Strengthening Communities of Practice in ADB: RSDD-KM Internship Assignment Report, April 2009

Abstract

Non-financial aid, such as knowledge and policy advice, has always been an essential component of development work in the Asian Development Bank (ADB). But Strategy 2020, ADB's long-term strategic framework for 2008–2020, sees that ADB must play a bigger part in putting the potential of knowledge solutions to work in Asia and the Pacific. It emphasizes that knowledge is a powerful catalyst for propelling development forward. It stipulates that ADB's knowledge service should address its clients' immediate knowledge needs, while determining and passing on best practices. Further, ADB's knowledge should be continuously enriched through (i) internal learning from operational experience and communities of practice; and (ii) external learning from long-term strategic partnerships with other international finance institutions and world-class research institutions, including ADB's own regional knowledge hubs. In 2008, in support of Strategy 2020, the Knowledge Management Center in ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD-KM) led a review of knowledge management at ADB that recommended several actions for later refinement.