Seminar report on:

KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT AND
STRATEGIC
SUSRAINABLE
DEVLOPMENT
Submi ed to:
Dr. Gurwinder Singh

Submi ed by:
Ajit Singh
BBA 3rd sem

1
 Acknowledgment
I would like to express my special thanks of gra tude to my teacher Dr. Gurwinder Singh who

Gave me the opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic organiza onal leadership

which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things

I am really thankful to them.

Ajit Singh

BBA 3rd

Department of

Business Studies

Punjabi University

Guru Kashi Campus

Talwandi Sabo

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 Abstract

This chapter defines knowledge and knowledge management (KM) and establishes its
roots. KM is not a brand new topic; organizational learning and organiza onal memory
are related topics that have been fields of research for many years. This chapter relates
these concepts to a rela onal model that shows that the three topics are related and
influence organiza onaleffec veness. Addi onally, this chapter explains that KM has
become a research area dueto a confluence of trends that have made KM necessary
and technically useful.

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Introduction

Knowledge management (KM) is a hot topic in many business communities. Although,

theterm Knowledge Management might suggest a rather simple definition, there are
plenty of opinions on what exactly it is and how it should be used, if used at all.
However, because of the ever-increasing pace of business development, the task of
effective and competitivemanagement of organizations becomes essential, and KM,
if understood and implemented properly, may be a useful tool for business
transformation as well as the key to competitive advantage. In this first chapter I
would like to introduce the basic definitions and conceptsof KM.

I thought this would be an easy chapter to write, as it seemed that we all knew what
we were talking about when discussing KM. However, I became aware of the need to
establish a definition of KM through the publication of an expert opinion in the
Business Intelligence Journal. The editors asked three experts (this author included)
about integrating KM and data warehouses. When the issue was released, I was
surprised that the three experts all had different opinions on what KM was (Corral,
Griffin, & Jennex, 2005). One expert described the purpose of KM as disseminating
knowledge quickly and KM systems as essentially document management systems.
The other expert considered KM as the process of handling unstructured knowledge.
The final view (mine) combined technical and organizational ini- tiatives to manage
structured and unstructured knowledge in order to help the organization improve its
effectiveness through improved retention and reuse of knowledge. Three experts

4
expressed different definitions of KM and illustrated the need to define KM so that
there is a common ground for discussion. The first step, though, is to define what is
meant by the term knowledge, since this is the central theme in KM.

Knowledge

Davenport and Prusak (1998) view knowledge as an evolving mix of framed

experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a
framework for evaluat- ing and incorporating new experiences and information.
They found that in organizations, knowledge often becomes embedded in
documents or repositories and in organizational routines, processes, practices, and
norms. They also say that in order for knowledge to have value, it must include the
human additions of context, experience, and interpretation. Nonaka (1994) expands
this view by stating that knowledge is about meaning in the sense that it is context-
specific. This implies that users of knowledge must understand and have experience
with the context, or surrounding conditions and influences, in which the knowl- edge
is generated and used in order for it to have meaning to them. This also implies that
in order for a knowledge repository to be useful, it also must store the context in
which the knowledge was generated. That knowledge is context-specific and argues
against the idea that knowledge can be applied universally; however, it does not
argue against the concept of organizational knowledge. This chapter considers
organizational knowledge to be an integral component of what organizational
members remember and use, meaning that knowledge is actionable.

Various knowledge taxonomies exist. Alavi and Leidner (2001) and Jennex and
Croasdell (2005) found that the most commonly used taxonomy is Polyani’s (1964,
5
1967) and Non- aka’s (1994) dimensions of tacit and explicit knowledge. This book
uses this taxonomy forknowledge. Tacit knowledge is that which is understood within
a knower’s mind. It consists of cognitive and technical components. Cognitive
components are the mental models used by the knower that cannot be expressed
directly by data or knowledge representations and also is known as unstructured
knowledge. Technical components are concrete concepts that can be expressed
readily and also is known as structured knowledge. Explicit knowledge also consists
of these technical components that can be expressed directly by knowledge
representations. Knowledge transfer in an organization occurs when members of an
organi- zation pass tacit and explicit knowledge to each other. Information
technology (IT) assists knowledge transfer by providing knowledge repositories and
methods for capturing and retrieving knowledge. The extent of the dimension of the
knowledge being captured limits the effectiveness of IT in assisting KM. IT works best
with knowledge that is primarily inthe explicit dimension. Knowledge that is primarily
in the tacit dimension requires that more context be captured with the knowledge in
which context is the information used to explainwhat the knowledge means and how
it is used. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) propose four modes of knowledge transfer
and creation (known as the SECI model):

• Socialization is the process of sharing experiences and thereby creating

tacit knowledge such as mental models and technical skills. Tacit
knowledge can be obtained without using language through
observation, imitation, and practice.

• Externalization is the process of articulating tacit knowledge in the

form of explicit concepts, taking the shapes of metaphors, analogies,

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 concepts, hypotheses, or mod- els.

• Combination is the process of systemizing concepts into a knowledge

system by combining different bodies of explicit knowledge. Explicit
knowledge is transferred through media such as documents,
meetings, and e-mail and/or phone conversations. Categorization of
this knowledge can lead to the generation of new knowledge.

• Internalization is the process of converting explicit knowledge into

tacit knowledge and is closely related to learning by doing.

These four modes or processes show that the transfer of knowledge is dependent
upon the transfer of a common understanding from the knower to the user of the
knowledge. Com- mon understanding consists of the context (the story behind the
knowledge, the conditions and situations that make the knowledge understandable)
and the experience (those activities that produce mental models of how the
knowledge should be used) expressed in a culturallyunderstood framework.

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Knowledge Management

Jennex (2005) defined KM as the practice of selectively applying knowledge from

previous experiences of decision making to current and future decision-making
activities with the express purpose of improving the organization’s effectiveness.
Also, Jennex (2005) viewed a KM system as that system created to facilitate the
capture, storage, retrieval, and reuse of knowledge. This perception of KM and KM
systems is that they holistically combine organizational and technical solutions to
achieve the goals of knowledge retention and re-use in order ultimately to improve
organizational and individual decision making. This is a Churchman (1979) view of KM
that allows KM systems to take whatever form necessary to accomplish these goals.
For some organizations, this may mean that the KM system es-sentially is a document
management system. However, as a community, we don’t want KM perceived
essentially as a document management technology. Also, in some organizations, KM
may be used only to manage unstructured knowledge. This may meet those
organiza- tions’ needs, but again, the KM community is not comfortable accepting
that KM handlesonly unstructured knowledge. Another key definition of KM includes
Holsapple and Joshi (2004), who consider KM as an entity’s systematic and deliberate
efforts to expand, cultivate, and apply available knowledge in ways that add value to
the entity in the sense of positive results in accomplishing its objectives or fulfilling
its purpose. The entity’s scope may be individual, organizational,
transorganizational, national, and so forth. Finally, Alavi and Leidner (2001) in their
seminal work concluded that KM involves distinct but interdependent processes of
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knowledge creation, knowledge storage and retrieval, knowledge transfer, and
knowledge application.

It is important to note that none of these definitions of KM ise purely

technical in nature. They all include information system (IS) support, but
they also include organizational con- siderations, and all include an impact
on organizational productivity and effectiveness. This is important, because
many experts consider KM to be a form of IS. However, while the IS
component is important, in order for KM to be effective as a change or
transformation tool,it must include more; it requires management support
and an organizational culture.
A be er understanding of KM is obtained by incorpora ng the concepts of organiza onalmemory (OM)
and organiza onal learning (OL). Jennex and Olfman (2002) found that thethree areas are related and
have an impact on organiza onal effec veness. Organiza onaleffec veness is how well the organiza on
does those ac vi es cri cal to producing what the organiza on sells. OL is the process the organiza on
uses to learn how to do these ac vi es be er. OL results when users u lize knowledge. That OL may
not always havea posi ve effect is examined by the monitoring of organiza onal effec veness.
Effec ve-ness can improve, get worse, or remain the same. How effec veness changes influences the
feedback provided to the organiza on using the knowledge. KM and OM are the processesused to
identify and capture cri cal knowledge. Knowledge workers and their organiza ons“do” KM; they iden fy
key knowledge ar facts for reten on and establish processes for capturing it. OM is what IT support
organiza ons do; they provide the infrastructure and support for storing, searching, and retrieving
knowledge ar facts. Figure 1 illustrates theserela onships, and the following sec ons expand on these
concepts

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 Impact to Organizational Effectiveness

Access and Use Memory to perform ac ons

that affect Organizational Performance
Management
Org Knowledge Users

Learning
Evaluate Events for Use of Applicable
Monitor Organizational Effectiveness Memory to perform ac ons that affect
and AdjustKnowledge Requirements Organiza onal Performance
as needed

Knowledge
Engineers

System
Designers/IT

KM OM

Drives Users to put Informa on

and Knowledge into their OMS

Iden fy and Acquire

Store, Retrieve, and Search
Knowledge for future use
Memory Base

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 Knowledge Management Summary

IT summary knowledge is something that is actionable; that is, it is something that

users canretrieve and apply to organizational activities. KM is the process used to
make knowledgeactionable to members of the organization. It involves capturing,
storing, retrieving, and using knowledge. KM involves the creation of a KM system.
The KM system includes an environment that promotes organizational learning. In
this respect, KM can be an orga- nizational change or transformation tool, as it
can help management to create a learning organizational culture. Also, KM is a
tool for improving organizational effectiveness, as itpromotes knowledge reuse to
improve decision making. Incorporating the concepts of OM, OL, and the previous
discussion, this chapter proposes this working definition of KM:

KM is the practice of selectively applying knowledge

from previous experiences of decision making to
current and future decision-making ac vi es with
the express purpose of improving the organiza on’s
effec veness.

This definition, while perhaps not perfect, does represent the idea that when
organizations implement KM, they are doing so with the expectation that
organizational effectiveness will be improved and that organizational members will
do this by acting on and using knowledge. The remaining chapters in this book may
use differently worded definitions of KM, but allagree with this discussion and the
spirit of this working definition.

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Why Knowledge Management?

This book is written with the assumption that KM is something that modern
organizations need to do. It is expected that readers will read with the assumption
that they need to imple- ment KM in their organizations or that KM is something
important to research. However, KM is a relatively new discipline (as discussed in
the next couple of chapters), and it is worthwhile to conclude this chapter with a
short discussion on why KM has become this important of an endeavor.

Jennex (2006) summarizes a workshop discussion at the 2006 Hawaii International

Confer-ence on System Sciences (HICSS) on the origins of KM and why KM came into
prominencein the late 1990s. The following paragraphs summarize Jennex (2006).

Many consider the popularization of the term by Davenport and Prusak (1998),
with the publication of “Working Knowledge,” as the beginning of KM. However, there
was a conflu- ence of trends in the mid-1990s that actually caused KM to become
an important topic.

The first trend was the fallout from the business process reengineering (BPR) fad
of the early 1990s. This business process led many organizations to restructure
their businesses by changing processes and reducing staff. These staff reductions
led to many organizations discovering that they had lost key knowledge and were
no longer as nimble and innovativeas they needed to be. This loss of knowledge
provided a driver for identifying and managing knowledge that was internal to the
organization.

The second trend was technology. The mid to late 1990s saw accelerated
advancement in the capability of the personal computer. Processing speed and
memory grew rapidly (and continues to grow); also, the Internet became a
practical reality, providing connectivity to many organizations and individuals.
Additionally, the Year 2000 (Y2K) date problem was a driver for many
organizations to replace older computers with current models as wellas a driver
to integrate and modernize organizational infrastructures. It was this trend that

12
enabled KM to develop by providing organizations with technological capabilities
for or- ganizing, storing, searching, retrieving, and manipulating large amounts of
structured and unstructured knowledge.

The third trend was the explosion in content, information, and knowledge caused
by the rapid growth of the Internet and corporate intranets, data warehouses,
and databases. Thisexplosion in the amount of data, information, and knowledge
and its easy availability to decision makers of all ranks led to a loss of information
and knowledge control by manag- ers. This loss of control served as a driver to
managerial awareness that there was a problemthat needed to be solved.

The fourth trend was organizational issues of maintaining business value and
reducing risk of litigation and overall liability by managing human and intellectual
capital better. A shift in many American businesses to a service-based economy
led to an increasing focus on an organization’s skills and capabilities as well as
sustaining these capabilities by retain-ing high-value employees. This served as a
driver to managerial awareness that employee knowledge was a valuable
organizational asset.

The confluence of these trends led to the behaviors observed by Davenport and
Prusak (1998) and to the emergence of knowledge management as a necessary
discipline. Why do we care? One of the major concerns is the sustainability of KM.
We don’t want to waste our time and energy on a fad; we want to make sure that
what we are doing is sustainable. Some of this concern is self-serving; we want to
ensure that our peers recognize the importance of our research so that our
research will be accepted and published and we can obtain promotionand tenure.
Also, we want to ensure that we have a steady supply of students wanting to study
our discipline and that these students have careers waiting for them in industry.
Finally, we want to make a difference; we want to enable organizations to
continue to prosper and better utilize their resources, as ultimately, this leads to
a better society.

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Sustainable Development In India: Perspectives

In 1972, the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi emphasised,at the UN
Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm, that the removal of poverty is an integral
part of the goal of an environmental strategy for the world. The concepts of
interrelatedness, of a shared planet, of global citizenship, and of ‘spaceship earth’ cannot be
restricted to environmental issues alone. They apply equally to the shared and inter-linked
responsibilities of environmental protection and human development.History has led to vast
inequalities, leaving almost three-fourths of the world's people living in less-developed
countries and one-fifth below the poverty line. The long-term impact of past
industrialization, exploitation and environmental damage cannot be wished away. It is only
right that development in this new century be even more conscious of its long-term impact.
The problems are complex and the choices difficult. Our common future can only be
achieved with a better understanding of our common concerns and shared
responsibilities.Following are some perspectives and approaches towards achieving a
sustainable future:

Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Livelihoods

Poverty and a degraded environment are closely interrelated, especially where people
depend for their livelihoods primarily on the natural resource base of their immediate
environment. Restoring natural systems and improving natural resource management
practices at the grassroots level are central to a strategy to eliminate poverty. The survival
needs of the poor force them to continue to degrade an already degraded environment.
Removal of poverty is therefore a prerequisite for the protection of the
environment.Poverty magnifies the problem of hunger and malnutrition. The problem is
further compounded by the inequitable access of the poor to the food that is available. It is
therefore necessary to strengthen the public distribution system to overcome this
inequity.Diversion of common and marginal lands to ‘economically useful purposes’
deprives the poor of a resource base which has traditionally met many of their sustenance

14
needs.Market forces also lead to the elimination of crops that have traditionally been
integral to the diet of the poor, thereby threatening food security and nutritional status.
While conventional economic development leads to the elimination of several traditional
occupations, the process of sustainable development,guided by the need to protect and
conserve the environment, leads to the creation of new jobs and of opportunities for the
reorientation of traditional skills to new occupations.Women, while continuing to perform
their traditional domestic roles' are increasingly involved in learning livelihoods. In many
poor households they are often the principal or the sole breadwinners. A major thrust at the
policy level is necessary to ensure equity and justice for them.Literacy and a basic education
are essential for enabling the poor to access the benefits offered by development initiatives
and market opportunities. Basic education is therefore a precondition for sustainable
development.A sizable proportion (about 60 per cent according to some estimates) of the
population is not integrated into the market economy. Ensuring the security of their
livelihoods is an imperative for sustainable development.

Changing Unsustainable Patterns of Consumption And Production

With increasing purchasing power, wasteful consumption linked to market driven

consumerism is stressing the resource base of developing countries further. It is important
to counter this through education and public awareness.In several areas, desirable limits
and standards for consumption need to be established and applied through appropriate
mechanisms including education, incentives and legislation.Several traditional practices that
are sustainable and environment friendly continue to be a regular part of the lives of people
in developing countries. These need to be encouraged rather than replaced by more
‘modern’ but unsustainable practices and technologies.Development decisions regarding
technology and infrastructure are a major determinant of consumption patterns. It is
therefore important to evaluate and make development decisions which structurally lead to
a more sustainable society. Technologies exist through which substantial reduction in

15
consumption of resources is possible. Efforts to identify, evaluate, introduce and use these
technologies must be made
Subsidies often lead to wasteful and unsustainable consumption by distorting the value of a
resource. All pricing mechanisms must be evaluatedfrom a sustainable development point
of view.

Protecting and Managing the Natural Resource Base Of Economic

and Social Development.

The integration of agriculture with land and water management, and with ecosystem
conservation is essential for both environmental sustainability and agricultural
production.An environmental perspective must guide the evaluation of all development
projects,recognizing the role of natural resources in local livelihoods. This recognition must
be informed by a comprehensive understanding of the perceptions and opinions of local
people about their stakes in the resource base. To ensure the sustainability of the natural
resource base, the recognition of all stakeholders in it and their roles in its protection and
management is essential. There is a need to establish well-defined and enforceable rights
(including customary rights) and security of tenure, and to ensure equal access to land,
water and other natural and biological resources. It should be ensured that this applies, in
particular, to indigenous communities, women and other disadvantaged groups living in
poverty.Water governance arrangements should protect ecosystems and preserve or
restore the ecological integrity of all natural water bodies and their catchments. This will
maintain the wide range of ecological services that healthy ecosystems provide and the
livelihoods that depend upon them.Biomass is, and will continue for a long time to be, a
major source of fuel and energy, especially for the rural poor. Recognizing this fact,
appropriate mechanisms must be evolved to make such consumption of biomass
sustainable, through both resource management and the promotion of efficient and
minimally polluting technologies, and technologies which will progressively reduce the

16
pressures on biomass, which cause environmental degradation. The traditional approaches
to natural resource management such as sacred groves and ponds, water harvesting and
management systems, etc., should be revived by creating institutional mechanisms which
recapture the ecological wisdom and the spirit of community management inherent in those
systems.

Sustainable Development in a Globalizing World

Globalisation as it is taking place today is increasing the divide between the rich and the
poor. It has to be steered so that it serves not only commercial interests but also the social
needs of development.Global business thrives on, and therefore encourages and imposes,
high levels of homogeneity in consumer preferences. On the other hand, for development
to be locally appropriate and sustainable, it must be guided by local considerations which lie
in cultural diversity and traditions. Therefore Recognition at the policy level, of the
significance of diversity, and the need to preserve it, is an important precondition for
sustainable development.In an increasingly globalising economy, developing countries, for
want of the appropriate skills, are often at a disadvantage in negotiating and operating
multilateral trade agreements. Regional cooperation for capacity building is therefore
necessary to ensure their effective participation in all stages of multilateral
trade.Globalization is driven by a vast, globally spread, human resource engine involving
millions of livelihoods. Their security is sometimes threatened by local events causing global
distortions (e.g. the impact of the WTC attacking jobs in India or, in a wider context,
sanctions against countries not conforming to ‘international’ prescriptions in human rights
or environment related matters). Mechanisms to safeguard trade and livelihoods, especially
in developing countries, must be evolved and negotiated to make globalisation an effective
vehicle of sustainable development.War and armed conflict are a major threat to
sustainable development. It Is imperative to evolve effective mechanisms for mediation in
such situations and to resolve contentious issues without compromising the larger
developmental goals of the conflicting parties.

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Health and Sustainable Development

Human health in its broadest sense of physical, mental and spiritual well-being is to a great
extent dependent on the access of the citizen to a healthy environment. For a healthy,
productive and fulfilling life every individual should have the physical and economic access
to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, clean air, sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary
health care and education.Access to safe drinking water and a healthy environment should
be a fundamental right of every citizen.Citizens of developing countries continue to be
vulnerable to a double burden of diseases. Traditional diseases such as malaria and cholera,
caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of environmental hygiene, have not yet been
controlled. In addition, people are now falling prey to modern diseases such as cancer and
AIDS, and stress-related disorders Many of the widespread ailments among the poor in
developing countries are occupation-related, and are contracted in the course of work done
to fulfil the consumption demands of the affluent, both within the country and outside. The
strong relationship between health and the state of the environment in developing
countries is becoming increasingly evident. This calls for greater emphasis on preventive and
social medicine, and on research in both occupational health and epidemiology.Because of
the close link, there needs to be greater integration between the ministries of Health
andEnvironment, and effective coordination and cooperation between them.Basic health
and educational facilities in developing countries need to be strengthened. The role of
public health services must give preventive health care equal emphasis as curative
healthcare. People should be empowered through education and awareness to participate
in managing preventive healthcare related to environmental sanitation and hygiene.Most
developing countries are repositories of a rich tradition of natural resource-based health
care. This is under threat, on the one hand from modern mainstream medicine, and on the
other from the degradation of the natural resource base. Traditional medicine in
combination with modern medicine must be promoted while ensuring conservation of the
resource base and effective protection of IPRs of traditional knowledge.Developing
countries should also strive to strengthen the capacity of their health care systems to deliver

18
basic health services and to reduce environment-related health risks by sharing of health
awareness and medical expertise globally.

Means of Implementation Finance

Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is declining. The commitments made by

industrialised countries at the Earth Summit in Rio a decade ago remain largely unmet. This
is a cause for concern which has been voiced by several developing countries. Industrialised
countries must honour their ODA commitments. The new instruments and mechanisms,
e.g., the Clean DevelopmentMechanism, that are trying to replace ODA need to be
examined closely for their implications for the developing countries.In view of the declining
trend in ODA, developing countries must explore how they can finance their sustainable
development efforts, such as by introducing a system of ecological taxation.Private
investment cannot replace development aid as it will not reach sectors relevant for the
poor. Such investments and other mechanisms can at best be additional to, not
replacements for, development assistance.Conditions attached to financial assistance need
to be rigorously scrutinised, and the assistance accepted only if the conditionalities are
acceptable. Financial support for sustainable development programmes must not be
negatively influenced by political considerations external to the objectives of the assistance.

19
Trade

Trade regimes, specifically WTO, are sometimes in conflict with sustainable development
priorities. Imperatives of trade, and the concerns related to environment, equity and social
justice however need to be dealt with independently.Environmental and social clauses
which are implicitly or explicitly part of international agreements must not be used
selectively to erect trade barriers against developing countries.Developing countries will
suffer a major trade disadvantage if the efforts to put in place globally acceptable Process
and Production Methods (PPMs) are successful. Instead, existing disparities between the
trade regimes and multilateral environmental agreements, such as those between the
TradeRelated Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime and the Convention onBiological
Diversity (CBD), should be thoroughly addressed. Mechanismsto resolve such conflicts
between multilateral agreements should be set up.

Technology

Developing countries need not follow the conventional path to development with regard to
technologies but must use to their advantage the cutting-edge technology options now
available to ‘leapfrog’, and put the tools of modern technology to use.Mechanisms must be
put in place to make available to developing countries the latest technologies at reasonable
cost
Technology transfer must be informed by an understanding of its implications in the social,
economic and environmental contexts of the receiving societies. Technologies must be
usable by and beneficial to local people. Where Possible, existing local technologies must be
upgraded and adapted to make them more efficient and useful. Such local adaptations
should also lead to the upgradation of local technical skills.Local innovations and capacity
building for developing and managing locally relevant and appropriate technologies must be
encouraged and supported.Integrating highly-sophisticated modern technology with
traditional practices sometimes produces the most culturally-suited and acceptable
solutions, which also makes them more viable. This trend should be encouraged’

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Science and Education

The paramount importance of education in effecting social change is

recognized.Mainstream education must now be re-aligned to promote awareness,
attitudes,concerns and skills that will lead to sustainable development.Basic education
which promotes functional literacy, livelihood skills, understanding of the immediate
environment and values of responsible citizenship is a precondition for sustainable
development. Such education must be available to every child as a fundamental right,
without discrimination on the basis of economic class, geographical location or cultural
identity.Adequate resources and support for education for sustainable development are
essential. An understanding must be promoted among key decision makers of the potential
of education to promote sustainability, reduce poverty, train people for sustainable
livelihoods and catalyse necessary public support for sustainable development initiatives.
The empowerment of women and girls must be supported by actions to improve their
access to basic and higher education, training and capacity building. The emphasis should be
on gender mainstreaming.Greater capacity needs to be built in science and technology
through improved collaboration among research institutions, the private sector,NGOs and
government.

Population

With India’s population crossing a billion in the year 2000, the NationalPopulation Policy
announced in that year has special significance. Itschange in focus from merely setting
target population figures to achieving population control through greater attention to socio-
economic issues such as child health and survival, illiteracy, empowerment of women, and
increased participation by men in planned parenthood, gives it greater breadth and depth,
thereby holding forth better promise of achieving its long-term objective of a stable
population by mid-century. The official realisation, that population is not merely about
numbers but about the health and quality of life of people in general and women in
particular, must be reinforced and sustained by an informed debate to bring key population

21
issues into ever sharpening perspective at various levels of policy making from the national
and state legislatures to local government institutions. There is need for a better and more
widespread understanding that the number of children desired by any couple depends on a
large and complex interrelated number of socio-economic and cultural factors, and that any
policy action seeking to control population must seriously take all these variables into
account.An important part of empowering women in matters pertaining to population, is to
explicitly recognize and respect their rights over their bodies and their reproductive
behaviour. This recognition must permeate society in general, and religious, judicial and
law-enforcement institutions in particular, through continual campaigning and dialogue. The
pursuit of population control must not be allowed to compromise human rights and basic
democratic principles. Such compromises are often implicit in the disincentives aimed at
controlling family size; in comments on the fertility of particular social groupings; and in the
occasion demands to control in-migration to metropolitan areas. It is essential to place
these matters in a balanced and rational perspective through informed public discourse
supported by the wide dissemination of authentic data.

22
Strengthening Governance for SustainableDevelopment at
the Local, National and International Levels

Local

Effective management of resources requires participation by all stakeholders. At the local

level, strengthening democratic institutions generally leads to better and more sustained
management of natural resources. To enhance effectiveness of people’s participation in
local governance committees comprising both elected and executive members of local
bodies and representatives of community groups, must be formed. Appropriate Capacity
building would enable them to undertake local development activities according to
community priorities, monitor project implementation and manage community assets.
Where the conditions for such community empowerment have already been created, as in
India Through the 73rd and 74th amendments of its Constitution, effective implementation
of the provisions should be ensured.All members of society are the stakeholders of

23
sustainable development.Women make up half of this group. Affirmative action to ensure
representation and power to women in local governance, and appropriate capacity building,
are necessary to make them effective and equal partners in the development process.Social
groups which have been traditionally discriminated against must be represented in local
governance and empowered to ensure that they become effective and mainstream partners
in development.Children are a valuable asset of every society. It is the responsibility not
only of the parents but of the community that children realise their potential fully, growing
up in a healthy, enriching and fulfilling environment.Ensuring the provision of such an
environment is a major challenge of governance at the local level. The occupational, cultural
and economic heterogeneity of population is on the whole a major asset in making
development sustainable; but there are times of crisis when the same heterogeneity can
become the basis of conflict and social insecurity. It is imperative to evolve participatory
mechanisms of governance involving citizen groups and local authorities which will provide
effective means of conflict resolution

24
National

Sustainable development is achieved through optimising gains from several variables, rather
than maximising those from a single one. This requires government departments, by
convention sectorally organised, to work together, or in some cases as a single multi-
disciplinary authority. For this joint planning,transparency and coordination in
implementation are required. The richness of skills available in society must be harnessed
through partnerships involving institutions in civil society, such as NGOs, CBOs,corporate
(including private) bodies, academic and research institutions,trade unions, etc., which must
be made an integral part of planning and implementation for sustainable development.
There is on the one hand a surfeit of laws, many of them outmoded and irrelevant. On the
other hand, effective enforcement is lacking in respect of laws relevant to contemporary
concerns and conducive to governance. This calls for a thorough review of laws, elimination
of those which are outmoded, and simplification of the procedures for implementing those
which are relevant.

International

Internal reviews as well as learnings from international experience should be the basis of
identifying and filling gaps in existing laws. It must, however,be recognized that laws in
themselves do not provide solutions, unless there are mechanisms to effectively enforce
them. There are many traditional systems and practices whose value and validity needs to
be recognized and brought into the mainstream of governmental development thinking and
policy. Appropriate mechanisms for integrating them need to be created.Many policies were
framed either before sustainable development became a major concern or in a sectoral
perspective. These need to be reviewed from the point of view of sustainable development.
All future policies must be guided by considerations of sustainable development.Areas
lacking policies should be identified and adequate policies compatible with the imperatives
of sustainable development framed, taking into account successful examples, of policies and
initiatives in similar areas.

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