THE END OF DIVERSITY? Knowledge, ICTs and the Development Gateway

An analysis of the World Bank’s ‘Knowledge for Development’ indicates that this new development paradigm may adversely affect the validity and diversity of the knowledge needed for equitable and sustainable development. The deployment of knowledge management and ICTs, most notably through the implementation of the Development Gateway, is based on a narrow understanding of knowledge, often indistinguishable from ‘information’, and on the separation of knowledge, people, and power. The proposed alternative requires appropriate communication systems, knowledge creation in the South, and the cultivation of knowledge diversity through a focus on the knowers, the people who hold, use and create knowledge.