Knowledge for Development?

Kenneth King is Professor of International and Comparative Education and Director of the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh. He is the author or editor of several books , including 'Aid and Education' and 'Changing International Aid to Education' (edited with Lene Buchert).Simon McGrath has been a research fellow at the Centre of African Studies, and became Research Director at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, South Africa in October 2002.Both authors have published extensively in African Studies and International Comparative Education and have been researching development cooperation for a number of years.

'In this excellent book the authors present a detailed analysis and a balanced assessment of the prospects for knowledge-based aid to achieve the goal of improving aid-effectiveness. Based on conceptual framework setting and a close examination of actual experience they reach the conclusion that success depends on reconceptualizing aid itself, in the direction of capacity building in poor countries.' Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University 'Knowledge management is popular. Aid agencies talk easily of sharing stories, communities of practice and double-loop learning. But are they ready to sacrifice a preoccupation with results and a concern to disseminate 'best-practice' - in favour of real partnership and mutual learning across divergent networks? McGrath and King are sceptical. Their case studies and their thesis challenge all of us involved in the production, sharing, and use of knowledge.' Simon Maxwell, Overseas Development Institute, and President of the Development Studies Association of the UK and Ireland

• 1. Researching Knowledge-Based Aid2. The New Aid Agenda3. Knowledge for Development4. The World Bank or the Knowledge Bank?5. From Information Management to Knowledge Sharing: DFID's Unfinished Revolution6. Knowledge, Learning and Capacity in the Swedish Approach to Development Cooperation7. Experience, Experts and Knowledge in Japanese Aid Policy and Practice8. Conclusions and Implications for Knowledge, Aid and Development