Reflection and learning summaries

The ILM process is a journey; progress is not linear. Thus reflection and learning is an essential part of the impact evaluation cycle helping to adapt and iterate in order to continue growing in the right direction. Reflections allow an LP to move beyond tactical thinking to strategic thinking. Learning entails being able to look at the past, understand it, and improve things going forward. Facilitators can help the LP group to structure their reflections, on the results of the impact analysis and other assessments, and translate these into concrete proposed adjustments to the LP, landscape assessment, vision, strategy and planning and action plan. These reflections and recommendations can be captured in a synthesis report, learning briefs, newsletter articles, videos, or LP meeting notes. Selected materials can be used by the LP in external communications to motivate continued or increased support.

Reflection and learning summaries Tools

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4 Returns Monitoring in Practice: A Guidebook

This guide (also mentioned in output 5.1) teaches practitioners the basics of monitoring and reporting on long-term 4 Returns (inspiration, social capital, natural capital, and financial capital) impacts in holistic landscape restoration. Part 5, Evaluation and Learning (pg. 22), is particularly useful for self-reflection that goes beyond quantitative analysis to determine and communicate the stories of success within a landscape.

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How are we doing? A tool to reflect on the process, progress and priorities of your multi-stakeholder forum

  • Guide

This handbook (also mentioned in output 1.3) provides the background, guidance and facilitation materials necessary to implement How are we doing?, a participatory reflection tool designed to enable multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) to create the necessary conditions for achieving their goals. The handbook includes several exercises that invite participants to discuss and reflect upon key indicators from their projects. The purpose of this reflection is to learn from the past, consider progress and obstacles to further progress, and collectively plan how to achieve the MSF’s goals in the future.

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Making Evaluations Matter: A Practical Guide for Evaluators

  • Guide

This guide provides a basic foundation on how to make evaluations more useful. It aims to improve understanding of conceptual issues and the way evaluations can contribute to changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders. On a practical level, the guide presents core guiding principles and pointers on how to design and facilitate evaluations that matter. It also shows how to get primary intended users and other key stakeholders to contribute effectively to the evaluation process.

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Outcome Mapping (OM)

  • Guide

This site offers several guides and briefs on outcome mapping, a methodology for planning and assessing development programming that is oriented towards change and social transformation. Outcome mapping provides a set of tools to design and gather information on the outcomes of the change process. It can help LPs learn about their influence on the progression of change within the partnership, and therefore promote more systematic and pragmatic reflection on their process and help them better manage their strategies to achieve desired outcomes.

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Retrospectives

  • Co-design

This online tool and associated guide from Parabol help teams conduct retrospectives, regularly recurring meetings during which they can review and reflect upon their work. The retrospectives tool provides capabilities like anonymous commenting and voting, action-item tracking and templates to help teams determine what’s going well, what’s not going well and what can be improved in their projects.

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Theory U: Dialogue Interviews

  • Co-design
  • Guide

This step-by-step guide (also mentioned in output 2.4) teaches how to facilitate dialogue interviews and provides several examples to illustrate the process. Dialogue interviews engage the interviewee in a reflective and generative conversation and can be used to prepare for projects, workshops or capacity building programs.

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Theory U: Guided Journaling

  • Guide

Guided journaling (also mentioned in output 2.4) leads participants through a self-reflective process during each phase of partnership development. This practice allows participants to access deeper levels of self-knowledge and to connect this knowledge to concrete actions. It can be used with groups of any size.