October 2006

Knowledge Sharing – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Over the past few years, knowledge sharing practices have mushroomed in many organizations. Recognizing the importance of knowledge sharing in a large, geographically dispersed organization like the CGIAR, the ICT-KM Program implemented a project in 2004 that encourages the sharing of expertise and experiences among CGIAR staff members and partners. More recently, several Center-specific activities have been undertaken that also help develop a culture of sharing in the CGIAR. If, however, you think knowledge sharing is a trend that has only recently begun making inroads, you might want to think again.

According to an article written by Kochiro Matsuura (UNESCO's Director-General) and published in Kenya's Daily Nation on 13 October 2006, knowledge sharing endeavors have been successfully carried out for more than four decades now. In addition, Mr. Matsuura feels that the universal access to knowledge, coupled with the active participation of everyone, will be the key to the organizations and democracies of the future.

Mr. Matsuura's article, which is reproduced below, was shared by Catherine Mgendi, Head of the CGIAR's Media Unit.


Knowledge Sharing the Wave of the Future

Is knowledge-sharing the international community's new buzzword? We do not think so. A few examples will suffice.

In 1965, Singapore was overrun with shantytowns, and its economy was underdeveloped. Since then, the authorities have pursued resolute policies aimed at investing in education, improving skills and productivity and attracting high-added-value industries. The per capita GDP of Singapore has today overtaken that of many countries of the North.

An economy based on the sharing and spread of knowledge is an opportunity for the emerging countries and for the wellbeing of their populations.

Thus, despite its poverty, the Indian State of Kerala now boasts a level of human development close to that of the countries of the North: life expectancy has risen to 73 years and rates of schooling are in excess of 90 per cent.

In 1971, a few thousand migrants settled in an empty plain 20 kilometres from Lima and created Villa El Salvador. Practising self-reliance, its inhabitants set up education centres and formed associations. A courageous endeavour of participatory community development, relying on women, transformed this shanty area into an organised town.

Recognised in 1983 as a municipality, Villa El Salvador established in 1987 its university. Today, 98 per cent of its children attend school and the rate of adult illiteracy (4.5 per cent) is the lowest in the country.

The town now has 400,000 inhabitants, including 15,000 students. The municipality provides computer access points for its citizens, who express their opinions on issues under discussion within the community.

Shared knowledge is thus a powerful lever in the fight against poverty. It is also today the key to wealth production.

Finland, which suffered a severe economic crisis following the break-up of the Soviet Union, is currently cited as a model: it invests almost 4 per cent of its GDP in research, its education system is highest rated among the industrialised countries and the variation in performance between pupils and educational institutions is astonishingly low.

These are far from being isolated examples. In all parts of the world, different countries are in the process of inventing new styles of development, based on knowledge and intelligence. For a society's development potential will depend less in future on its natural wealth than on its capacity to create, spread and utilise knowledge.

Does this mean that the 21st century will see the rise of societies based on shared knowledge? Since this is a public good that ought to be accessible to all, none should find themselves excluded.

But the sharing of knowledge cannot be reduced to the dividing up of knowledge or the exchange of a scarce resource to which nations, societies and individuals lay competing claim.

In network societies, creativity and the possibilities of exchange or sharing are greatly increased. These societies create an environment particularly favourable to knowledge, innovation, training and research.

The new forms of network sociability that are developing on the Internet are horizontal and not hierarchical, encouraging co-operation, as well illustrated by the models of the research "collaboratory" or "open source" computer software.

The emergence of network societies and the concomitant reduction of transaction costs encourage the rise of new forms of productive organisation, founded on exchange and collaboration within a community.

This is particularly vital set against the temptation of economic warfare: these new practices hold out the hope that we shall be able to arrive at a fair balance between the protection of intellectual property rights necessary for innovation, and the promotion of knowledge belonging to the public domain.

The sharing of knowledge cannot, however, be confined to the creation of new knowledge, the promotion of knowledge belonging to the public domain, or the narrowing of the cognitive divide.

It implies not only universal access to knowledge, but also the active participation of everyone. It will, therefore, be the key to the democracies of the future, which should be based on a new type of public space, in which genuine democratic encounters and deliberations involving civil society will make it possible to address social problems conceived in prospective terms. "Hybrid forums" and citizens' conferences prefigure this development in some respects.

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