The state of the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev) community in 2024

Authors

Keywords:

annual review, Knowledge Management for Development, communities of practice, 2024, events, communication, advocacy campaigns, United Nations

Abstract

This Community Note reviews, for the first time, the annual activities of KM4Dev, taking the year 2024. We start with the top ten KM4dev buzzwords in 2024. Next, we review KM4Dev’s known impact on sustainable development, focusing on the advocacy campaign to successfully influence the text of the UN’s Pact of the Future. Next, we provide an overview of KM4Dev’s core activities: interactive platforms, knowledge cafes, the Youth Leadership Forum, the KM4Dev-SIKM peer mentoring programme, and the Knowledge Management for Development Journal. In the next section, we provide an overview of the people who have played a formal role in the community as members of the core group and we also celebrate the awards and academic achievements of our members. Next, we highlight some important activities: the face-to-face meeting which took place in Cape Town, South Africa in January, the support to the development of the fourth, forthcoming edition of the ‘Agenda Knowledge for Development’, new development around the KM4Dev ‘Knowledge Sharing toolkit’, and some key events in the knowledge management and KM4Dev calendar. Finally, we outline plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of KM4Dev in 2025in the ’25 years together’ campaign.

Author Biographies

Sarah Cummings

Sarah Cummings PhD is the Editor-in-Chief of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal. She was previously co-Director and Communications Director for the IKM Emergent Research Programme. She is a member and co-leader of the KM4Dev community. She currently works as Research Fellow at Knowledge, Technology and Innovation at Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. She has her own business, Knowledge Ecologist, where she undertakes knowledge-related consultancies for the UN and other clients.

Toni Sittoni

Toni Sittoni is an accomplished communications and knowledge management professional with more than 20 years’ experience of communications and KM leadership in the water and sanitation sector across Africa, and engagements in parts of South Asia, East Asia & Pacific, and Latin America.

Bruce Boyes

Bruce Boyes is a knowledge management, environmental management, and education professional with over 40 years of experience in Australia and China. His work has received high-level acclaim and been recognised through a number of significant awards, and includes innovative pioneering work on multiple knowledges and complexity in sustainability pioneered 30 years ago. He is currently the editor, lead writer, and a director of the award-winning RealKM Magazine (www.realkm.com), and teaches in the Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) Certified High-school Programme (CHP). He is also a PhD candidate in the Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group at Wageningen University and Research, and holds a Master of Environmental Management with Distinction.

Paul Atsu

Paul Atsu works with international organizations, NGOs and private companies in rural and urban communities to enable farmers to develop profitable and sustainable business models, access competitive markets and facilitated business network and linkages. His work experience has exposed me to both subsistence and commercial farmers. He is an expert in knowledge management, communications, youth in agribusiness development programmes and impact sharing for youth and women in the agriculture value chains.

Rocio Sanz

Rocio Sanz is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland, and has over 25 years of international experience in the fields of communication, public information, media and humanitarian emergency response, knowledge management, information architecture as well as monitoring and evaluation. She works with organizations, teams and individuals as knowledge broker to improve their knowledge management strategies, competitive and business intelligence, developing frameworks, engaging networks, facilitating, building capacity or assessing and evaluating programmes, projects or policies for development. Her work experience also includes assessments, profiling, capacity building, development of training materials, document management and other targeted and tailored innovative tools required for knowledge elicitation, sharing and generation. Rocio is also actively engaged in many knowledge-based communities of practice such as the Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev), the Swiss Knowledge Management Forum and is co-signatory member of the Knowledge for Partnership Development (K4DP). She holds an MSc (Kent State University, USA) in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management, a master’s degree (Complutense University, Madrid, Spain) in International Relations and Communication, she is an accredited Expert on Evaluation of Policies, Programs, Projects for Development (Complutense University, Madrid, Spain). Rocio held an Erasmus Scholarship  in Political sciences & Journalism (Universität Bremen, Germany), and a BA in English Literature and Language (Universidad Cordoba, Spain).

Denise Senmartin

Denise Senmartin has followed a transformative journey through facilitation, leading her from social work and alternative conflict resolution to international development, knowledge management, and project coordination. With proven experience across multilateral, public, and non-profit sectors in various regions, Denise excels in co-designing and implementing collaborative planning and peer-to-peer learning strategies within policy-oriented and organizational change contexts. Adept at managing communities of practice and facilitating diverse workshops and events, both online and offline, she brings extensive qualitative research and report-writing skills in English and Spanish. As a Senior Editor of the Knowledge Management for Development Journal and a pivotal member of the Latin American Community of Practice, she actively fosters knowledge exchange and collaboration. Currently finalizing her Ph.D. dissertation on social media group participation and a sustainable architecture cottage for tourism in Argentina’s Córdoba sierras, Denise remains open to new consulting opportunities, eager to apply her expertise to drive positive change and innovation.

Gladys Kemboi

Gladys Kemboi is a Knowledge Management (KM) and Communities of Practice leader with 10+ years of experience in global, regional, national and local level in providing strategic vision, developing and implementing KM strategies, building and sustaining Communities of Practice, and performing oversight of KM projects to meet evolving needs in Local and International Development. She has a a track record in building strategic alliances and knowledge partnerships, facilitating and moderating knowledge cafés, mentoring youth, unlocking community archives and restoring indigenous knowledge in addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, championing safe spaces, decolonisation of knowledge, and advocating for vulnerable groups, peace and security, epistemic justice and transparent communications to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

Fitsum Habtemarium

Fitsum Habtemariam is a passionate communication professional with a strong commitment to contributing to the achievement of the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Fitsum has 15+ years of international experience (in Africa, Asia, Europe, and now here in the US) with UNICEF, UNDP-GEF (United Nations Development Program -Global Environment Facility), UNFPA, FAO of the United Nations, and Save the Children-USAID/Food by Prescription. Fitsum has a proven track record of delivering impactful outcomes through strategic communication, social behavior change, and knowledge management. From leading award-winning campaigns to fostering strong partnerships, Fitsum’s expertise drives tangible results.

Chris Zielinski

Chris Zielinski is a Visiting Fellow and the director of the Partnerships in Health Information (Phi)programme at the Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, UK. Phi operates as a development consultancy, engaged in evaluation work of all kinds. Chris’s academic work is on knowledge management, information and climate change, and infodemiology. His earlier career included over 20 years as a UN system translator, editor and publisher. In 1996, he became CEO ofa British authors agency (ALCS), distributing some $15 m a year of copyright revenue to British authors. In 2002, he rejoined WHO in Geneva as a senior internal consultant focusing on policy, partnerships (writing the first extended study of WHO's role in global health partnerships) and knowledge management (he developed the WHO policy on KM at country level and assembled and drafted the 2007 global operational plan for WHO’s knowledge management activities). At WHO’s African Regional Headquarters in Brazzaville, he initiated what is now the integrated African Health Observatory. Later, as the lead WHO consultant, he drafted the world first national strategy on knowledge management for the health sector for Ethiopia.

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2025-01-29

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