Progress Reports on ACBF Knowledge Management Strategy

Through the knowledge management system, the Foundation is making progress in raising the awareness of senior policymakers and other members of the development community, as shown by the level of participation in the launch and annual meeting of the TAP-NETs on 25-26 March 2004, to the emergence of ACBF as a knowledge-based institution – a source of knowledge products and services that are vital for capacity building and the management of aspects of economic and social policies and programs on the continent and a knowledge hub rather than simply a funding agency. The Minister of Special Affairs in Charge of Anti-Corruption and Anti-Monopolies in the Office of the President in Zimbabwe expressed interest in the TAP-NETs on-going work on the Review of Frameworks and Strategies for Addressing Public Sector Corruption in Africa and is looking forward to proposals and emerging best practices that his Ministry can draw on.

Through the establishment of the TAP-NETs, the Foundation for the first time has been able to break through into the G-8 consultative process. As a result of the continental and global membership of the TAP-NETs, one of the knowledge networks – VOICENET was invited to speak at a meeting on April 7, 2004 on “Africa and the G-8: Assessing the G8-Africa Partnership and Recommendations for the Sea Island Summit and Beyond”. The meeting was held by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House in London. The TAP-NET spoke and made recommendations in the area of governance and democracy in Africa.

It is common knowledge that Africa has become an increasingly important focus of the G-8 in recent years. Chatham House and the US-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) launched a collaborative project on the G-8-Africa Partnership in February 2004. A series of meetings are being held to evaluate the goals and commitments made by the G-8 in relation to Africa at previous G-8 meetings and to recommend appropriate next steps in this partnership in the run up to the G-8 summit in June 2004 under US leadership. These meetings are designed to harvest ideas that will contribute to the findings and recommendations in the Council's report, which will be presented to the US administration prior to the June summit. The London meeting constituted one of the consultative meetings.

Following the presentation by VOICENET at the Chatham House Meeting, African Ambassadors who attended the Meeting expressed the view that the Foundation’s TAP-NETs should be part of the Africa Commission that was set up recently to support the G-8 consultation process with respect to Africa. The Commission is chaired by the British Prime Minister.

Through the operations-based Working Papers of the TAP-NETs, the knowledge management strategy is delivering inputs for aspects of the Foundation’s operations. The Working Paper on “Review of Frameworks and Indicators for Performance Measurement in Public Service Delivery” prepared by the TAP-NET on Public Administration and Management (PAMNET) provided valuable insight and material on which the Secretariat is drawing in the development of performance measurement system for interventions in capacity building. The paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the TAP-NETs in March 2004 and the workshop on Performance Measurement in April 2004.

As a result of the continuing improvement in the quality as well as the information and knowledge content of the ACBF Newsletter, Harvard University Library towards the end of 2003 joined the growing number of institutions that have placed order for issues of the Newsletter. Feedback on the content and quality of the Newsletter is continually received from institutions including the World Bank Institute whose Vice President continues to commend the quality and utility of the publication.

There is now greater consciousness by operations staff of the Foundation’s Secretariat to share project implementation lessons during meetings of the Project Review Committee and at the level of the Operations Zones, and to ensure that such lessons are fed back into the development and implementation of future projects and programs by the Foundation.

It is on record that based on the seminal work done by the Secretariat in the area of performance measurement in capacity building and database development, the IMF requested the Foundation to provide it with a guide to indicators for assessing its own performance in capacity building, as well as information on the number of Ph.D. economics degree holders in Africa.

Thus, despite the nascent nature of the Foundation’s knowledge management system, it is already showing potentials for results. There is a growing demand for its products and services. Most of the activities for the year are in the pipeline and will be completed by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the Secretariat is reflecting on measures for evaluating the effectiveness and utility of the products and services of the knowledge management system within the framework of the broader work on performance measurement in capacity building interventions.