Report summary: Embedded learning partnerships – what have we learnt?

This report is authored by Julian Martin, Krishna Ramesh, Koki Nzomo and Torben Fischer at IDinsight.

Report name

Embedded Learning Partnerships – What Have We Learnt?

Who wrote this report?

IDinsight is a not-for-profit organisation that uses data and evidence to help leaders combat poverty worldwide. Their collaborations deploy a large analytical toolkit to help clients design better policies, rigorously test what works and use evidence to implement effectively at scale. They place special emphasis on using the right tool for the right question and tailor their rigorous methods to the real-world constraints of decision-makers.

IDinsight works with governments, foundations, NGOs, multilaterals and businesses across Africa and Asia. We work in all major sectors, including health, education, agriculture, governance, social protection, financial access and sanitation.

Best quote

For many government institutions, the Learning Partnership model presents an opportunity to increase their focus on evidence use, and they could use the support of seasoned researchers to help them identify which questions can be answered meaningfully.

Key takeaways:

• Organisations implementing the Learning Partnership model should aim to have a deep understanding of the partner’s operating context and constraints to identify feasible solutions. Activities that help to facilitate this include stakeholder mappings and political economy analyses. It is also important to have country nationals as part of the LP team to support with local context considerations.
• Learning Partnerships need to align with evolving partner priorities and needs for evidence to be used in policymaking. Embedding Learning Partnership teams allow close collaboration with government partners and external stakeholders to ensure LP activities address priority areas, and capacity-building is done to ensure sustainability of the generated solutions.
• Trust and buy-in of champions from partner organisations is critical for a Learning Partnership to be successful. Organisations implementing LPs should prioritise engaging deeply with both technical and political leadership within government counterparts in formal and informal ways. This ensures that the generated evidence is decision-relevant, and increases the probability that recommendations will be adopted and implemented.

What’s in this report?

This report outlines IDinsight’s key learnings on Learning Partnerships with government clients over six years. It explains in detail the IDinsight LP approach and how the model facilitates evidence generation that enables governments to make informed decisions, resulting in sustainable solutions that amplify their social impact.

The report discusses enablers and barriers to achieving successful LPs alongside reflections for teams working on Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIPM) partnerships with government clients.

Why should you read this report?

This report provides insights into the learning partnership approach, integrating teams with research skills into policymaking teams to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making. It presents an opportunity for those working with policymakers to learn more about the LP approach, how to maximise the success of the LPs and potential barriers to be aware of when implementing learning partnerships. The insights reflected in this report can help teams supporting government partners to understand and use Evidence-Informed Policymaking (EIPM) approaches, such as LPs, to contribute to policy improvements, service delivery and other social outcomes by taking into account policymakers’ contexts and constraints as they endeavour to generate relevant evidence.

Who is this report for?

Do you work closely with government partners? Are you curious about evidence-informed policymaking approaches? Then, this report is for you. This report presents findings from a reflection exercise that aimed to identify and understand the critical enablers and barriers to learning partnerships' success. The insights from this report will help those supporting policymakers understand and adapt the requirements for a successful evidence-informed approach, and further strengthen their work by using rigorous evidence to inform government policy and decision-making.

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