Knowledge management

272. UNESCO’s Knowledge Management and Information and Communication Technology Strategy (2012 – 2017) defines knowledge management (KM) as “a set of principles, policies and practices through which an organisation consciously and comprehensively gathers, organises, shares, and analyses its knowledge—in terms of insights, experiences and skills—perceived as a strategic resource.” Its

ultimate goal is to contribute to organisational learning, which in turn generates knew knowledge that can then feed into the overall KM system. This shows that KM goes far beyond information sharing or sharing of best practices. Managing knowledge can be quite a challenging activity that requires time, expertise and financial resources.

273. KM in the context of a Convention is yet a much more demanding task still, since it is supposed to facilitate learning across countries and different types of stakeholders, and even across Conventions.

As this report has shown, a lot has been achieved in terms of the implementation of the 2003 Convention, but many challenges still exist and need to be addressed. Through all these experiences, both good and bad, knowledge has been generated that could, if properly organised and shared, provide input in and a valuable source of inspiration for other activities undertaken by other stakeholders.

274. The importance of sharing of information and experience through networking, international/regional/national/local cooperation between the various constituencies, web-based tools and other mechanisms, has been pointed out again and again by stakeholders consulted during this evaluation exercise. In fact, there seems to be a real hunger for sharing, learning from each other, for developing new ways of working together and best practices are in high demand.

275. At the national level KM and information sharing mechanisms exist in some countries with varying degrees of comprehensiveness, while in many others this is an area that is completely under-serviced. At the international level, the 2003 Convention Secretariat and UNESCO Field Offices have publications about the Convention, and the Secretariat has several databases and a very well developed website and other online resources through which information is shared with State Parties and the public and that allow State Parties to interact on specific matters. Among the international mechanisms established by the Convention, the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices has been the primary mechanism for sharing best practices. As pointed out in an earlier chapter of this report and for the reasons given, the Register has not proven to be an effective instrument. Overall, the current demand for the exchange of knowledge, experience and guidance seems greatly to exceed the supply.

276. This is certainly an area where more efforts and different approaches are needed. One of the issues to consider here is whether the exchange of “best” practices is the most effective way of sharing experience and generating learning. First of all, as the experience with the Register has shown, projects submitted by State Parties rarely ever fulfil all the criteria to qualify as “best” as stipulated in the Operational Guidelines (I.I.3.). Second, what might work “best” in one context, rarely works best in another. And even initiatives that did not work “best” can still provide an inspiration to others as long as the experience is analysed and lessons are drawn (and shared) about the reasons of its success or failure.

277. Overall, given the high demand for the exchange of knowledge and information on one hand, and the wealth of experience that is currently being generated world-wide with regard to all aspects of the standard-setting work related to this Convention on the other, consideration should be given to a different approach to sharing of experiences that is much lighter (than through the Register), less formal, interactive and could be pursued through various media including the website and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and others.

278. The idea would not be to share “best” practices but rather to share interesting and innovative examples of working on the Convention. The thematic areas covered could also be expanded to include not only safeguarding of ICH, but also policy/legislation development, working on ICH and sustainable development, innovative partnerships, etc. The development of this new approach would require some thinking, preparation and resources, but it would certainly be worth it.

279. The 2005 Convention’s Secretariat has started a number of initiatives related to the International Fund for Cultural Diversity that go in the direction of what is being proposed here. They might provide a good source of inspiration.

Box 13. Communicating success stories of the 2005 Convention’s International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD)

The International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD), established under UNESCO’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, recently launched a communication campaign to raise awareness of the impact of its funded projects. The IFCD Secretariat regularly sends out an e-newsletter on project success stories and has created a dedicated web space³⁸ on the projects’ results.

The featured stories describe the projects’ goals, achievements, challenges and impact along with colourful photos and testimonials. The result is very inspiring indeed!

Recommendation 20. Strengthen informal sharing of interesting and innovative examples on working on the Convention, including about ICH safeguarding, development of policy and legislation, ICH and sustainable development, innovative partnerships and others.

38. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/cultural-diversity/diversity-of-cultural-expressions/international-fund/