Building the Ship While Sailing: How Continuous Learning and Improvement Empowered the ICHSSA1 Team in Nigeria to Navigate Challenges of High Staff Attrition and Loss of Tacit Knowledge

The Center for Clinical Care and Clinical Research (CCCRN) implements the Integrated Child Health Social Service Award (ICHSSA) in South-South Nigeria to reduce the vulnerability of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) to HIV. The project is funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and managed by USAID/Nigeria. The major challenge encountered by the project was the loss of tacit knowledge due to high staff attrition and low prioritization of learning and professional development. CCCRN adopted collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approaches to advance the culture of learning to support seamless job role transitions between staff. In June 2023, staff were oriented with USAID’s CLA framework and prioritized continuous learning and improvement in a survey as the most critical subcomponent to improve. At a team retreat, a participatory appraisal of staff using the CLA maturity tool indicated that most rated their current status of continuous learning as emergent (69%) and that they wanted to move to an advanced status (75%) within a year. An assessment to determine training needs showed significant gaps. Through internal collaboration, staff were supported with needs-based training programs. Over 75% of staff actively participated in learning activities. In July 2024, a post-assessment with the CLA maturity tool showed a remarkable shift: 90% of staff rated their current state of continuous learning and development as advanced. Also, 9 of 13 exited personnel were replaced internally from the pool of staff trained and internal collaboration improved. CLA helped CCCRN build the ship while sailing.