LEARNING AND METHODOLOGY
The project´s link between learning and doing is located in its methodology. The project will proceed using a process of continuous learning and refinement as visions, trajectories and portfolios to emerge. The methodology seeks to combine local in-country meetings and activities with cross-project workshops and outreach activities to facilitate ongoing learning on multiple levels. To do this, the project will use an Agile Scrum (AS) methodology, as well as an active knowledge management approach which seeks to continually document and reflexively share insights about the learning process and outcomes in the project. The project has an open-ended structure – i.e. the project does not presume to know in advance what will, finally, be learned and achieved. Instead, the development and direction of the project will continually adapt according to emerging feedback.
AN ITERATIVE APPROACH
The methodology of the project is iterative, allowing LbD teams to progressively collect and refine findings, and for emerging findings to inform further steps. Based on findings, the process will be continuously adapted and updated in the direction of the research, responding in a flexible (agile) manner to the opportunities and findings of each cycle of discussions. In doing so, the project will advance in annual sprints, each cycle advancing with renewed objectives. The project envisions repeating these annual processes, building each time upon previous findings.
A PARTICIPATIVE ENGAGEMENT
The project iterative workshops involve participants from the private sector, civil society and academia to meet regularly and work together to produce all of its outputs. These workshops will take place at least twice every year in each country, with additional cross project meetings annually. These workshops are geared to enhance knowledge, skills and capacity in participants as the project advances, and help facilitate cross fertilization of ideas across teams and countries in the project. It will also do this by producing all of its outputs every year, thus allowing for comparison.
FACILITATING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge is expressed in various forms: in the written word, in memory (stored in the mind or in the body) or in the institutions that govern our lives. Some estimates suggest that up to 90% of an organisation’s knowledge is not documented explicitly but held in the form of tacit knowledge. This type of knowledge, while rooted in the human mind and lived experience, is also part of the wealth and diversity of human life. Importantly, it is unusual to transform tacit knowledge into tangible forms such as written documents. More often, it is transmitted verbally in the form of coaching, storytelling or apprenticeship.
The project learning component and its methodology seeks to translate learning and the formal and informal, implicit and explicit knowledge into opportunities to educate, develop skills and enhance capacity. In doing so, it enriches the opportunities these visions of societies and their transitions and portfolios afford to emerging transitions.
EVALUATION
The project seeks to evaluate how much it learns by several means. Following on its iterative methodology, the project will use the production of all of its outputs on an annual basis to contrast advances year by year. In addition, biannual surveys and interviews are being conducted with all participants, examining advances achieved by country and themes.