Learning for Change
The thematic area ‘Learning for Change’ has emerged from IRC’s work and past experience on a range of concepts and approaches to support learning in the WASH sector. This theme helps provide focus for reflection and learning about the effectiveness of our approaches and tools to promote change in projects and programmes.
Learning for Change draws on our work on ‘Learning Alliances’, ‘Resource Centre Development’ and ‘Sector Learning’ and builds on IRC’s experience in supporting our partners to facilitate innovation, knowledge sharing and collaboration. Together with the conceptual and practical work on capacity development and knowledge management this experience contributes to our emerging understanding of how to support and promote a learning sector for WASH services at scale that are equitable and sustainable.
Learning for change factsheet
Providing WASH services that last entails change by different stakeholders. We need to learn why our existing approaches are not always fully effective, and we need to build on best practices to improve our implementation models. Learning what works and doesn’t and encouraging change for the better is crucial for achieving sustainable WASH service delivery. It can help to use scarce resources better, to improve the performance of WASH facilities for all and indefinitely.
IRC supports sector stakeholders at local, national and international levels to reflect on progress and failures, to learn from each other and convert these lessons into adapted policies, practices, models and tools. Under the theme ‘learning for change’ IRC focuses on consolidating experience and lessons and improving our understanding of how joint learning can contribute to equitable and sustainable WASH service delivery. This factsheet highlights some of the work that IRC is doing.
Factsheet learning for change 2011.pdf (311.3 kB)
Learning for Change blog
This blog was set up by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and is maintained by its staff, mainly Carmen DaSilva Wells. It is dedicated to learning for change. And it is focused on development cooperation, with special emphasis on the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector.
The following concepts and initiatives are covered: Sector learning; Learning alliances; Resource centre networks;Sector-wide approaches and harmonisation; and Change management applied to complex sets of institutions.
The ‘Seventh video’ raises many important governance issues
“The video raises many important governance issues, like partnerships and not to leave everything to communities, transparency in funds management, gender and equity for disadvantaged groups. It helps us see these issues more clearly.” “I have used it in several trainings here, to send the message”. These are two of the 11 comments made on the Seventh Video on Community Water Supply Management by eight participants of the WASH Governance Testing Workshop held in Morogoro, Tanzania, 17th and 18th November 2011.
