Location: Vienna, Austria
Dates: 28 - 30 September 2010

In its continuous effort to support interagency knowledge initiatives and in response to the demand from UN Coordination practitioners, UNDOCO will be organizing, in close collaboration with the Vienna based organizations and the UN System Staff College, an inter-agency Knowledge Fair in Vienna from 28 to 30 September 2010. This face-to-face practitioners’ meeting will focus on Policy Advice vs. Implementation: how to find the right positioning for UN development activities at the country level? This theme selected by a wide range of coordination and knowledge management practitioners through an online survey conducted in March 2010.

The purpose of this Knowledge Fair is to provide UN staff from Headquarters, regional, sub-regional and country offices and their partners with a chance to interact and learn about initiatives taking place in the field, as well as to promote a culture of sharing knowledge and experiences. It will also help to draw on the expertise available at all levels within and across UN system agencies, and provide knowledge for identification of lessons learned and good practices among the broader development community.

This inter-Agency event is inspired by previous “Share Fairs” organized by UN development organizations (individually or jointly) and independent initiatives of UN staff (such as knowledge cafés, existing communities of practices, agencies’ specific knowledge platforms, or the One Knowledge Initiative), aiming at strengthening and improving knowledge sharing and organizational learning within and across organizations and to work out ways to increase the UN system’s efficiency and effectiveness.

The event will provide a showcase for concrete case studies of joint field initiatives (selected through this Call for Proposals) focusing on lessons learned, challenges and knowledge sharing strategies. UN staff members, as well as relevant participants from governments, civil society and academia are expected to bring their perspectives, practical experiences and lessons learned on inter-agency work on Policy Advice vs. Implementation: how to find the right positioning for UN development activities at the country level?

To learn more about the UNDG Inter-Agency Knowledge Fair, please visit www.undg.org/index.cfm.