Knowledge Management in Non-Governmental Organisations: A Partnership for the Future

Abstract

This paper explores Knowledge Management (KM) practices for use with portal technologies in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The aim is to help NGOs become true Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In order to deal with more donors (at the top) and more beneficiaries (at the bottom), NGOs working in Humanitarian Aid and Social Development increasingly need systems to manage the creation, accessing and deployment information: within the NGOs themselves, between different NGOs that work together and, ultimately, between NGOs and Society as a whole. Put simply, NGOs are organizations that need an effective KM solution to tackle the problems that arise from both their local-global nature and from the difficulties of effective communication between and within NGOs and Civil Society. To address these problems, the underlying objectives, entities, activities, workflow and processes of the NGO will be considered from a KM framework. This paper presents the needs of a responsible, cooperative and participative NGO from a KM perspective, in order to promote the growth of Communities of Practice in local as well as in global network.

Keywords: Knowledge Management, Communities of Practice, Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, Information Society, Humanitarian Aid, Social Development

JEL Classification: F35, M54, O19, O22, O33