CLA Practitioners' Perspective: 10 lessons from working in the Development Field

Introduction:

In the development world, plans sometimes don't pan out as expected due to factors such as shifting political dynamics, unforeseen challenges, evolving community needs, disruptions in supply chains, etc. These uncertainties are common in complex and ever-changing contexts.

Navigating these challenges requires an approach rooted in flexibility, continuous learning, and the ability to adapt effectively. This is where Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) becomes critical. For context, CLA is a set of practices that enable USAID and its partners to improve development effectiveness by becoming more responsive to evolving challenges. 

But how does CLA work in practice, especially when faced with the realities of complex development environments? How can we learn from the experience of professionals in the field?

This article draws on the collective insights of three CLA professionals who shared ten key lessons from working in the development field. Organized around the components of the CLA framework, these lessons provide insights to help practitioners integrate CLA concepts and practices into their projects to drive meaningful development outcomes.

COLLABORATING:

1. Local communities are invaluable partners—not beneficiaries: Local communities are often the most underutilized assets in development work. Their knowledge, perspectives, and experiences provide invaluable insights that no external analysis can replicate. Prioritizing community-driven input promotes ownership, ensures contextually appropriate interventions, and significantly increases the likelihood of sustainable outcomes. Engaging local stakeholders early and continuously throughout the project as co-creators rather than just beneficiaries improves the development process. Development practitioners should create mechanisms to collect their insights, understand their concerns, and incorporate suggestions into the project design and implementation. They should also facilitate a co-creation process where local knowledge is considered an asset and integral to the project's success. Relatedly, shifting from traditional Monitoring & Evaluation systems to community-led monitoring enhances data accuracy and empowers local stakeholders to own and act on findings. This approach strengthens accountability and ensures that interventions are more relevant, sustainable, and aligned with the communities' needs and priorities.
2. Collaboration is About Relationship Building and Effective Communication, Not Meetings: Effective collaboration is not simply about attending meetings or following formal agendas. It is rooted in trust, mutual respect, effective communication, and a shared understanding among stakeholders. These foundations require deliberate effort and a focus on meaningful connections beyond transactional interactions. The Project Management Institute's Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) emphasizes that project managers allocate a significant portion of their time—roughly 75-90%—to communication. This highlights communication's key role in strengthening collaboration to achieve project success. Development practitioners should build informal conversations, cultural exchanges, and active listening to understand stakeholders' priorities, concerns, and aspirations. These interactions create rapport and improve goodwill, which is important for resolving conflicts, navigating power dynamics, and maintaining long-term partnerships.

LEARNING:

3. Every Project Should Have a Learning Agenda/Plan: Whether development-focused or humanitarian, every project should have a learning agenda/plan. This document serves as a roadmap for what the project aims to learn, aligning learning efforts with strategic objectives and addressing knowledge gaps. A well-structured learning agenda ensures that key insights are integrated into decision-making and continuous improvement. While some may believe learning agendas are only necessary for large or development projects, they are equally important for smaller and humanitarian projects. Development practitioners should collaborate with key stakeholders to develop a learning agenda that addresses knowledge gaps, identifies critical learning questions, and guides the team in finding answers to those questions. A key benefit of the learning agenda is its ability to focus on areas requiring further investigation and improvement. Additionally, it is important to regularly revisit and update the agenda throughout the project to adapt to new insights and evolving priorities; this will ensure that the project remains responsive and evidence-driven.
4. Documenting Evidence from Learning is Everyone's Responsibility: A common misconception in program implementation is that documentation of learning falls solely within the purview of the CLA/Learning Specialist. This mindset often results in missed opportunities to capture key lessons and insights that could inform adaptation and program improvement. Development practitioners should document learning as a shared responsibility across the entire program team and embed it as a cultural norm across the organization. Staff should be trained to identify learning moments during routine work and provided with simplified tools and systems to make documentation effective. Also, fieldwork is a major opportunity for learning, yet it is often underutilized in this capacity. Project leadership should include a dedicated section in field reports to highlight key learnings that can significantly enhance the value of such activities. These sections should encourage reflection on challenges encountered in the field, solutions tested, and insights gained from interacting with stakeholders, beneficiaries/participants, systems, etc. The qualitative insights gathered through these practices will provide a richer understanding of on-the-ground realities and invaluable inputs for refining strategies, making evidence-based decisions, and improving programming moving forward.
5. Data Must Drive Decisions, Not Reporting Requirements: Data should inform strategies, improve outcomes, and guide decisions—not merely fulfill reporting requirements. It should provide insights that help to refine approaches and identify what is working or needs adjustment. To achieve this, research must align closely with the project's goals and learning agenda to ensure findings are relevant, timely, and directly contribute to improving the project's impact. Development professionals are responsible for promoting a culture where evidence is actively used to shape program design, implementation, and adaptation rather than being filed away in reports. This means prioritizing data that answers key learning questions or helps solve real-time challenges rather than simply accumulating information for compliance. 

ADAPTING:

6. Adapting is Not All About Big Changes but Also Small, Strategic Pivots: In the complex development world, plans often deviate from expectations due to unforeseen factors such as shifting priorities, unexpected challenges, or the emergence of new information. Adaptation, when implemented, should not be limited to major decisions made by project leadership. Small, strategic pivots at any project stage can be key to achieving success. These incremental adjustments, when recognized and acted upon, can significantly influence outcomes and enhance the impact of an intervention. To improve a culture of adaptability, practitioners should embed flexibility into project design and execution. This includes creating an environment where all team members feel empowered to identify and respond to opportunities or challenges as they arise. Encouraging teams to embrace change, make course corrections, and leverage new insights strengthens project outcomes and promotes learning.
7. Structured reflection enhances learning, fosters collaboration, and prevents repeated mistakes: Regular, structured reflection helps teams understand what's working, what isn't, and why. It provides a foundation for continuous learning and improvement, identifying insights, and avoiding repeated mistakes. Teams that embed reflective practices into their workflows—such as before-action reviews, after-action reviews, or dedicated sessions like "Reflection Thursdays"—promote a culture where learning is prioritized and valued. These reflective moments create opportunities for candid discussions, strengthen collaboration, and invite diverse perspectives. It often leads to creative solutions and innovative ideas that might otherwise remain undiscovered in the fast-paced nature of development work. Development professionals must ensure reflection is not skipped due to time pressures or competing priorities. 
8. Effective adaptation requires timely decision-making: Effective adaptation isn't just about making the right changes but doing so at the right time. Delays in adapting can lead to missed opportunities, while premature adjustments might not account for all relevant information. Real-time feedback loops and adaptive management systems allow development professionals to identify and act on key reflection points when they matter most. Given this, development practitioners should establish systems for continuous monitoring and real-time data collection to detect when changes are needed. This includes creating feedback loops that allow the team to quickly assess and respond to shifting conditions, ensuring that adaptations are made promptly and informed. Practitioners should also use this job aid decision tree – knowing when to adapt- in their programming. This tool will help determine how best to resolve a challenge/issue in programming.

CULTURE:

9. Psychological Safety is Key to Innovation: Teams perform best when members feel safe to voice their ideas, challenge the status quo, take calculated risks, and embrace the possibility of failure without fear of retribution. Psychological safety is critical to promoting innovation and adaptation, as it encourages experimentation and open dialogue. Project leadership buy-in is key in building this culture, especially in high-stakes or politically sensitive contexts. As a leader or practitioner, prioritize creating a safe and supportive environment for team members. Encourage open communication and trust, celebrate diverse perspectives, and reinforce the importance of learning from failure. This will help enhance creativity and allow more innovative approaches to solving development challenges.

   PROCESSES:

10. Context Always Comes First When Applying Best Practices: The development field often promotes best practices as universally applicable solutions. However, the reality is that these practices must be adapted to the specific cultural, political, economic, and environmental contexts in which they are implemented. Failing to account for these nuances can lead to interventions that are misaligned with local needs, values, and capacities. Given this, development practitioners must prioritize understanding and adapting to the communities' realities and tailor solutions to fit the community's unique context. For example, what works in a conflict-affected region might not translate to a stable setting in another, and an intervention suited to one cultural group might need significant adjustments to be effective for another.

Conclusion:

CLA is not about a structured framework—it's a mindset that focuses on achieving meaningful development outcomes. Adopting this mindset means seeing each challenge as an opportunity for learning and improvement, cultivating a culture of continuous learning and improvement within projects and organizations. It requires practitioners to embed CLA into every decision and action, making this concept integral to their work rather than viewing it as an optional add-on.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies, positions, or endorsements of any organization or entity they are affiliated with.