To improve knowledge management during staff rotations, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) created a Knowledge Retention and Transfer (KRT) model. The KRT model aims to reduce burdens associated with staff transitions and enhance continuity for programmes and operations.
Institutionalising knowledge handover practices at USAID
Abstract
Like many development institutions, USAID experiences frequent staff rotations due to foreign service officer reassignments and short-term deployments to areas of conflict. For workforces that experience continuous staff turnover, the lack of systematic knowledge transfer can often lead to loss of programmatic momentum, duplication of efforts, frustration, and wasted time and resources.
USAID’s Knowledge Retention and Transfer (KRT) model provides tools, processes and practices to individuals, teams, offices and organisations to improve knowledge handover, which in turn improves efficiency and programmatic and operational learning. The KRT model is USAID’s approach to providing a standardised toolkit to help operational units reduce burdens associated with staff transitions.
The KRT model was initially developed in response to a request from a USAID mission with frequent staff turnover and a complex operational context. In collaboration with staff from the missions, the Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management of the Office for Learning, Evaluation and Research (PLR/LER) co-created the initial KRT model, which consisted of a series of tools and processes that relevant staff can implement following a seasonal transition calendar. USAID tested a pilot project with nine missions to assess whether the tools and approaches met the needs of USAID’s global workforce. Following this pilot, the approach was scaled across the agency.
The KRT model supports the staff transition cycle by allowing staff to use (not lose) existing information and knowledge; enhancing continuity and momentum for programmes and operations; and helping incoming staff to understand the context of inherited portfolios before instituting change. The KRT model includes a toolkit, an implementation plan and a maturity matrix.
The model is divided into three phases (Figure 1):
Offboarding: During this phase it is important to retain the information and knowledge from outgoing staff to transfer it to incoming staff so that work can proceed smoothly.
Onboarding: During onboarding, it is crucial to set a positive and proactive tone for knowledge transfer for new staff to get up to speed quickly.
Ongoing: Beyond offboarding and onboarding, it is important to establish consistent practices and behaviours to ease day-to-day work.
Since the model’s initial implementation in 2022, the following results have been observed:
Wide adoption of the KRT model across missions and Washington-operating units. The handover memo has proven useful to help onboard new staff, including leaders, who have voiced their support for the model.
Codification into an operational policy. Given the importance and benefits of this work, PLR/LER codified the use and standardisation of knowledge retention and transfer practices by making it a required component of USAID’s Knowledge Management and Organisational Learning (KMOL) policy (guidance to be published in 2025).
Mechanisms to report the use and development of KMOL plans. USAID is in the process of developing internal KMOL metrics to help PLR/LER support policy implementation and track progress across USAID.
While some missions and operating units have used parts of the KRT model and USAID continues to receive positive feedback, PLR/LER has identified three needs:
Communicate constantly about the available resources. USAID launched an internal “Spring to Summer” communications campaign to remind staff about the resources and provide technical assistance during staff transfer season.
Institutionalise the use of the KRT model and practices. PLR/LER seeks to achieve this by requiring a structured approach to knowledge retention and transfer in USAID’s KMOL policy and policy implementation guidance.
Develop additional resources, guidance documents and information. Equipping staff with the necessary tools and direction is crucial to conduct KMOL more broadly across the agency and facilitate the implementation of knowledge plans.
USAID (2024), Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning (KMOL) Policy, https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/USAID_KMOL%20Policy-FNL-20240610%20-Updated.pdf.
USAID (n.d.), Knowledge Retention and Transfer Model, https://usaidlearninglab.org/learning-at-usaid/knowledge-management-organizational-learning/knowledge-retention-and-transfer-model.
OECD (2022), OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews: United States 2022, OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6da3a74e-en.
To learn more about the United States’ development co-operation, see:
OECD, “United States”, in Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/45472e20-en.
See more In Practice examples from the United States here: https://www.oecd.org/development-cooperation-learning?tag-key+partner=united+states#search.
