Topic 01
What is Collaborative Learning?
Collaborative Learning is about creating a vibrant community of members deeply engaged in peer-to-peer (or practitioner-to-practitioner) learning to jointly problem-solve, generate global knowledge, and adapt that knowledge to their country-specific contexts. Collaborative Learning involves groups of learners working together to solve problems, searching for understanding, and/or creating knowledge products. Collaborative Learning relies on interaction and collaboration, mutual respect among peers for their abilities and contributions, and consensus building and cooperation (SPARC, Collaborative Learning to Advance Knowledge and Implementation of Strategic Health Purchasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, Health Systems & Reform Journal (HSR), 2022).
Collaborative Learning Networks (or “communities of practice”) have been used in many fields and over the past decade, and now they are gaining traction in global development as an innovative and complementary model of technical assistance. Collaborative Learning uses adult learning theory and social learning principles to support the development of more sustainable systems (Wenger-Trayner video on “Social Learning” and Introduction to communities of practice).
Effective Collaborative Learning Networks have 5 shared characteristics:
- Collaborative Learning Networks are grounded in principles of country-led development, designed to provide demand-driven support to country change agents, where the members of the community set the learning agenda and shape and guide the future direction of the community.
- Collaborative Learning Networks are cohesive and supportive communities, nurtured by a high level of social trust that creates a safe space for open exchange and dialogue. Collaborative Learning Networks are not only a place to share best or promising practices, but to surface challenges and discuss past failures.
- Collaborative Learning Networks enhance individual change agent knowledge and skills, but do not stop there. They also work to enhance the capacity of teams and institutions represented by participating change agents, and, in the long-term, they strengthen systems and ecosystems to sustainably improve development outcomes.
- Collaborative Learning Networks position participating change agents as both learners and teachers, enabling them to learn from another, collaboratively problem-solve, and co-create solutions to pressing development challenges.
- Collaborative Learning Networks are continuously evolving communities operating within complex political, economic, and socio-cultural contexts that can significantly influence how they evolve and grow — or fail to thrive — over time. Collaborative Learning Networks expand and contract, revise their learning agendas, change membership, innovate on facilitation approaches, and adapt to changing contexts and funding environments.
