Vol. 16 No. 1 (2021): Learning from the past: impact of information and knowledge management on individuals and organizations over decades

In this Special Issue, we focus on the legacy and impact of such organizations and their projects and programmes, but also on how other organizations are coping with personnel changes related to current trends. We would also like to explore how individuals and networks, like Knowledge Management for Development (KM4Dev), act as a pool of knowledge which remains, even when organizations have closed their doors. At the same time, recent articles in this journal have shown how some organizations are struggling to learn from the past and past knowledge (Hankey and Pictet 2019, Schusterman 2019). This Special Issue includes two papers, four case studies and two reflections. Many of these contributions are, in our opinion, unique. They include contributions written by the past Director of an organization which has closed, looking back at the political realities of its closure (Figueres), a development worker who took part in a livestock project in Mozambique, recognizing with hindsight that the project was characterized by epistemic injustice (Boogaard) and also a framework which aims to support knowledge retention in development organizations, based on research in many United Nations (UN) organizations (Sanz and Hovell).

Published: 2021-08-28