CLA and Delivering Water Systems in Complex Crises in Mozambique

Through the USAID BHA-funded Northern Mozambique Complex Emergency Response (NOMCER) project implemented in northern Mozambique, FH used CLA to revisit lessons learned from previous projects, which were to deepen and widen collaborations and to continually improve and adapt interventions to the quickly changing context. The project faced a convergence of external crises and needed to adapt its WASH interventions to be effective. Although FH has a culture and commitment to continuous learning, improvement and evidence-based decision-making, it has been a common practice to focus on evaluations for reporting purposes. CLA has helped foster mindsets and a culture for learning to continuously adapt and improve solutions for project participants and affected communities to achieve greater impact. Although tight project timelines and heavy work schedules made adopting CLA difficult, leadership made CLA a priority, and project teams found immediate value from CLA principles to help deliver project goals. In the end, the CLA process guided the collaboration of multiple teams and stakeholders including senior management, community members and government personnel to leverage past experiences, apply lessons learned and decide on critical changes. The pivot to CLA in a fragile setting and emergency response helped FH and the consortium it led to reach 30,000 project participants with solar-powered water solutions that were resilient and sustainable, and which in turn contributed to community hygiene, food security and well-being despite the challenging circumstances.