The effectiveness of national governance is as good or bad as the efficiency of local governance. This has been a focus area for the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) since 2012, when it developed a framework for enabling member countries to improve public-sector productivity. Based on the framework and staying in sync with technology-led changes, the APO organized a training course on Knowledge Management (KM) and Innovation for Local Government Authorities in Tehran, 26–30 August 2017.

The five-day training course was conducted in collaboration with the National Iranian Productivity Organization (NIPO) and the country’s Ministry of Energy (MoE) to provide knowledge of the KM concept and tools and demonstrate the applicability of the APO KM Framework and innovation in local government authorities. The program was attended by 20 participants from 13 member countries and 10 local observers.

APO international experts CEO Rudolph D’Souza of InKnoWin Consulting and Principal Consultants Praba Nair and Dr. Ida Yasin of Putra Business School conducted the course. The opening ceremony was attended by APO Director for IR Iran and NIPO Head Dr. Roya Tabatabaei Yazdi and high-ranking officials from the MoE and Institute for Energy and Hydro Technology, a subsidiary organization of the MoE.

Course modules included presentations on the importance of KM and innovation to productivity and quality improvement, the concept of the APO KM Framework and implementation approach, and overview of KM in the age of advanced IT. Officials from local government authorities, NPO staff engaged in KM-related tasks, and academics specializing in KM examined the APO KM Framework and techniques, its application in organizations, and the use of technology and KM. Case studies and country papers provided examples for comparative analyses.

The group made observational site visits to Niroo Research Institute (NRI), which has been implementing the APO KM Framework through an APO demonstration project over the past two years. The MoE intends to undertake KM initiatives throughout the ministry and in more than 200 subsidiaries by applying the APO KM Framework to improve productivity and quality. MoE Headquarters, the Tehran Regional Electricity Company, and NRI were selected as pilot locations for the KM initiative. The sharing of its success story by the NRI broadened participants’ views and illustrated the applicability of the framework to the organization.

The course concluded with the formulation of individual action plans by participants detailing how they intended to apply KM in their own organizations.