How ACDI/VOCA Integrated Learning at the Project Level (Part II)
In 2004, USAID awarded ACDI/VOCA a 6-year, US$4.6 million grant under the Cooperative Development Program (CDP) to increase smallholder producers' linkages to local, regional, and global market chains in Brazil, Paraguay, and Russia. In September 2010, the contract was renewed for programs in Paraguay, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Since the inception of this program, 147 ACDI/VOCA volunteers and consultants have offered guidance in nearly every field of agricultural production as well as numerous consultations in marketing, strategic planning, management, and cooperative development. In Part II of an interview with ACDI/VOCA, Ruth Campbell, Managing Director of Technical Learning & Standards, shares what it takes to document, capture, and disseminate lessons from the field in order to improve program outcomes.
1. In the field, your Cooperative Development Program (CDP) has a significant focus on learning. What activities support learning among beneficiaries in different countries? How are lessons from the field captured in Washington?
CDP’s principal mechanism for supporting learning among beneficiaries is the establishment of national Cooperative Learning and Information Centers (CLICS). In Paraguay and Kenya, the CLICs take the form of online learning portals housed within an appropriate institution—a cooperative federation in the case of Paraguay, and a cooperative college in Kenya. In Ethiopia, the lack of rural connectivity and the prevalence of regional government-run cooperative development agencies have led us to design a lower-tech model using a shared network, flash drives and CD-ROMs. The CLICs are currently being designed by Service Learning Corps volunteers, housed within the host institutions. (Service Learning Corps volunteers are current or recent graduate students whom ACDI/VOCA places on field assignments for up to six months.) The CLICs will include libraries for training modules, templates, reports, videos, case studies and other resources related to cooperative management and value chain development for specific subsectors, such as coffee and dairy. They will also include discussion forums, blogs and FAQs.
In addition to the CLICs, CDP helps beneficiaries take ownership of the learning process through a participatory approach to monitoring. ACDI/VOCA modified the Overseas Cooperative Development Council METRICS (Measurements for Tracking Indicators of Cooperative Success) tool to develop M3, a condensed version that can be applied by cooperatives themselves. M3 evaluates the Money, Membership and Management capacity of cooperatives, and assesses the consistent use of sound businesses practices, financial performance, and commitment to the cooperative’s membership. Building on the findings of M3, CDP works with the groups to articulate their own vision for the future, and designs training and technical assistance activities to support the group in reaching its goals.
The aggregate results of the M3 assessments also inform the project’s learning agenda in each country. Project managers report formally on lessons learned related to their respective learning agenda twice a year—although informal discussions between field and headquarters staff on emerging learning occurs much more regularly. In addition, after each technical assistance assignment, field staff answers a simple five-question survey on what did and did not work well. Learning products developed by CDP are disseminated externally through ACDI/VOCA’s Center of Excellence for cooperative and association development.
2. Is learning being measured? If so, how?
In addition to M3 and the semi-annual reports discussed above, in Kenya a learning survey was conducted on behalf of ACDI/VOCA, CLUSA and Land O’Lakes by an international consulting company specializing in monitoring and evaluation. The survey used a constituency voice methodology to measure the perceptions of cooperative leaders and members concerning the quality of relationships, relevance of interventions, and degree to which outcomes were being achieved. The results were shared with the cooperatives to help them identify areas of disconnect. The results also helped us to reassess our own assumptions about how the leaders and members viewed cooperative performance.
The CDP Performance Monitoring Plan includes several indicators and targets related to learning, including the number of learning modules available through the CLICs, and percentage increases in M3 scores.
3. What kind of staffing and support is needed to not only support the technical implementation of the Program, but to also facilitate connections among cooperatives and their stakeholders?
CDP is staffed by a small number of local personnel who are supported by short-term and longer-term volunteer consultants. Ensuring continuity and synergy among these consultant assignments is essential, and this is largely the responsibility of the project manager in each country. The project managers are skilled networkers, who are known and trusted by the cooperatives and cooperative development agencies; and who are able to quickly establish rapport with incoming volunteers.
Continuity and synergy are further facilitated by having clear project strategic plans, explicit assignment scopes of work, and substantial briefings—pre-assignment and upon arrival in-country. TLS is currently promoting more dynamic communities of practice among our volunteer consultants to encourage them to share lessons learned and collectively develop more effective tools.
CDP is designed to build the capacity of local partners. A project cannot reach scale and achieve sustainable impact through direct service delivery to cooperatives and their members. Therefore, CDP seeks to build in-country systems to enable cooperatives to access support over the long term through local institutions. For example, trainings are cascaded through umbrella organizations; local incentives and resources are leveraged; and partners are empowered to design, implement, and monitor their own strategic plans.
4. For other development practitioners and their organizations, what are some important first steps to take in integrating learning in their work?
An important first step is to get senior management buy-in to the idea that learning is an essential part of your work—not an optional extra, should time and funding allow. This commitment should be widely communicated, and backed up with human and financial resources.
Identify the incentives that your organization, project and individual staff have for learning, and find ways to strengthen those incentives. For example, encourage staff to see learning as important for career development through rewards or recognition for staff contributions to learning.
Establish a learning agenda that will lead to practical recommendations and resources that can be quickly fed back into project design and management.
Make learning everybody’s responsibility—include it in job descriptions, onboarding presentations, and performance evaluations. Make the development of learning products a transparent process and encourage input from all levels of the organization.
Create an account on USAID’s Learning Lab, join local and international sector-specific learning networks, and communicate regularly with others who are trying to increase the integration of learning in their work. As Alfred Sheinwold wrote, “Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won't have time to make them all yourself.”
Read Part I of this interview that focuses on organizational learning.
CLA in Action articles are intended to paint a more detailed picture of what collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) looks like in practice. Unlike other disciplines, CLA is not a technical "fix;" it looks different in different contexts. This series will showcase examples of intentional collaboration, systematic learning, and resourced adaptation, some of which you may find applicable to your own work. The case studies, blogs, and resources represented in this series document the real-world experiences of development practitioners experimenting with these approaches for the benefit of sharing what's possible.