The Knowledge Project seeks to promote knowledge generation and dissemination in the Arab States region. The project is firmly linked to the Regional Programme Document (RPD) as the main driver behind Outcome 4 (Promotion of Knowledge for Human Development). Further, it is aligned to the timeframe of the RPD as well as the UNDP Strategic Plan, both of which are in force through 2017. It is the fruit of the partnership between UNDP and Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation that has launched a five-year second phase of the collaborative effort on the Knowledge Project, a pioneering regional project with a global aspect which started in 2007. Focusing on knowledge as a cornerstone of development in the Arab States region, the project published, over the course of a decade, three widely disseminated Arab Knowledge Reports underscoring key opportunities and challenges to building effective knowledge-based societies in the Arab States, the Arab Knowledge Index the knowledge4all portal, the Arab Reading Index, the Global Knowledge Index and the Future of Knowledge Foresight Report. The Global Knowledge Index focuses on six critical sectors: Pre-University Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation, ICT, and Economy, in addition to the General Enabling Environment.
The project is currently developing the Global Knowledge Index 2019, a summary measure that best reflects knowledge accumulation, production and consumption from a development perspective and that will be of benefit to the world. The process of preparing the Knowledge Index is of a participatory nature. To this end, the AKP is organizing its first Expert Meeting in Cairo, Egypt.