UN Women East and Southern Africa-Knowledge Management Strategy (2018-2021)

The UN Women East and Southern Africa Knowledge Management Strategy (2018-2021) views knowledge management as a critical enabler of UN Women’s operations and programmes in the region. The strategy is anchored within regional and global priorities, with a focus on strengthening collective institutional and peer learning, as well as knowledge sharing.  It brings visibility to and positions UN Women as a Knowledge Hub on Gender Equality and The Empowerment of Women and Girls (GEWE). The Strategy is premised on UN Women’s triple mandate (normative, coordination and operational) and is driven by innovation, synergies, coordination and learning for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the region. It is also aligned to the UN Women Global Knowledge Management Strategy and is positioned for relevance of Gender within the UN Development System Reforms agenda led by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Due to the challenges faced in achieving gender equality in Africa and globally, Knowledge Management cannot be seen as an additional activity carried out on top of managing development projects, but rather as an activity that is a core value proposition for the regional function, and thus as a key contribution to programme and country office delivery. This strategy lays out the foundations for effective Knowledge Management for UN Women and provides a framework for standardization and prioritization of Knowledge Management practices in UN Women at the regional level. The strategy strives to ensure a systematic approach to knowledge management and shifting the region from ad hoc, uneven, and inconsistent Knowledge Management practices to creating synergies, providing quality assurance and availability, accessibility, and dissemination of relevant knowledge for development.