KM in DSWD

As the Philippines’ lead agency in social protection and social welfare that envisions a society where the poor, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable are empowered for an improved quality of life, the DSWD has committed to put into place the basic knowledge-driven infrastructures. By 2030, the Department will have become the world’s standard for the delivery of coordinated social services and social protection for poverty reduction. By 2022, it will have become the hub for best practice, learning exchange and growth programs in the Asia Pacific Region through its knowledge and resource/learning center and centers of excellence, which are set to be attained at the ASEAN level by 2016. All of these inexorably point to the DSWD becoming a learning organization.

The Reform Agenda of the Department, specifically Reform Area 4 emphasized that the existing programs and services of the DSWD and its partners are sources of knowledge and information. These are seen as building blocks for continuing improvement of the Department and its partners’ social protection interventions. Thus, Reform Area 4 identified that (1) improving of knowledge management system – monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and management information systems (MIS), (2) improving of organizational capacities and competencies through capability building, (3) implementation of rationalization and strengthening plans and performance management system and (4) organization of resource and expert pools systems are crucial to harvesting the insights from said interventions. These factors pushed for the establishment of appropriate structures and systems for knowledge management and learning development. In general, improving knowledge management system in the Department will facilitate its increased capacity to share and use knowledge to learn, adapt and innovate in its operating environment. Hence, the DSWD gave birth to its Knowledge Management Division in 2010.