Are we using the information that we gather through collaboration and learning activities to make better decisions and make adjustments as necessary? Being intentional about taking time to pause and reflect creates opportunities to take stock of programming outcomes, successes, and challenges as well as organizational processes. Adapting effectively happens when USAID and partners apply learning and adapt during implementation to increase the impact of development assistance.
Guidance and Tools
For related ADS Discussion Notes and How Tos, go here.
Examples
Podcasts
Stopping to Think: Why it Pays to Pause and Reflect — This episode of From the Inside Out explores evidence that group reflection leads to learning and decision-making, discusses two opportunities to use Program Cycle processes to pause and reflect, and details how teams have built Pause and Reflect moments into their work.
Adapting for Better Development Results — The final episode of CLA at USAID zeroes in on the A in CLA--adapting. Tune into the discussion, which focuses on three USAID projects that adapted and scaled up in response to lessons learned and changes in their local context.