Learning and Knowledge Sharing Must be High on Development Agenda

The global international development cooperation landscape is changing rapidly. We have been witnessing a proliferation of new development actors, and a shift in the inclusiveness agenda. At the same time, there is a joint understanding among development stakeholders, that learning and knowledge sharing must be high on the post-2015 development agenda. The CEF together with 20 donor agencies and multilateral organizations met in Ljubljana, Slovenia from June 16–18 at the learn4dev network Annual Meeting to discuss new trends in international development cooperation, the way we can respond to associated challenges through learning and knowledge sharing, and the value of the network in this regard.

The participants of the meeting agreed that it is important to reinforce learning culture within the organizations and that developing learning capacities should be part of the strategic decision of each organization. This way the organizations will be better equipped to face challenges in changing international environment.

At the meeting the participants discussed challenges and opportunities they are facing at their work. Human resource and learning experts expressed the need to work together on the topic of organizational learning. The action plan of the new Expert Group on Organizational Learning was established. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) offered to lead the group, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), European Commission (EC), and CEF expressed interest to join in.

Participants also confirmed the importance of sharing experiences about the use of the learning virtual tools and prepared an action plan to make the inventory of online learning opportunities. Gender expert group prepared a plan for the implementation of the Gender Equality Scorecard, the tool that was developed for gender mainstreaming in trainings.

Participants also highlighted the importance of the active use of network's communication strategy within the network as well as in external communication. The newly prepared communication strategy was presented and discussed and action plan is proposed for its implementation.

This year the annual meeting was co-organized by the CEF and SDC. Hosts of the next year’s annual meeting will be the EC and DFID. The meeting will take place in June 2015 in Glasgow, Scotland.

About learn4dev:
learn4dev is a joint donors’ competence development network and an open forum for donor agencies and multilateral organizations. Its objective is to promote improved aid effectiveness for poverty reduction by enhancing donor cooperation in the field of competence development and training.

It works with three different components to develop members' competences. Expert Groups concentrate knowledge in specific areas to teach other members. A Core Group promotes better co-operation by organizing learn4dev's Annual Meeting. The Annual Meeting helps the network achieve better communication and development.