USAID’s workforce is highly mobile, with Foreign Service staff in particular transitioning fairly frequently from post to post. Yet the Agency lacks a systematic process for capturing and transferring knowledge from outgoing staff to incoming staff. Consequently, during staff transitions, knowledge of our programs and their histories, u...

Pilot builds on CLA best practicesPanagora Group holds the USAID CLAimHealth contract, which supports the agency to effectively implement its health portfolio in the Philippines through high-quality monitoring and evaluation data, continuous learning, and adaptive management.Following four years of robust activities to raise awareness and...

We kicked off June with knowledge management as our theme because of the importance of this topic during periods of staff transition, which peaks during summer. Our inaugural themed month was also an opportunity to take stock of adaptations and lessons that have been identified over the past year and half of working through the pandemic.P...

When COVID-19 hit, programming teams across the world faced an imperative to devise new ways of ensuring reliable, continued delivery of essential child protection interventions, on time, and with quality, in contexts that had often become practically inaccessible almost overnight. These adaptations were often innovative, responding to a ...

Ever been teased for collecting too much feedback? I have - but how else would I know if our work achieved its goal? As an instructional designer, when I start a new training, I work hard to understand the need and find the right solution, but I’ve learned one rarely gets everything right the first time. So why not plan for continuous l...

This blog is Part II in the two-part series on Rapid After Action Reviews (RAARs). Read Part I for background on what a RAAR is, when it should be conducted, and how to conduct one – including a template!As the teams I work with used the RAAR process over time, they identified two extra categories for action planning that may be useful ...

After Action Reviews (AARs) are a best practice for knowledge sharing and learning. As described on the BetterEvaluation website, an After Action Review is a simple tool to facilitate an assessment of organisational performance by bringing together a team to discuss a task, event, or activity, in an open and honest fashion. [1] The A...

Rapid After-Action Review (RAAR) is a quick and easy exercise in collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) that teams can build into everyday work processes. A RAAR is a 1-hour facilitated discussion with a simple, structured note-taking template designed to help a team not only pause and reflect, but also prioritize specific management...

This blog is Part I in the two-part series on Rapid After Action Reviews (RAARs). Part II (coming soon!) explores the real-world successes and challenges of conducting RAARs with USAID offices and teams.Rapid After-Action Review (RAAR) is a quick and easy exercise in collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) that teams can build into ev...