Listen carefully. Tread lightly. Adapt quickly. Approaching Adaptive Management: Examples from our Somalia Education Programming
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Author/contributor
- CARE (Author)
Title
Listen carefully. Tread lightly. Adapt quickly. Approaching Adaptive Management: Examples from our Somalia Education Programming
Abstract
Adaptive management approaches potentially offer us opportunities to deliver high quality results in
circumstances where change is complex, including in fragile, unstable or conflict affected places. However,
building adaptive programming continues to be a challenge for the sector.
For CARE, our Department for International Development -UK Aid funded Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC)
programming has provided useful learning on how to operationalise adaptive approaches. In this paper we
expand on our learning from this project and offer some recommendations for how to create more
opportunities for truly adaptive programming in the future. In particular:
• Projects that are designed to adapt need budget structures, results frameworks and governance that
enable the process of adaptation. In our GEC projects the approaches employed by DFID, including the
introduction of Review and Adaptation meetings have served to support meaningful adaptation.
• Adaptive projects require both strong participatory elements and flexible governance and
accountability structures. Whilst rigorous and comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)
systems are important without these other elements appropriate adaptation can be hindered.
• Adaptive Management requires resources. Where the expected change is complex, adaptation is
frequently necessary to ensure we are responding to context and evidence. This should be adequately
resourced if we are to expect results.
In an environment where many INGOs work consistently within complex environments, the sector also needs
more opportunities to trial these approaches and could benefit from more funding streams available which
include the kinds of approaches used by DFID in current GEC programming
Series Title
CARE Learning
Institution
CARE
Date
2020
Accessed
15/10/2020, 11:24
Citation
CARE. (2020). Listen carefully. Tread lightly. Adapt quickly. Approaching Adaptive Management: Examples from our Somalia Education Programming (CARE Learning). CARE. https://insights.careinternational.org.uk/media/k2/attachments/CARE_Adaptive-Management-and-the-GEC-in-Somalia_2020.pdf
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