In 2008, UNDP stated that the organization is suffering from a “cognitive surplus” of experience, talent and knowledge which often goes unleveraged or unrecognised. Acknowledging the important role that knowledge plays in UNDP’s core mandate of assisting development partners in responding to crisis, contributing to the achievement of the MDGs and fostering human development, the UNDP Knowledge Strategy 2009-2011 captures prior organisational challenges and achievements, presenting a new way forward to share and utilize UNDP’s global expertise. It does this by collecting, contextualising and distributing the enormous amount of knowledge available, positioning UNDP as a “knowledge organisation”.

 

For the purpose of implementing this strategy, the Knowledge Management Group within UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy established the project “Knowledge Management (KM) in UNDP: The Next Generation” which focuses on the following outputs:

 

·         OUTPUT 2: UNDP leverages knowledge assets to drive organisational performance.

 

Through these elements the project aims to ensure that UNDP’s vast knowledge resources and expertise are fully leveraged and accessible whenever and wherever needed. It is designed to streamline the delivery of policy advisory services by supporting UNDP’s client-facing staff in providing knowledge-based services and results-based solutions to partners working to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

 

The project intends to strengthen global and local partnerships both within and outside the UN system by making relevant knowledge readily available to UNDP staff and partners wherever located, improving and expanding UNDP’s knowledge networks and the contextualization of knowledge and skills in support of development outcomes. Having UNDP’s knowledge readily available enables doing more with less, increases cost effectiveness, maximizes investments made in external expertise and ensures retention of experience from staff and consultants. The project has been designed to be operational at global, regional, and country levels, in collaboration and coordination with relevant partners, including other UNDP units, programmes, and initiatives, other UN agencies and organisations, as well as partners from civil society.

 

The purpose of evaluation is to assess to what extent the objectives of the project “Knowledge Management (KM) in UNDP: The Next Generation” have achieved the results defined in the project framework. Based on a thorough analysis of the results, the review will identify challenges and lessons learned to strengthen the components institutionalized by the project and to feed the results and learning points back into the process of updating the UNDP Knowledge Strategy for 2012-14.

 

For details of scope and responsibilities of the Individual Consultant, please see full announcement attached.