To establish and use GDLN effectively in a region as diverse as ECA, the Bank has to be responsive to varying levels of development and cultural differences while supporting the development strategies of its client countries.

In eight countries that joined the European Union in 2004—the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia—GDLN has supported capacity building initiatives. With finite schedules for aligning their systems of governance with EU requirements, these countries needed to increase the knowledge and skills of public and private regulators and professional organizations. GDLN has proved to be an effective medium for the wide scale dialogues and requisite training for these countries, and can perform the same role for other potential EU members. 

In order to expand the reach of development knowledge, GDLN is developing national networks that link capitals with smaller cities and municipalities. In Ukraine and Russia, civil service training academies are now able to extend their reach through secondary networks. A similar secondary network is also being developed in Bosnia.

In Central Asia, the Bank is working to establish an integrated group of GDLN centers in the capitals of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. To support integrated and cost-effective information flows, the Bank launched the Central Asia Knowledge Sharing Initiative (CAKSI) in 2002. CAKSI provides an institutional framework for increased regional communication, collaborative problem solving, and knowledge exchange. It also serves as a focal point for  identifying and linking the region directly with knowledge sources in other parts of the world.

There are many areas in the region where knowledge exchange is vital to reform. These include building capacity at local levels, attracting private investment, developing entrepreneurship, improving education, and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. For all these areas and more, GDLN will continue to provide opportunities for dialogues between practitioners and experts.

The challenges for this new mode of knowledge sharing in the ECA region are to quickly expand GDLN’s presence, increase the business of the GDLN centers, and to broaden the use of multimedia tools in course design. In specific terms, the Bank is working on:

• Creating content appropriate to the cultural, linguistic, and developmental diversity in the countries of the region.
• Developing secondary networks to expand the reach of GDLN using the best available local connection infrastructure.
• Helping to identify revenue sources for the centers both in terms of potential clients and participants.
• Helping the centers formulate marketing and promotion campaigns and business plans.
• Identifying partners who can help finance and/or produce content.
• Introducing new technologies such as Internet2 to lower the cost of connectivity. Developed to connect universities and research institutions around the world, Internet2 provides a global high speed network capable of supporting video-conferencing.

Strategy

The current efforts in ECA focus on using GDLN to build the knowledge infrastructure necessary to support long-term, sustainable economic growth.

The target audience for most GDLN dialogues is primarily middle-level managers and government officials, and young professionals in the public and private sectors. These target groups, usually responsible for implementing reform, are most responsive to opportunities for knowledge and skill upgrades.

The areas of dialogue include Public Governance and Institution Building, Private Sector Development (with an emphasis on small and medium size enterprises), Health Sector Reform, Anti-Corruption Measures, and other topics of sub-regional interest.

To foster the financial independence of centers, ECA is integrating the concept of distance learning and the use of GDLN into Bank funded projects as well as those funded by other partners and donors.

Centers are being encouraged to develop their own national networks. This will extend GDLN’s reach and has the potential to expand revenue opportunities.

To develop targeted high quality content in local languages, the Bank is pursuing cooperative arrangements with governments, international organizations, universities, and private sector partners.

In its first year of operation (2003-2004), ECA-GDLN conducted 143 video conferences for around 2,500 participants in the region. Besides gains in specialized knowledge,   participants surveyed reported that they:

• Considered the information presented practical and actionable.
• Particularly appreciated the feedback from countries undergoing and undertaking similar transition and development.
• Learnt what mistakes to avoid and how to benchmark their own progress.
• Were exposed to ways in which people elsewhere take ownership of change.
• Were exposed to new perspectives (“We never knew there were gender aspects to land reform.”).
• Had engaged in new dialogues; GDLN’s convening power has initiated discussions between high level public officials, the private sector, and civil society.
• Felt empowered to use electronic tools to access information.
• Felt more connected to the world.
• Felt that videoconferences contributed to faster decision making, improved resource allocation, and enhanced participation and motivation.