Knowledge Management Learning Network

Date: 14-15 Feb 2008
Venue: Bloemfontein, Kopano Koneng

Background and Rationale

Participants in the Indaba on the Public Service as a Learning Organisation held in November 2006 shared various international and local best practices on knowledge management. Such was the intensity and value of the discussions on areas ranging from defining KM in the public service context, strategies to implement to knowledge management, entrenching knowledge management to demonstrating value add, that the participants suggested that the DPSA should, on a continuous basis, convene similar sharing platforms.

In addition, various provinces, national departments, parastatals, and academic institutions, have in varied ways experimented with various ways to implement knowledge management, and these various experiments are worth sharing in the knowledge management community. Critical to the upcoming session is the official launch of a vibrant knowledge management community that will be instrumental in institutionalising KM as a practice in government.

It is against the background that the one and half-day session is being held and hosted by the Free State provincial administration, in collaboration with the DPSA. The former has been in the lead in experimenting with various strategies and approaches to implement knowledge management in to support improved service delivery and decision-making, and it is befitting that the session is held in the Free State.

Presentations will also be drawn from the academic and private sectors, and towards the end of the session there will be a facilitated discussion on how best to establish and sustain a vibrant knowledge management community in the public service.

Participants

Officials and professionals who are running knowledge management programmes both in the public and private sectors, at both senior, middle management and operational levels.

PROGRAMME

DAY 1

• Welcoming Remarks
  Dr. M.C. Nwaila, Director-General of the Free State Provincial Administration
• Introducing e.com Institute’s business portfolio and knowledge management thrust
  Ernest Rampete
• The case for knowledge management in the public service
  Mohamed Byhat, e.com Institute
• Getting the basics right in implementing knowledge management: the case for documentation and information management
  Ms. Lorna Ndlela, ESKOM
• Towards a knowledge management framework for the public service
  Bongani Matomela, DPSA
• Utilising knowledge management to support the centre of provincial government
  Ambrose van Wyk, Free State Office of the Premier
• Panel discussion: What Knowledge Management should do for the public service
• Main presentation
  Cedrick Muleya, Information Management expert
• Responses
• Academic/practitioner KM curriculum interface
  Andrew Kok, Western Cape, Department of Social Development and an ex-academic
• Knowledge Sharing for Collaboration: Introducing Izibongo.info as a knowledge exchange tool
  Ms. Kubeshni Govender Jones, Black Earth Consulting
• Managing information and knowledge to improve development planning – the case of Mpumalanga Rural Development Programme
  Clive van Rooyen, GTZ Technical Support

DAY 2

• Introducing the CPSI Innovation Awards
  Lindani Mthethwa, CPSI Head: Research and Solutions Support
• Workshops on a knowledge management framework for the public service
• Workshop 1
• Defining and understanding KM and its strategic value-add in the public service
  Moses Rabothata, Gauteng Provincial Government, facilitated by Pazuna Stofile
• Workshop 2
• Strategies to implement KM
  Mohamed F. Byhat, e.com Institute
• Workshop 3
• Capacity-building and technical assistance in KM
  Mr. Jeffrey Mabelebele, National Treasury’s Technical Assistance Unit
• Towards establishing a vibrant Community of Practice for KM Practitioners in Government
  Doris Segoale, DPW
• Summation
  Khethani Hlongwa, DPSA
• Closing Remarks
  Ms. Lucy Matlhako, Free State Department of Agriculture
• Attendance Register