Action Learning Process

Dialogic, Creative, Evolutionary

Our action-learning process (ALP) is the core methodology in our Civil Society Organization (CSO) Strengthening Program. It is non-prescriptive, collaborative dialogic, creative and evolutionary. We focus is on propositional politics – what can be done to get it right – as opposed to oppositional politics, which names and shames what is wrong.

Action learning is a process that has been part of private-sector strategies for leadership development and, to a lesser extent, organizational development for many years. The main features of the method are:

  • A small group analyzes and develops solutions to a real organizational problem
  • It is expected that participants will learn from each other as they work on a real problem
  • People will learn how to ask questions that will bring unstated assumptions to the surface
  • People will learn about themselves as they work on a problem together
  • People are accountable for their decisions and (in most cases) are expected to implement them
  • There is a process of analyzing results and learning from experience

These core ideas have been used in a variety of ways to stimulate learning on the part of individuals, and to improve the effectiveness of organizations.

The action-learning process has proven so successful that it has formed the basis for our work with over twenty organizations in India, South Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar. A variant of this process is also being used to change how UN country teams work on gender equality.

Peer learning among organizations and individuals is critical to the action-learning process; everyone involved in our workshops is both facilitator and learner.

Benefits of the action-learning process

  • We help our partners go beyond rhetoric into action, enabling them to walk the talk
  • Gives development NGOs a structure, and a team of resource people, to support learning and change for gender equality within organizations – their programs, planning and processes
  • Partners feel empowered to create, own and refine their own change projects
  • Change agents learn the art of transforming power, as opposed to seizing it

Coming soon: a downloadable document with more information about our methodologies at the Learning Centre.

Click here for more information about our Civil Society Organization (CSO) Strengthening Program

To get more information about facilitating an ALP in your organization, please write to info@genderatwork.org

 

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