Knowledge and technology are the heart and mind of the global economy. The countries that thrive will be those that encourage their people to develop the skills and competencies they need to become better workers, managers, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Today’s policy makers must extend their country’s existing strengths through careful investments in education, institutional quality, and relevant technology. They must create enterprises that are knowledgeable enough to recognize new competitive opportunities—and skillful enough to convert those opportunities into wealth. In short, they must build a knowledge economy. The model is not new. In recent years, several economies, such as Chile, Finland, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore have been its avatars. China and India are following the same path.

Why, then, have many developing countries been slow to identify the strands of global knowledge that, when woven together with unique pieces of local knowledge, will produce the tapestry of the knowledge economy? If the basic components of the knowledge economy are readily available, why not appropriate them for growth and innovation? The answer lies in limited awareness, disincentives, and weak institutions. Together these challenges can keep the knowledge economy from taking root, preventing countries from forging powerful combinations of the best that the globe has to offer them and the best they have to offer the rest of the globe.

Open Forum believes that Knowledge has always been an essential force in economic development. But in today’s increasingly knowledge-based world, more and more countries are embracing knowledge and innovation-related policies to spur growth and competitiveness. At the same time, because their institutions are weak, many developing countries are struggling to find ways to produce relevant knowledge and transform it into wealth, as well as to adapt and disseminate existing knowledge for their development. The application of knowledge - as manifested in entrepreneurship and innovation, research and development, and software and product design - is one of the key sources of growth in the global economy. But many developing countries fail to tap the vast stock of global knowledge and apply it to their needs. They need not deny themselves this vital tool for growth. By building on their strengths and carefully planning appropriate investments in human capital, effective institutions, relevant communications technologies, and innovative and competitive enterprises, developing countries can capitalize on the knowledge revolution.

Open Forum’s Knowledge for Development Program (K4D) helps build the capacity of partner organizations and grassroots communities to access and use knowledge to become more competitive and improve growth and welfare. K4D helps its partners and communities assess how they compare with others in their ability to compete in the global knowledge economy. It has developed a four-pillar framework that partners and communities can use as the basis for their transition to a knowledge economy; 1) Policy analysis, 2) Learning events, 3) Knowledge Assessment Methodology and 4) Research and publications. Also this has to be identified that Open Forum’s K4D Program provides policy advice to its beneficiaries on four Knowledge Economy (KE) pillars: economic and institutional regime, education, innovation, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to help them make the transition to a KE.

The Knowledge for Development (K4D) program of Open Forum works to raise awareness among national policy makers of the powerful growth effects of knowledge, to encourage economic actors to combine global and local knowledge to accentuate comparative advantage, and to help leaders to build institutions that foster, rather than discourage, individuals’ attempts to exploit the competitive opportunities available to knowledge-powered enterprises. K4D’s recent activities highlights the following findings:

•	Knowledge and innovation have always played a crucial role in economic and social development. But globalization and the technological revolution of the last few decades have made knowledge the key driver of competitiveness and are profoundly reshaping the patterns of the world’s economic growth and activity. Both developed and developing countries must consider their future in a world system where knowledge is gold.
•	To become successful knowledge economies, countries must act simultaneously on their education base, their innovation systems, and their information and communication technology infrastructure, while also building a high-quality economic and institutional regime. Strategies must be adapted to a country’s level of development, and progress is usually gradual, but some countries have been able to achieve spectacular progress in a decade.
•	Some of the countries that have made rapid progress have staged nationwide programs of change. Some common points: the need to promote trust and social cohesion around the knowledge economy program; the need to work at the four pillars through a combination of top-down reforms and bottom-up initiatives; and the need for a well communicated vision of the future shape of the national knowledge economy.
•	The K4D program works with the Open Forum’s Partners and communities to design knowledge-based strategies that leverage the country’s strengths to attain its development goals. It helps clients assess how they compare with others in their ability to compete in the knowledge economy. When asked to do so, K4D helps to formulate policies to carry out the knowledge-based strategies that countries have chosen and offers recommendations on how to develop the capacity needed for successful implementation of those policies and strategies.
•	K4D can advise any Partner or Grassroots Communities, regardless of income, on its transition to a knowledge economy, although the key issues and the policy agenda will differ according to the circumstances of each partner/community.

Taking above facts into consideration K4D team has initiated a number of services for the grassroots communities and partner organization. E-radio, K4D Community TV and K4D Community Call Centers are some of them. K4D Programme helps communities build their capacity to access and use knowledge to strengthen their competitiveness and increase their economic and social well-being. The program works with number of partners and communities to design and develop realistic and achievable knowledge-based development strategies. It helps countries assess how they compare with others in their ability to compete in the knowledge economy and to identify appropriate policies to help them achieve their goals. K4D also offers recommendations for policy reform on the knowledge economy accompanied by complementary advice on what the country needs to do to develop appropriate capacity to deliver on these policies.