• Objectives
• Format and Methodology
• How to participate in the Inter-Agency Knowledge Fair?
• Call for Proposals

This second inter-Agency knowledge fair will be an opportunity to:

Expected outcomes :

• Participants will gain insight on means to leverage experience and share knowledge to enhance UN effectiveness at the country level through informal learning opportunities;
• A document capturing collective views on good practice and recommendations to enhance UN effectiveness in knowledge sharing based on concrete case studies of joint field initiativeswill be developed.

The Knowledge Fair will provide numerous opportunities for networking, learning, discussion, analysis and collective reflection in a highly participatory, informal and stimulating environment. This event has been designed incorporating best practices in knowledge sharing, UN experience in organizing “share fairs” and the lessons drawn from the inter-Agency knowledge fair on Policy Advice vs. Implementation that took place in Vienna in September 2010. A strong team of experienced facilitators, integrating experts from various UN system organizations, will be engaged to ensure the event meets its goals.

In particular, exhibition stands and speed networking techniques will be used to inform participants about show cased initiatives. Group work and facilitated discussions will help participants analyze inter-Agency experiences and draw lessons learned. On-line collaboration through UN Knowledge Campus (UNKampus), social media and multimedia will provide broader outreach, opportunities to gain insight and contribute to the discussion, as well as to network before, during and after the event.

The event is open to UN staff from Headquarters, regional and country offices, as well as to relevant representatives from governments, civil society and academia.

Participation is subject to selection of a relevant experience in a joint field initiative, demonstrative of lessons learned, challenges and approaches to foster knowledge sharing at field level. Selection of case studies will be made by an inter-Agency panel through this Call for Proposals.

Interested participants were invited to submit a proposal describing a concrete joint field initiative before 15 October 2010 to fleur.vernat@undg.org. They had to use the template provided in the Call for Proposals (see below) to structure information about the proposed initiative, highlighting the main challenges and lessons learned encountered, as well as the knowledge sharing strategies and mechanisms possibly adopted.

Priority will be given to joint activities completed, but ongoing initiatives will also be considered. In case participants wished to propose more than one project for consideration by the panel, they had to duplicate sections 2, 3 and 4 of the template and fill them in for each proposed project. 

The inter-Agency panel will evaluate submitted proposals according to the following criteria:

• The merit of the proposed initiative to foster inter-Agency knowledge sharing;
• The extent to which the material is not redundant with other proposals;
• The relevance to practitioners in the field;
• The clarity and completeness of expression of theproposal.

Please note that non-UN initiatives will only be eligible if presented by implementing partners of the UN, presenting UN-funded initiatives. Additionally, actors presenting similar proposals may be invited to jointly present their experiences.

Authors of the selected papers will be invited to participate in the Fair to present their case studies. Participants that cannot travel to Turin will be invited to share their experiences and lessons learned through a multimedia presentation.

UNDOCO will cover for the costs associated to travel and daily allowance of participants from country offices (up to a maximum of four participants per country).