Common visions for knowledge sharing:

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics is the primary training academy of leaders and managers from all ranks of the Vietnamese political system. It offers opportunities to all incoming leaders and managers of the Vietnamese Government’s system to attend training and get certification from the Academy.

The Academy provides policy advice and proposals for the Party and the State in outlining Party’s policy and State’s law for all matters related to governance and operations of the political system and social and economic development. The Academy also designs and implements various political training programs in all provinces of the country.

HCMA is an advanced organization with highly qualified staff and established regulations in relation with learning and knowledge, but it recognizes the need to further strengthen its competitive edge nationally and internationally. This involves building an institutional capacity for knowledge sharing that includes creating the enabling environment and enhancing human resources with the required technical skills to implement and sustain knowledge sharing

With its mandate and critical role in the development of Vietnam, the Academy is well-positioned to explore, adopt and promote modern, innovative ways of creating and sharing knowledge that will build the capability of the country’s leaders and managers to think critically, solve problems and challenges, and strategically elevate Vietnam’s performance as it attains the status of an advanced middle-income country that brings about new national development goals and more pronounced role in the international development community.

The World Bank

The World Bank’s best-known knowledge activities, economic and sector work and technical assistance are evolving in close collaboration with client countries. With so many players, and so many sources of knowledge, the Bank must consider how best to generate benefits from greater collaboration with different stakeholders in order to leverage resources and replicated relevant expertise to broaden the scope and coverage of knowledge work.

In the era of digital and disruptive technology the Bank’s role as a knowledge institution has evolved. From the traditional knowledge curator, the Bank has been gearing toward one of a “knowledge broker” producing and disseminating high-quality knowledge, working with clients to customize policies and programs, and connecting governments, civil society, and private actors with others who face similar challenges.

The Bank has also been eager to create enabling multi-way connections within and outside the Bank, so that the best expertise and the most relevant experiences, wherever they may be, can be brought to bear on specific challenges of development.

While systematically measuring how knowledge services contribute to results is an inherently difficult exercise, it is one to which the Bank’s management is committed. The Bank’s scale, range, and diversity, including the complementarity of knowledge, policy dialogue with its lending operations, still lie at the core of its specialized role as a key contributor to global development knowledge.

The WBVN pledges to promote initiatives where all aspects of creating, acquiring, sharing, adapting, and applying knowledge can be made more open and collaborative. We are committed to “build, boost and broker” easier access as well as foster greater knowledge sharing internally and externally across the globe.

Partnership in curating an enabling knowledge sharing environment

Through various in-depth consultation and focus discussion, the WB team has suggested that the HCMA and WBVN to embark on a strategic knowledge sharing roadmap focusing on two objectives.

Firstly, strengthen the enabling environment and culture for effective knowledge sharing through relevant measures, including policies, regulations, incentives, dedicated financial resources, and through exploring partnership in knowledge sharing and relevant to enriching the knowledge and culture of the HCMA.

Secondly, strengthen the organization’s technical skills to implement knowledge sharing effectively. These include the ability to, systematically identify and capture knowledge and critical operational lessons; develop knowledge products such as learning materials and training workshops in innovative and where relevant interactive ways; design and implement results-focused knowledge sharing activities, and; monitor and evaluate results of knowledge sharing.

In April 2018, the HCMA and WBVN signed an engagement note with the Overarching objective is to foster multifaceted and two-way knowledge sharing on key social, economic and political issues between the two institutions.

The note includes there key areas of engagement during the calendar year of 2018:

Two-way knowledge exchanges around strategic economic, social, and policy issues for Vietnam:

Inbound: HCMA leaders and experts will deliver “Knowledge Talks” to World Bank staff on key policy and political issues linked to Vietnam’s development. Depending on demand, this can be done quarterly or bi-annually.

Outbound: Capitalizing on the World Bank’s global expertise and knowledge, World Bank staff and experts will engage in lectures/seminars/workshops at the HCMA around socio-economic developments and reform proposals in Vietnam.

HCMA as a partner in high-level consultation and dissemination of key World Bank analytical products (see Annex):

HCMA support to engage in high-level dialogue and dissemination of findings and recommendations that arise from key analytical work.

HCMA leaders and staff to participate as advisors / commentators during consultation during formulation and preparation of World Bank key analytical and advisory work.

HCMA and Word Bank to work jointly and collaborate on inputs in the form of “strategy notes” or “policy notes” of presentations to HCMA staff and leadership in preparation of next Party Congress

Technical support to advance HCMA’s learning capacity and reform:

The World Bank to show-case new teaching pedagogy and learning design approaches for HCMA lecturers.

The World Bank to offer technical input and advice on specific training modules and curriculum in areas of World Bank competitive advantage (e.g., gender empowerment, economic analysis).

The road to knowlede sharing transformation:Knowledge sharing principles:

Knowledge sharing is critical for development.

As Vietnam advances economically and socially, its leaders and managers need to develop creative solutions to new challenges, and often, these solutions are knowledge-driven. Therefore, HCMA aspires to strengthen the capability to access and share knowledge in innovative ways in order to more effectively train leaders and managers who can address new development challenges. Innovative learning methods that emphasize the learner as the center of the learning process will be developed to complement lectures and mass trainings. Interactivity will be a hallmark of advanced training programs suited to leaders or senior managers.

Knowledge must be up to date and easy to access.

To be effective, HCMA will be focused and selective in the knowledge it seeks out and shares. Therefore, HCMA will determine priority subject areas in order to choose the good practices to capture and share, and allowing appropriate financial, human and technical resources to be allocated. HCMA will ensure that critical knowledge is systematically updated and in a well- packaged form that can be easily accessed and shared. Channels of knowledge sharing will also be diversified to include information technology-enabled platforms that allow rapid updating, interactivity, and monitoring of knowledge and learning.

Knowledge products and learning activities need to be of high quality and tailored to the audiences.

Knowledge products can be packaged and delivered in different ways to acquires minimum quality standards. Knowledge products can be validated based on criteria that include: the value of the experience or lesson to target learners; accuracy/ correctness of the content; clarity and appropriateness of the language; management of the risks, and; relevance and practicability of the lesson or recommendations.

Learning activities will be designed to meet standards of quality such as: relevance and appropriateness to learners; the clarity of learning objectives; the participation encouraged from learners; the practicality of learning methods chosen; and the integration of assessment measures.

Knowledge sharing in three key tiers:

It is recommended that HCMA adopt a “three tiers of knowledge sharing: (i) Internally, among its own officials and staff from its various departments and campuses; (ii) Domestically, with leaders and managers of local governing institutions, and the national-level Ministries and State, Party agencies and mass organizations of Vietnam, and; (iii) Internationally, with similar training and research institutions and international development institutions and stakeholders. These three levels of knowledge sharing that HCMA wants to achieve are illustrated below.

INTERNAL knowledge sharing

HCMA will augment its rich, theoretical and technical knowledge with the empirical experience and good practices of leaders and staff that address problems and contribute to achieving goals of the organization. Internal knowledge sharing will strengthen the HCMA position as the provider of quality training to leaders and managers of state institutions of Vietnam. It will also improve the quality of its research which will lead to the formulation of appropriate policies and resolutions for socio-economic development.

More effective knowledge sharing will take the form of interactive learning activities between staff in the same unit or across organizational units. They can take the form of forums, short courses or workshops. These activities should lead into new or improved plans, policies or programs within the organization.

DOMESTIC knowledge sharing           

Domestic knowledge sharing contributes to provide high quality training to officials from Ministries and local authorities in Vietnam.

Learning from local authorities - provincial, district, and other local officials helps HCMA to capture development challenges faced at grassroot level as the specific context and conditions at local levels often affect the way policies and programs are implemented. Knowledge of these local conditions, challenges faced, and the experiences of local officials in adapting national or central committee policies for local level implementation are valuable for HCMA when designing policies or providing advice on proper implementation.

Scientific thematic knowledge exchange among its partner universities and research institutes would help HCMA to focus and select the knowledge to be captured and shared domestically. These themes could include: governance, gender and leadership/gender responsive leadership, public policy and administration. Community of practices developed from these thematic discussions would help further promoting knowledge sharing and developing policies and regulations among the partners.

INTERNATIONAL knowledge sharing

HCMA has existing partnerships with similar training and research institutions globally and should continue to expand and institutionalize these partnerships to further promote knowledge sharing.

Knowledge sharing to promote Vietnam

Greater understanding of Vietnam’s political and economic system by the international community is also a goal in international knowledge sharing. For example, a discussion of “Market Economy oriented by Socialism” theory and empirical evidence could be among HCMA’s contribution to international development thought and practice. HCMA can also translates its knowledge products into an international language and get them published in International e-newspaper system, website and magazines and prominent international journals in various research fields.

Knowledge sharing to strengthening international expertise

Knowledge sharing with the international community should lead to the acquisition of technical and experiential knowledge that helps Vietnam institutions improve their goals, policies and programs.

Vietnam, through HCMA-led knowledge sharing, would benefit from international knowledge and good practices in focused, cross- cutting fields including governance, gender and leadership, administration (including performance management) and public policy. Such thematic areas can guide HCMA in defining strategic international partners. Strategic partnerships with universities, institutes, and international organizations such as UNDP, World Bank and other organizations will be strengthened.

Knowledge sharing to institutionalized partnership and collaboration with global knowledge providers.

Through organizing international workshops and forums, HCMA can increase opportunities for its leaders and staff to be involved in international knowledge sharing. HCMA should also build on thematic groups to create direct and one-on-one partnership amongst its departments and international research centers or universities around the world to build a body of knowledge around new fields or disciplines.

Knowledge sharing requires an eco-environment/culture.

Knowledge sharing in the digital age required modern platform and active mindset. This will need the support and continuous guidance of the Academy’s leadership. Appropriate and adequate governance structures, and platforms for administration and monitoring will be established. Partnerships at internal, domestic and international levels will be established or strengthened where relevant and where there is potential for synergies.

Leadership, governance and partnerships that promotes a culture of knowledge sharing

The Academy is a large organization and thus, a knowledge sharing culture should be developed to increase awareness, understanding and practice of knowledge sharing within HCMA, and with domestic and international partners. More innovative uses of information sharing channels, methods and quality standards for knowledge sharing could be adopted.

Enabling human resources to boost knowledge sharing motivation.

Knowledge and learning are the core function and mission of the Academy. Strengthening its capacity will involve motivating staff to share knowledge effectively. Human resources will include knowledge sharing in the job description of staff and ensure compliance with staff rules on participating in knowledge sharing technical capacity building, knowledge capture, and in developing new, interactive learning programs.

Strengthening systems and platforms of sharing

The Academy has several systems in place that can be leveraged on for increased effectiveness. Existing knowledge sharing systems such as the Academy’s scholarly journals and academic meetings can be complemented by other public information systems: newspapers, television, radio, or the internet. The Academy could further foster knowledge sharing using modern technology social media for communication and exchange. Updating HCMA website with an open access E-Library for the use of trainers and learners of HCMA will provide access to up-to-date domestic and international knowledge sources, like journals and magazines, as well as a repository of HCMA-developed or captured knowledge.

HCMA & World Bank knowledge sharing partnership results & achievements

Concrete activities have been jointly carried out between the HCMA and the WBVN teams from the signing date of the engagement note. Key results and notable achievements include:

The knowledge sharing engagement noted signed by HCMA and the WBVN marked a beginning to a strategic partnership. Since the road to success is always under construction, the WBVN is committed to further enhance and strengthen our strategic collaboration with HCMA in our collaborated efforts for Vietnam to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Ousmane Dione

Country Director, the World Bank in Vietnam