Conceptualization of a Knowledge Management Framework for Governments: A case of Devolved County Governments in Kenya

Devolved governments such as the county and regional governments around the world have a constitutional responsibility to find sustainable ways through which they can meet material, social, and economic responsibilities of improving the quality of the lives of their citizens by providing high-quality services and decent work for their employees. The 2014-2017 Kenya’s Council of Governors strategic plan postulated enactment of a knowledge management strategy where good practices and lessons learnt within any county government should be documented and disseminated in appropriate forums to other counties. However, the 2017-2022 strategic plan indicates that there is lack of a structured mechanism for systematic knowledge sharing and organizational learning among the county governments despite the council’s effort to share information through statutory annual reports, devolution conferences and quarterly sectoral committee meetings. But, the 2017-2022 strategic plan envisions a systematic mechanism for sharing experiences among the county governments. The intention of this study was to assess the current knowledge management practices among the county governments in Kenya; to identify, and articulate knowledge management concepts that are useful to the public services sector among devolved governments in developing countries; and to model these practices into a framework that can support continuous sharing of experiences, lessons and innovations within and among the county governments in Kenya. Theoretical frameworks and models of knowledge management in governance, governments and e-governments were considered and a conceptual framework for successful knowledge management initiatives among county and regional governments was formulated. The proposed conceptual framework was evaluated using a focus group discussion with participants drawn from the Council of Governors’ Maarifa Center employees. The study proposes a framework to facilitate effective sharing of experiences among county employees, between different county governments and to manage and enhance knowledge management initiatives among the devolved governments. The study results indicate some sporadic nascent knowledge management practices rather than well planned initiatives within the counties. The study provides recommendations for the Council of Governors and other policy makers on how to manage knowledge management initiatives, while suggestions for future research directions for researchers with similar interests are given.