Enhancing Partner and Systems-Level Learning: 8 Tips from MEL Managers

  • Partner: USAID Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP), DAI
  • Publication Type: Learning Brief
  • Date: May 31, 2023
  • Team: Ben Fowler (MarketShare Associates) with Erka Caro (SwissContact), Hana Hoxha (DT Global), and Ritesh Prasad (Adam Smith International)
  • Recommended Citation: Enhancing Partner and Systems-Level Learning: 8 Tips from MEL Managers. Washington, D.C.: United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Prepared by Ben Fowler, Erka Caro, Hana Hoxha, and Ritesh Prasad for DAI through the Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity, 2023

Effective learning is a key driver of market systems change, with the potential to enhance system competitiveness, resilience, and inclusiveness. To deepen insights from Shifting the Locus of Learning: Catalyzing Private Sector Learning to Drive Systemic Change report, the Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity convened a series of peer discussions with three senior MEL Managers about their experiences applying learning strategies from the report.

This brief shares the collective learning and experience from these discussions and synthesizes eight tips for practically enhancing partner and system-level learning:

  1. Identify the right decision-maker(s) at potential partners.
  2. Use a co-creation process to identify learning opportunities.
  3. Use diagnostics and assessments to strengthen partner and system capacity for actionable learning.
  4. Use a phased capacity strengthening process tied to behavior change.
  5. Measure partners’ continued investment in and use of learning—not the continuation of specific learning activities.
  6. Work with sector-level institutions for scale but be aware of risks.
  7. Leverage informal communities of practice to share learning.
  8. Use the right terminology to talk about partner and system-focused learning.

This learning brief was originally published by the USAID Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity on Agrilinks on May 31, 2023.

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