M&E for KM and M&E for KM

There were two strands to the discussion, the first addressing the issue of assessing the impact of knowledge on development

It was noted that:

Monitoring and evaluations focuses too much on activity-level indicators

It is very hard to assess the impact of a piece of information

Starting with the change and tracking backwards to see the contribution of a peice of information is also hard

The log frame and similar approaches do not allow for tracking the complexity of the organisational changes called for in KM strategies

Impact is hard because of the overall problem faced in impact assessment in development agencies

The idea of domains of change were raised, and most significant change was suggested as one possible tool for M&E of KM.

Outcome mapping was also mooted, because of its focus on behaviour change, which may be the best indicator of the success of a KM initiative

The need for a decent M&E system for knowledge-based strategies was seen as crucial, especially given the increasing focus on knowledge for development purposes and achieving the MDGs

It was provocatively suggested that development organisations are less about knowledge and vulnerability, and more about raising and spending money, and therefore KM should be measured against these activities if they are going to gain legitimacy

Wwhat is the cost-benefit of KM? No-one has gotr an answer yet, and this may be the biggest gap in the KM4Dev field