What is KM?

Knowledge management (KM) is the systematic process of collecting and curating knowledge, and connecting people to it and to each other, so they can work more effectively and efficiently.

It is based on people, processes, and technology but is inherently a social science that focuses most on people and the way they interact and share knowledge with each other. When applying KM in family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and other global health programs, the people of focus are the global health workforce members who are working to address and solve health problems. These can include program and organization staff at different levels of the health system and across different geographic areas, global health networks, and the broader global health community.

When global health workforce members share what they know, and can find what they need, programs are able to reach their full potential and avoid repeating costly mistakes. This means better outcomes for individuals, communities, and health systems.

Explore the KM Training Package

Common Challenges that KM Can Support

Hover Box Element

Overload of Options and Information: For some global health workforce members, the sheer volume of available resources can be overwhelming, making it difficult to identify the most relevant and reliable information.

Hover Box Element

Lack of Information: While information overload is common, some other global health workforce members still face obstacles of having too little information, whether it be because of limited infrastructure like reliable access to the internet or because they are shut out of the knowledge cycle due to inequitable knowledge sharing systems.

Hover Box Element

Complex and Inaccessible Information: Information is often presented in ways that are hard to understand, creating barriers for users who need clear, concise, and actionable data and information.

Hover Box Element

Access Barriers: Paywalls, language barriers, and other obstacles prevent many from accessing critical information.

Hover Box Element

Outdated and Non-Specific Data: Many resources lack context-specific information or are based on outdated data, reducing their usefulness.

Hover Box Element

Limited Insights on Ineffectiveness: There is a shortage of information on what strategies do not work in family planning and reproductive health, hindering the ability to learn from past mistakes.

Hover Box Element

Lack of Coordination and Systematic Sharing: The absence of coordinated efforts and systematic information sharing leads to fragmented knowledge and inefficiencies in the field.

What Do KM Solutions Look Like?

KM solutions can take on different forms depending on people’s needs and the challenges you’re trying to solve.

As shown in the KM Tools and Techniques matrix on the right, KM solutions can focus on:

Bringing people together to ask questions and elicit tacit knowledge — or the know-how in people’s heads
Conveying knowledge (or telling it) to defined groups of people
Publishing and searching approaches to share explicit knowledge and allow people to pull the information they need, when they need it

Knowledge SUCCESS’s KM initiatives use a mix of these KM tools and techniques to engage the FP/RH workforce’s diverse learning preferences and knowledge needs.

Explore some of our key KM initiatives below.

Collecting and organizing knowledge:

Connecting people to each other and to knowledge:

Strengthening capacity and resources for KM:

We also host regional KM workshops for FP/RH professionals working in Asia and East and West Africa.

Integrating KM into FP/RH Programs

FP/RH programs can use the five-step KM Road Map to integrate KM into their programs and operations. This systematic process helps to strategically generate, collect, analyze, synthesize, and share knowledge in global health programs, including FP/RH, and focuses on KM as a process, not just a single product or activity.

Assess needs: Understand the context of the global health program challenge and identify how knowledge management may help solve it.

Design strategy: Plan how to improve your global health program using knowledge management interventions.

Create and iterate: Use new knowledge management tools and techniques or adapt existing ones to meet your global health program’s needs.

Mobilize and monitor: Implement knowledge management tools and techniques, monitor their effects, and adapt your approaches and activities to respond to changing needs and realities.

Evaluate and evolve: Explain how well you achieved your knowledge management objectives, identify factors that contributed to or hindered your success, and use these findings to influence future programming.

Learn more about this process in our Building Better Programs Guide, or get a quick overview in the companion KM Pocket Guide.

What is Equitable KM?

Global health and development work involves a diverse community of individuals and organizations working toward common goals. Groups that are most effective in meeting these goals have systems in place to routinely share critical knowledge, gain immediate access to the latest research, and translate lessons learned into better programs.

Equity is a key consideration in KM systems and processes, in addition to each step within the KM Road Map. Equitable KM is achieved when everyone has the information, opportunities, skills, and resources needed to define and participate in the knowledge cycle.

This happens when there is an absence of unfair, avoidable, and remediable differences in knowledge creation, access, sharing, and use among groups of health workforce members.

There are four essential elements to consider when reflecting on the equity of your KM tool or technique.

Is it available to all members of your intended audience?
Is it accessible to everyone at no or reasonable cost and consistent with their needs, including format, technology, language, and timing?
Is it acceptable, in that it is respectful of culture and sensitive or responsive to people’s identities and does not reinforce inequitable gender and other power dynamics?
Is it high quality – that is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased, and relevant?