Adapting to Change: Our experience building a learning muscle in international development

Three years ago, we embarked on a new journey with the EU funded Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) initiative, supporting mayors across the Eastern Partnership to develop new growth trajectories through mission-oriented innovation. Our goal was ambitious: to transcend business as usual and embrace both a systematic and systemic lens. This initiative, spanning a network of 420 municipalities, has been more than just support for strategy development and economic planning. It’s been a venture into what it takes to stay relevant in a changing and complex environment – from the onset of wars and forced migration, pandemics, and energy crises to local election changes. 

We needed to capture learning rather than monitoring only 

Recognizing the ever-changing realities within these municipalities and their contexts, we realized that we needed to stay on top of changes and patterns as a team, and that a proactive approach was vital. We recognized the necessity of not only monitoring or evaluating our activities, but also quickly and efficiently reflecting the realities on the ground to make relevant changes based on the evolving context. Hence, we sought to create quicker feedback loops and actionable intelligence, which led us to establishing a rhythm of learning rituals and tools. In 2022, we introduced the M4EG Systems Learning Framework. This tool wasn’t just about monitoring; it was a framework to deepen our insights and guide decision-making, aligning with our mission to increase the relevance of our development efforts.  

This led to learning questions that complemented the standard results-based management ‘outcomes’ and ‘outputs’  

We understood that the traditional linear progression from output to outcome, akin to a strategy, often yielded uncertain results, with the behavioral or organizational changes being difficult to attribute, and possibly not even influenced by our best-intentioned efforts. Balancing the often quantitative indicators with qualitative insights, we designed learning questions to complement the standard indicators (see example below). To operationalize this, we conducted monthly internal online reflection questionnaires as part of our regular meeting rhythm, to uncover patterns and insights beyond standard monitoring indicators. This shift opened new avenues for understanding the added value of our work. It was fascinating as we identified patterns that we could not capture with the standard monitoring indicators. 

One example of a key insight and how we adapted 

One key learning question for enhancing our network focused on improving the exchange of experiences and showcasing the benefits of M4EG membership. Throughout the year, we actively sought effective ways to facilitate this exchange and encourage member participation. A significant insight was the value of cross-border municipal networking and collaboration, particularly highlighted during regional events or peer-to-peer exchanges among local authorities. These periods saw a surge in positive feedback and appreciation from municipalities, reinforcing the importance of being part of the network. This insight led to a renewed emphasis on organizing meaningful network gatherings and improving existing ones. This involved broadening participation to include diverse voices and partners, in response to emerging needs, which also meant bringing in international financial institutions, other partner initiatives at national and international levels, and fostering greater engagement of central governments. 

(Learning) culture eats (learning) strategy for breakfast 

Fostering a culture of learning necessitated a shift in our approach to questioning – moving away from routine updates and towards more probing inquiries focused on learning, unexpected discoveries, and navigating change. Instead of asking, “What did you do last week?”, we began asking questions like, “What surprised you during your meeting with the municipality?” We augmented this shift with an online space for project staff, creating a platform for sharing and collective learning. Encouraging rituals such as celebrating ‘wins’, foster curiosity and creating a safe space for sharing ‘fumble brags’ and blind spots became integral to our approach.  

We have also seen the added value of principles to lean on. A key principle has been ‘not to come with a solution, but a process to co-design solutions in a specific context’. The impulse to immediately solve problems had to be replaced with a sense of curiosity and appreciation for the value of discovery, rather than focusing solely on creating predefined blueprints. Another key principle for learning is now the 70-20-10 model. Where in addition to the 70% of core, tried and tested activities, another 20% of our work ought to be focused on emerging topics and ideas (and ideally 10% for ‘crazy ideas’), where experimentation is needed to help our work and capabilities evolve and stay relevant. 

What has been difficult 

First, a key realization was our tendency to report actions rather than reflect on learning. Shifting from a control and oversight mindset to one of reflection and learning remains an ongoing journey, and where we seek inspiration from others. 

Second, we operate within traditional project management and administrative systems that emphasize accountability and risk management over learning. While we are still accountable in the traditional sense of delivering a clean or green dashboard for all indicators and risk registers, we also nurture a a mindset of ‘yes, and’ as well as curiosity. Continually advocating for an internal operational and cultural shift towards a learning mindset is a critical part of our journey. 

Looking ahead 

Now in 2024, our aim is to augment our learning muscle by experimenting with new rhythms and rituals, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. In a world that constantly evolves, our ability to adapt and learn is our most valuable asset. 

We would love to hear from others working on fostering adaptability through actionable learning and insights in their projects and programs. What strategies, rhythm and rituals have you found effective? Please reach out at: irh.innovation@undp.org.

This piece shared what we are working on internally, and we have also tested this framework externally. In 2023, we applied the system learning framework with a cohort of active municipality staff. More on this to come soon.