{"id":22057,"date":"2024-08-27T13:45:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T17:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterprise-knowledge.com\/?p=22057"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:10:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:10:03","slug":"green-climate-fund-knowledge-cafe-program-case-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterprise-knowledge.com\/green-climate-fund-knowledge-cafe-program-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Climate Fund – Knowledge Cafe Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

The Challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the world\u2019s largest climate fund. GCF is mandated to support developing countries in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Headquartered in South Korea, the fund has over 300 staff members who are working to shift developing countries toward low emissions and climate resilient development pathways.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GCF is composed of multiple departments, offices, and teams that work to deliver different parts of the organization\u2019s mandate. The size and structure of the organization means that GCF staff have experienced several challenges in sharing their knowledge. These challenges have included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Silos across the organization have made it difficult for employees to know what other departments are working on, limiting the opportunities for learning and collaboration. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Newcomers have had difficulty establishing networks, finding onboarding resources, and acclimating to new life in South Korea, prolonging the onboarding and adjustment process.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    GCF already had existing initiatives centered around knowledge sharing and seminars used to inform employees; however, these sessions occurred in more formal settings with limited opportunities for discussion. GCF\u2019s Knowledge Management (KM) team identified Knowledge Cafes as a solution that could provide an environment for participant-led discussions, action-oriented engagement, and informal relationship-building. GCF\u2019s Head of Knowledge Management decided to spearhead this initiative with sponsorship from GCF\u2019s Deputy Executive Director, Henry Gonzalez.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>
    \n

    The Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Over a 5-month period, GCF partnered with Enterprise Knowledge to create a Knowledge Cafe program that addressed knowledge challenges and supported the organizational goals. The program was designed to encourage the cross-pollination of ideas across teams and enable new communication pathways to amplify learning and collaboration. Throughout the engagement, EK took an iterative approach, enabling the GCF team to ensure topics, deliverables, and training were aligned with their desired outcomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the initial phase, EK conducted discovery work to better understand the needs of stakeholders and ensure buy-in from leadership and employees. This was done through a series of interviews, in which business outcomes, desires, and topics of interests were discussed to tailor the approach. Desired outcomes for Knowledge Cafes included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

    <\/span><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 1<\/i><\/b>: Expected Outcomes and Benefits of Knowledge Cafes at GCF<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After the development of use cases and topics for discussion, EK facilitated two in-person pilot<\/strong> Knowledge Cafes to test different approaches to Cafe delivery and topics. These pilots were used to determine which Knowledge Cafe model would work best for GCF and to showcase different delivery modalities. EK also facilitated a retrospective of \u201clessons learned\u201d that included pilot participant feedback and iterative sessions with the GCF team. EK used those lessons to develop a final version of GCF’s Knowledge Cafe Model and Manual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n