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What is a Learning Route?

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A Learning Route is a capacity building tool, developed by Procasur Corporation, designed as a facilitated planned journey with specific learning objectives. A LR is an on-going peer-to-peer training process that makes room for discussion, analysis and reflection, while encouraging an active and mutual knowledge exchange between participants and their hosts.

 

The ultimate aim is to develop the ability of the Learning Route’s participants to identify potentially useful innovations that can be adapted and then applied in the framework of their organizations in their own country.

 

The Learning Route’s methodology has been tested, adapted and renewed since 1996, through a long-term partnership between Procasur, IFAD and other international organizations. The Learning Route methodology has been used in more than 35 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, involving over 3000 development practitioners.

 

Main steps of the learning route

 

1. Identifying and selecting the host country experiences that will be documented. An experience is relevant when it shows evidence of the use of good practice and/or innovation that has proved successful in addressing local challenges and in improving local people’s livelihoods/ nutrition.

2. Systematization/documentation of these experiences. The aim of this is to capture the process (the how, who, what) to enable other people to adopt and scale up these successes. The process of systematization aims to:

  • identify and analyze the key of success of the experience, its good practices and innovations

  • extract lessons that can be applied for scaling-up the experience to other similar contexts

  • facilitate appropriation of the learning by the actors of the experience and enhance their ability to share their knowledge.

3. Identifying champions. People who are successful in their own work are trained to become capacity builders (‘Champions’), who use their own experiences as the source of training.

4. Learning visit: representatives from at least 7 CSAs from will join each learning exchange. The learning exchange develops as a journey across different experiences and through meeting various stakeholders and trainers. It ends with the drafting of an action plan to implement/test some of the learning acquired during the event.  

5. Follow up and on-going support. Participants are supported to draw on their learning, to share their learning with others, and to implement their action plans.

What is a learning route? watch this cartoon produced by Procasur

Testimonials: Rwanda Learning Route 2016

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Characteristics of a best practice:
  1. EVIDENCE of SUCCESS: the best practice has proved successful in addressing local challenges
  2. REPLICABLE APPROACH: even if developed and implemented in a specific context it contains elements that can be replicated (or adapted) for different contexts/countries
  3. The best practice MEET NEEDS and is relevant to the beneficiaries of the activities
  4. INNOVATION/CREATIVITY are shown in the specific context: the success is the result of something done in a different way and for that brought success (innovative not in absolute terms)
  5. COLLABORATION among different organizations/actors (within SUN and outside)
  6. SUSTAINABILITY (social, environmental, economical, and technical), the BP or its results are lasting.
  7. Relevance to the key learning areas identified by the CSA in the learning needs survey
Champions

‘Champions’ are people with valuable knowledge, usually practical, that are known within their organization or community for their ways of doing things, their knowledge and innovative leadership on development initiatives that positively impact their own context. Their knowledge and skills make them key players in the Learning Route experience since they become training providers (see also PROCASUR Rural Talents webpage).

 

Long term learning and sharing

Help us in shaping and framing sutainable channels for peer to peer learing, sharing, mutual support that enhance your capacities and visibility. Join the discussions on facebook and get in contact and fill this survey sharing your thoughts!

 

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