The term After Action Review (AAR) is becoming more common in the world of development evaluation, particularly in programmes that focus on evaluation as a formative learning process. As structured and facilitated learning moments, AARs take many shapes always built to support a specific team in a specific moment on their journey. Across such a diversity of practice how do we understand the evolution of the AAR as a method with an action research orientation? Being mindful always of the risk of instrumentalising and co-opting participatory methods, there is danger that AARs become an empty programme ritual, remaining at the surface and failing to achieve critical reflection and so falling short of their intention of pushing for deeper change in our practice. As the evaluation and learning team of two large complex, multi-partner projects using research to address development challenges, we have been applying the AAR method while adapting to virtual COVID working with partners across the world. As action researchers we have been thinking about what critical reflection means within a programme AAR process and whether and how they can open up a second person inquiry space.

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