The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) has released a new publication titled “The Art of Knowledge Exchange: A Results-Focused Planning Guide for the GEF Partnership.” This publication, which builds on an earlier publication by the World Bank Group, serves as both a guidebook and a toolkit for enhancing knowledge exchange at the national, regional, and global levels. It was produced to meet demand from GEF recipient countries for capacity building on knowledge exchange and learning, as well as in-country knowledge exchange workshops.

“The Art of Knowledge Exchange” guidebook highlights a variety of case studies and examples of successful knowledge exchange embedded in GEF projects, as well as lessons learned from implementing these initiatives for enhanced global environmental impact. It is the product of collaboration across the GEF Partnership, offering a practical step-by-step blueprint with illustrative examples on how to design, implement, and monitor knowledge exchange embedded in projects. It includes good practice and case study contributions by the World Bank Group (WBG), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP).

The guide provides tools to help knowledge brokers play a more effective role in facilitating knowledge exchange and learning when designing and implementing a GEF project or program. It reflects the experiences of various GEF partners, knowledge and learning professionals, government officials, and other practitioners who have successfully integrated knowledge exchange into larger change processes. It also features the free augmented reality mobile app Blippar, a tool that enables GEF partners and others to access the guide online from around the world using their smart phones.  

The guide will be introduced to key counterparts in recipient countries during the Art of Knowledge Exchange Training Sessions, delivered in collaboration with the WBG, at GEF Expanded Constituency Workshops (ECWs) throughout 2017. The first of these sessions took place during the ECW for Southern Africa held in Swaziland on February 21-24, 2017, where the guidebook was launched to an audience of about 80 participants.