Measuring the Contribution of CLA to Organizational and Development Outcomes

USAID funded five partner organizations to examine the question: does a systematic, intentional, and resourced approach to collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) contribute to improved organizational effectiveness and development outcomes? And if so, how and under what conditions? Each partner applied the $100,000 grant to design and implement a research process to respond to these questions over 20 months ending in April 2018. Given the documented challenges associated with measuring the contribution of CLA to organizational or development outcomes, each grant was an investment in piloting and learning from measurement approaches, creating a safe space for trial, error, and ultimately improving current and future attempts at similar research.

This document describes the key findings from one learning network member, Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI). To assess BioCrop’s practice of Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) and its impact on development outcomes GKI asked: to what extent would BioCrops use the knowledge products produced by GKI to make decisions and advance their goals? The process designed operated on the logic that BioCrops then would apply the knowledge products to make operational and programmatic decisions in order to achieve development outcomes—increased income for the firm and greater food security in Uganda.