WB, DFID and existing information and learning systems

DFID and the World Bank are both producers and disseminators of substantial volumes of information about transport and rural infrastructure, though their internal learning mechanisms and external information strategies are very different.

The World Bank

The World Bank promotes itself both as a neutral gateway for knowledge while at the same time promoting itself as a primary producer of development knowledge. The Bank’s knowledge management (km) or knowledge sharing (ks) concept is based upon the conviction that the organisation carries out vast quantities of analytical work much of which remains relevant to future challenges but becomes inaccessible.  It may be trapped in the heads of individuals or embedded in report that might be in the public domain but are not known.   Knowledge exists (within the Bank) it just needs to be effectively networked.  The knowledge sharing programme has since moved out of its original home in the operational and core services, to the World Bank Institute (WBI) which is more client oriented and should encourage greater focus on external knowledge sharing activities.

The focus of the Bank’s communication strategy is to push its (branded?) information out to different parts of the bank, as well as to client communities.  It  utilizes a complementary mix of activities and tools, including: thematic groups and communities of practice, advisory services, a development forum that brings together practitioners from a range of stakeholder institutions, internal and external websites, internships, and a range of information sharing products: practice notes, staff debriefings and learning events. For those involved in the production of transport related knowledge, in the World Bank  the main information sharing tools seem are electronic: the thematic groups, the websites and the technical papers that are available to be bought through the Bank’s info shop, or through involvement in the Transport Research Board and the World Bank’s Transport Forum.

 

DFID

Knowledge processes within DFID’s Infrastructure and Urban Development Division on the other hand are contracted out to wide range of internal and external partners, largely under DFID’s knowledge and research programme.  These include, knowledge about public private initiatives and sustainable livelihoods through other DFID Departments, employment related work with the ILO and initiatives exploring poor peoples’ access to technology and information with ITDG.  In the transport sector in particular, IUDD has  partnerships with the World Road Association, the World Bank, IFRTD  the SSATP, the GRSP and TRL for increasing the flow of information.  The transport-links website developed by TRL aims to be a comprehensive broker of transport information for users.

In contrast to the Banks emphasis on electronic information tools and products, DFID has concentrated on traditional print-based products.  Of around 770 transport research titles produced by TRL for DFID since 1990, 700 have been made available as paper copies only. Less than five of each of videos, software, slide sets, posters have been produced in that time. CD-ROMs are increasingly being produced as a cost-effective way of distributing bulky materials such as books, and training manuals etc. e.g. Rural Transport Knowledge Base, Road Engineering for Development, DFID Sourcebook on Institutional Development for Utilities and Infrastructure.

DFID’s information strategy for transport, and other rural infrastructure services, has grown organically to include the various marketing activities of the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the DFID Transport Programme as well as indirectly through the programmes and institutions supported financially or through staff secondment by DFID (e.g. PIARC and WIN etc.), and through direct programme and research activities carried out in the south. The Transport Newsletter and new Transport Links website stimulates demand for products, which is handled by TRL. Technical Enquiries are handled by a consortium of agencies making up the Resource Centre, although this is a new formation and the referral system is not yet perfect.  Over the last 18 months, IUDD's Communications and Information Management Resource Centre has been developing a strategy, and a range of ‘Communications Guidance Notes’ that identify and promote best practice, to promote greater coherence, particularly for making information available on the internet.

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