Ep 39 - Stacey Young, USAID Chief Knowledge Officer: Knowledge Management, AI, & the new KMOL Policy

SHOW NOTES

Stacy Young, Chief Knowledge Officer at USAID and Melissa Patsalides, Senior Advisor for Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, join Mike Shanley to discuss Knowledge Management, AI, and the new Knowledge Management and Learning Policy at USAID.

RESOURCES
USAID's Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning Policy
USAID's Artificial Intelligence Action Plan
USAIDLearningLab.org where people can find the Knowledge Retention and Transfer Toolkit

BIOGRAPHY
Stacey Young, PhD is USAID’s first Chief Knowledge Officer (formerly Agency Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning Officer), leading Agency-wide knowledge and learning approaches. Dr. Young also co-chairs the Multi-Donor Learning Partnership of 11 major donor organizations working to advance organizational learning and knowledge management in international development.From 2011-2019, she served as a Senior Learning Advisor for USAID's Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning. Through her vision and leadership, USAID developed a holistic approach to Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) that is integrated across USAID’s country programs. Part of a long-term Agency effort to more firmly anchor USAID programs in strong evidence and local leadership, CLA is acknowledged as leading the field in learning and adaptive management for international development. She also served as the Senior Technical Advisor for USAID’s first Agency-wide learning agenda, on the Journey to Self-Reliance. Dr. Young joined USAID in 2003 as the Senior Knowledge Management Advisor for USAID's Microenterprise Development office, where she led an award-winning knowledge management program to facilitate learning in microfinance, market development and poverty reduction. She also led the development of USAID’s congressionally mandated poverty measurement tools; managed the congressionally mandated Microenterprise Results Reporting activity; and co-led an external affairs portfolio to support USAID’s engagement with Congress and industry groups around microenterprise development and poverty reduction.From 1993-2003, Dr. Young lived and worked in Kenya, Uganda and the US as an independent consultant specializing in research and policy analysis in philanthropy, development policy, HIV/AIDS and family planning, and agriculture and food security.Dr. Young has published several books and articles on development and knowledge management, and has taught political science, women's studies and writing at Skidmore College and at Cornell University, where she earned a PhD in Government.

Melissa Patsalides is an international development professional with more than 20 years of experience inside and outside of the federal government. Currently she serves as a senior advisor for knowledge management and organizational learning in the Bureau for Planning Learning and Resource Management at USAID. She leads a practice group that supports implementation of USAID’s new KMOL policy, advances agency practices around data use and performance and collaborates deeply with the USAID’s Chief Information office on IT systems that support KM. In the past year and a half, she has focused on artificial intelligence and exploring ways to leverage it for KM at the agency level.Throughout her career, Patsalides has worked across various sectors and geographic regions, and has served in various leadership roles at USAID, including Director of the Office of Learning, Evaluation and Research (LER), Agency Evaluation Officer and Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation in the Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs. Prior to joining USAID, she worked with international human rights and advocacy NGOs and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa. Patsalides holds a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Eisenhower School and a Master of Arts in International Development from the Joseph Korbel School for International Studies at the University of Denver.

LEARN MORE
Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Aid Market Podcast. You can learn more about working with USAID by visiting our homepage: Konektid International and AidKonekt. To connect with our team directly, message the host Mike Shanley on LinkedIn.