On 4 May 2023, a STAP/GEF virtual workshop to learn from GEF agencies’ experience with knowledge management and learning (KM&L) platforms developed for the Integrated Approach Pilots (IAPs) and Impact Programs (IPs), and to see how this experience could benefit the development of platforms for the Integrated Programs.
The workshop included presentations from the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), and from the food, cities, and forests IAPs and IPs.
The main findings and conclusions were:
- Common principles: all platforms would benefit from being organized in accordance with some common principles to ensure that they are, easy to access, easy to use and search, interoperable, and available both within the GEF partnership and beyond.
- Accessibility: in principle, platforms should be open to all and easy to access for those within the GEF partnership and beyond.
- Searchability: knowledge needs to be easy to use if it is to be translated into action; standardized data and common definitions are important for effective search.
- Interoperability (the ability to exchange and make use of information) can be enhanced in several dimensions by connecting KM&L platforms on the same theme, connecting Integrated Program KM&L platforms, and connecting platforms to knowledge elsewhere in the GEF and outside the GEF.
- KM&L platforms are an integral part of GEF effectiveness, and they should be subject to the same requirements, including evaluation, as other projects and programs.
- Durability: ensure that when programs end the learning and knowledge endures.
- Integration: consider whether interlinked Integrated Program platforms could be a foundation for the future GEF KM&L system?
