Two Pager: What Difference Does Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting Make to Development? Key Findings from a Recent Literature Review

USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning and its LEARN support contract are working to integrate systematic, intentional, and resourced Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) throughout program planning and implementation to achieve more effective development programs.

As part of this effort, USAID is exploring several approaches to understand whether and how strategic collaboration, continuous learning, and adaptive management make a difference to organizational and development outcomes. To begin this work, we have undertaken a foundational literature review of academic and gray literature to answer our key learning questions:

• Does an intentional, systematic, and resourced approach to collaborating, learning, and adapting contribute to development outcomes?
• If so, how? And under what conditions?

The five key findings, mapped to the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) framework, are described in greater detail in this two-pager.