Call for proposals: UNDG Inter-Agency Knowledge Fair

In its continuous effort to support interagency knowledge initiatives and in response to the demand from UN Coordination practitioners, UNDOCO will be organizing, in close collaboration with the Vienna based organizations and the UN System Staff College, an inter-agency Knowledge Fair in Vienna from 28 to 30 September 2010.

This face-to-face practitioners’ meeting will focus on Policy Advice vs. Implementation: how to find the right positioning for UN development activities at the country level? This theme selected by a wide range of coordination and knowledge management practitioners through an online survey conducted in March 2010.

The purpose of this Knowledge Fair is to provide UN staff from Headquarters, regional, sub-regional and country offices and their partners with a chance to interact and learn about initiatives taking place in the field, as well as to promote a culture of sharing knowledge and experiences. It will also help to draw on the expertise available at all levels within and across UN system agencies, and provide knowledge for identification of lessons learned and good practices among the broader development community.

This inter-Agency event is inspired by previous “Share Fairs” organized by UN development organizations (individually or jointly) and independent initiatives of UN staff (such as knowledge cafés, existing communities of practices, agencies’ specific knowledge platforms, or the One Knowledge Initiative), aiming at strengthening and improving knowledge sharing and organizational learning within and across organizations and to work out ways to increase the UN system’s efficiency and effectiveness.

The main objectives of the event are to:

• Provide UN staff from Headquarters, regional, sub-regional and country offices, as well as participants from government, civil society and academia, with the opportunity to create new, and reinforce existing, networks;
• Foster knowledge sharing within and across organizations;
• Practice the use of tools and methodologies for knowledge and experience;
• Demonstrate how knowledge sharing may improve the effectiveness and impact of field-level activities;
• Share concrete examples of innovative approaches and lessons learned from successful programmes as a first step towards codification.

One outcome of this Inter-Agency Knowledge Fair would be to explore ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the UN development system in the area of Policy Advice vs. Implementation: how to find the right positioning for UN development activities at the country level?

The deadline for submission of Papers is 20 August 2010.

The event will be held in English. If you wish to submit a proposal in another UN language, please fill in the form below. We would be grateful if you could ensure that the abstract has been translated into English. Download the Call for Proposal from: http://bit.ly/UNDG-IA-KF