MEASURING IMPACT Making Use of the Portfolio Organizational Learning at USAID

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................ 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 6
1 ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: KEY CONCEPTS & RELEVANCE TO USAID .......... 7
Terminology ........................................................................................................................................ 7
The Benefits of Learning .................................................................................................................... 8
Factors Influencing Organizational Learning ...................................................................................... 8
Knowledge Creation ........................................................................................................................... 8
Knowledge Transfer ........................................................................................................................... 9
Knowledge Retention ....................................................................................................................... 13
Promotion of Organizational Learning .............................................................................................. 17
2 USAID’S SOCIAL LEARNING EFFORTS ..................................................................... 18
Interview Methods ............................................................................................................................ 18
Interview Results .............................................................................................................................. 18
Internal-Facing Efforts ...................................................................................................................... 20
External-Facing Efforts ..................................................................................................................... 21
Challenges ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Impact and Sustainability .................................................................................................................. 25
3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SOCIAL LEARNING EFFORTS ...................... 27
General Recomendations ................................................................................................................. 27
Applications to the Cross-mission Learning Program ....................................................................... 31
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 33
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix A: Topic guide for key informant interviews ...................................................................... 36
Appendix B: List of interview participants ......................................................................................... 38
MEASURING IMPACT – ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING AT USAID TABLE OF CONTENTS 1