Knowledge for development?: Comparing British, Japanese, Swedish and World Bank aid

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In 1996, the World Bank President, James Wolfensohn, declared that his organization would henceforth be ‘the knowledge bank’. This marked the beginning of a new discourse of knowledge-based aid, which has spread rapidly across the development field. This book is the first detailed attempt to analyse this new discourse. Through an examination of four agencies –– the World Bank, the British Department for International Development, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency –– the book explores what this new approach to aid means in both theory and practice. It concludes that too much emphasis has been on developing capacity within agencies rather than addressing the expressed needs of Southern ‘partners’. It also questions whether knowledge-based aid leads to greater agency certainty about what constitutes good development. Cover Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations and acronyms ONE: Researching knowledge-based aid Setting the scene Research questions A new way of researching; a new way of working The structure of the book Notes TWO: The new aid agenda The changing fashions of development co-operation Aid discourse at the start of the new millennium Notes THREE: Knowledge for development The origins of knowledge-based aid Knowledge-based aid Alternative accounts of knowledge and development A concluding comment Notes FOUR: The World Bank or the knowledge bank? The discovery of knowledge-based aid in the World Bank The World Bank’s older knowledge strategies The World Bank’s vision of knowledge for development Revising the strategy: the Ramphele review and a shifting focus for the knowledge bank The new architecture of the knowledge bank The knowledge bank in practice: assessing the extent of transformation Notes FIVE: From information management to knowledge sharing: DFID’s unfinished revolution DFID’s knowledge discourses DFID’s knowledge projects DFID’s knowledge practices How should we judge DFID’s approach to knowledge and development? Notes SIX: Knowledge, learning and capacity in the Swedish approach to development co-operation Historical overview Sida’s discourses of knowledge, learning and capacity Sida as a generator of development knowledge Sida’s initiatives to support knowledge, learning and capacity development Knowledge and learning in practice Conclusion Notes SEVEN: Experience, experts and knowledge in Japanese aid policy and practice Japan’s own experience for development Japan’s multiple external sources of development expertise Sources of policy knowledge in Japanese development assistance Knowledge-sharing initiatives in a culture of valuing experience Knowledge management in JICA: a new approach Other mechanisms for sharing development knowledge Conclusion on sharing expertise for development Notes EIGHT: Conclusions and implications for knowledge, aid and development Where does knowledge-based aid come from, and is it just a passing fashion? Does knowledge-based aid work? Knowledge-based aid or learning-led development? Knowledge-based aid and knowledge, aid and development: some concluding thoughts Bibliography Index