Dr. Malayang Attends 40-Country Meeting on Knowledge Hubs

Silliman University President Dr. Ben S. Malayang III was among 200 policy makers and development practitioners invited to the high-level meeting on “Towards Country-Led Knowledge Hubs” conducted July 10 to 12 in Bali, Indonesia.

The meeting sought to facilitate an exchange of experiences in developing institutions for knowledge sharing, a collective discussion of challenges and opportunities in bringing about sustainable development, and a creation or replication of knowledge hubs.

A knowledge hub, as the meeting described it, “is an organization, or part of it, dedicated to share and exchange development experiences and models with partners from other countries.”

Dr. Malayang represented the Philippines, upon the invitation of Hon. Wismana Adi Suryabrata, Deputy Minister for Development Funding Affairs of the Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency of the Indonesian government. His participation was also endorsed by the World Bank (WB) country office, with his active involvement in several policy discussions and in the Bank’s program aimed at strengthening the Knowledge for Development Network, a group of select academic institutions in the Philippines of which Silliman is a member.

Organized by the Indonesian government, together with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, United Nations Development Programme and WB, the high-level meeting focused on concrete multi-country knowledge exchange implementation challenges including leadership and championship. It also tackled issues related to engagement in international partnerships and results-oriented implementation and smart funding of knowledge exchange.

Indonesia’s Vice President Prof. DR. Boediono was the keynote speaker.