Sharing knowledge outside their organisation is an important responsibility for humanitarian organisations. Sharing fosters continuous learning from experience in the sector, encourages a search for evidence and promotes the adoption of learning by key WASH stakeholders. Knowledge management fosters a culture of innovation and reduces the repetition of mistakes in the sector. For example, the Global WASH Cluster’s (GWC) Technical Working Group on Hygiene Promotion aims to help the GWC share tools and good practice through existing channels and new platforms. Various approaches also exist to improve the timely, large-scale dissemination of knowledge at a global level including: communities of practices (e.g. in HP, WASH and Nutrition), knowledge exchange and support platforms such as the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, the Emergency WASH Knowledge Portal , the COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Watsan Mission Assistant, or the GWC Resource Centre and its planned WASH Knowledge Hub.

At the operational level, the creation of technical working groups is an opportunity to ensure that lessons learned from previous responses and ongoing Monitoring M.2 of the current response lead to real-time knowledge exchange to improve programme quality. The leadership of such a group is critical to its success and depends on the mobilisation of adequate resources (in some cases, a dedicated coordinator may be funded externally) and the willingness of expert organisations to involve their staff in the coordination mechanisms P.9. Leadership is essential, but the active and inclusive participation of organisations involved in HP is also important. Ensuring accessibility to such meetings and groups is a mandatory requirement; therefore, accessible and appropriate communication channels and technologies must be used. 

Regardless of whether the products are oral or written, language and format are important factors to promote their assimilation. Hygiene promotion that encourages and promotes the participation of local communities and stakeholders must be tailored to cultural needs and ensure that learning is accessible to affected communities (though unfortunately, it is not yet common practice to translate all documents into local languages). Finding the right communication channels and networks for the transmission and transfer of knowledge is essential. 

There is no common repository where humanitarian knowledge can be exchanged and shared at local, national or international levels. It is therefore important (depending on the knowledge to be shared) to identify in advance who will be interested in the information and how they will access and integrate it into their programme. Disseminating learning requires dedicated time and resources.

Systematically sharing lessons learned from project monitoring systems, feedback mechanisms and evaluations within and outside the organisation stimulates a culture of exchange. This can take the form of workshops involving local stakeholders, community-based organisations and national and international humanitarian actors. Social Media (T.44) can also be a powerful tool for disseminating key findings, testimonials and demonstrations.  

Case studies, fact sheets and summaries remain the best tools for sharing knowledge among humanitarian professionals. 

For the sector to fully benefit from knowledge gained through earlier interventions, a complete change of mindset is needed amongst HP practitioners. From the outset, HP programme designers need to identify and apply lessons learned from previous interventions to current responses. They should also allocate the time and resources needed to capture and generate new knowledge systematically over the course of their project, enabling other individuals, organisations and ultimately the sector to benefit from their experience.