It is the building and using of intentional systems, operations and practices for the distinct purposes of learning and adapting. This is growing in importance as the rate of change increases in our world and recognition comes that so much of human development lives in the space of complexity—learning and adapting are not luxuries, they are necessities.
This can be broad ranging in its specifics—strategic communication, data visualization, train the trainer models, communities of practice cohorts, reflection templates, change story harvesting—but its focus is on a push forward toward something better and more sustainable.
Learning and adapting is useful when…
- Trying something new
- Monitoring and evaluation feels like a burden and you have a bunch of data only the funder uses
- Sharing and coordinating across partners, programs, or contexts
How we approach learning and adapting…
It is here that our unique blend of design, evaluation and commitment to people really shines. We seek to embed and strengthen ongoing practices of listening, reflecting, and responding. These are evaluative practices that need careful designing and are only useful when in service to people. We are committed to helping clients build their learn and adapt muscle and believe it is indeed a practice, not an additional activity or even a particular skill—it is much more encompassing and vital than that.
Even as we tend to internal systems of organizations and projects, we enjoy using our own talents in this space to artfully lift up, contribute to and accentuate internal efforts of learning and adapting. There are important roles for outsiders to play in this space and we relish the opportunity to come alongside clients to deepen and accelerate their work.
This includes…
- Developmental Evaluation
- Process Evaluation
- Case Studies
- Lessons Learned
- Adaptive Management
- Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA)
- Capacity Building
