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Knowledge-Based network (KBN)

Communications Tool to Advocate for and Promote Gender Equality and Sharing of Knowledge and Information

Amanda Ellis, IFC at CBWN Conference Nigeria 2004

The Gender Help-Desk of the Commonwealth Secretariat hopes to deliver more practical and strategic support to Commonwealth governments to address the existing challenges and emerging issues facing National Women's Bureaux/Machineries .

As such, the Knowledge-Based Network (KBN) programme forms an important part of the communications and delivery tools being developed by the Gender Section. First and foremost, efforts will focus on meeting the needs of the Commonwealth National Women's Bureaux.

The Commonwealth Secretariat takes seriously the sharing of knoweldge created by its members and the Gender Programme. 

The KBN will provide timely and practical advice, identify and provide training materials and papers, relevant publications and reports in a number of areas identified by National Women's Machineries and which would be of relevance to the promotion of gender equality in their countries. In particular, a greater flow of relevant information on policy and development issues which touch directly on women and men's concerns at different levels. Succinct and easy-to-use policy briefs will be disseminated in a strategic manner in areas deemed in need of gender mainstreaming. In addition, such an approach should have a direct impact on influencing policies and decisions at appropriate Commonwealth High-level Meetings and other international fora e.g. the review of the Beijing POA at the forthcoming Beijing Plus 10 process.

Knowledge-Based Network (KBN)- What it can do?

A "knowledge-based network" (KBN) would:

  • Improve networking among Commonwealth member countries and organisations
  • Enhance collaboration among Divisions of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
  • Allow for the flow of timely advice, information-sharing and knowledge-dissemination to and from Commonwealth National Women's Bureaux, the Secretariat and other partners
  • Enable good practices and experiences to be shared and adapted to similar situations by member countries.
  • Allow more south-south-north co-operation and exchanges;
  • Support the proactive role of National Women's Machineries to influence national policy development.
  • Develop new and innovative partnerships with other international organisations working with national governments, Commonwealth organisations, and the Secretariat for a greater sharing of resource materials and co-ordination of efforts to promote gender equality and enhanced collaboration.

Useful Resources

  • Commonwealth Gender Training Electronic Database part of the Global Electronic Database & Internet Global Networking: An initiative between the UN system (agencies UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNDP) and the Commonwealth (The Commonwealth of Learning) to support capacity-building for gender mainstreaming and women's gender equality issues.
  • World Bank Gender Statistics
  • GenderNet is the World Bank Gender site, which shows how the World Bank seeks to reduce gender disparities and enhance women's participation in economic development through its programs and projects
  • ELDIS Gender Resource Guide is a gateway to information on development issues, providing free and easy access to wide range of high quality online resources.
  • Global Fund for Women - A grantmaking foundation supporting worldwide women's human rights organisations to address critical issues such as gaining economic independence, increasing girls' access to education and stopping violence against women.
  • Looking for an easy route to gender information? BRIDGE can support your gender mainstreaming efforts with evidence for your arguments and tools for implementation. This includes Gender Facts and Figures, 'Cutting Edge Packs' on topical gender themes such as Participation, Culture, HIV/AIDS, Budgets, Conflict and Citizenship and a link to the Siyanda website - an internet gateway to resources on gender and development. To sign up for regular updates and bulletins e-mail bridge@ids.ac.uk or write to BRIDGE, IDS Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RE, UK
  • ICTs for Rural Women is an information and announcement list which circulates information on resources, events and organisations working on issues related to how women can use ICTs to support their grassroots productive enterprises. To subscribe to the list, send a message to majordomo@matrix1.matrixlinks.ca with the following command in the body of your message: subscribe ictforruralwomen your email address. To circulate announcements and information on the list, send them to shuyer@wigsat.org.
  • The Women and Equality Unit, part of the Department of Trade and Industry, is responsible for promoting and realising the benefits of diversity in the economy and more widely. This includes civil partnerships and developing policies relating to gender equality and ensuring that work on equality across Government as a whole is co-ordinated. http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/

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