trust fund results in the short term, and to propose for consideration elements of a corporate approach / strategy for knowledge sharing in the medium term.
Services provided
Triple Line reviewed the grant reports to identify and document good practice and useful lessons. An online survey was undertaken on knowledge management practices and needs within WFP. A knowledge management strategy was developed to enable the sharing of lessons from grant funded tools and processes within WFP. The strategy was discussed and further developed during a regional workshop in Cairo.
Achievements
- The assignment substantially raised the profile and interest in knowledge management throughout WFP, and acted as a catalyst to bring several ongoing knowledge management initiatives within WFP together.