Original document in Spanish can be downloaded here: Lecciones Aprendidas.

Notes on Lessons Learned

Background

The IDB’s ability to support the development of knowledge, policies and institutions will define the extent to which it will remain a relevant partner for the countries of the region. For this, it is necessary that it be strengthened as an institution that continuously learns from its experience and from contact with its clients, deepening the link between knowledge production and the operations program.

In response to this challenge, the IDB Institutional Knowledge and Learning Strategy 2008–2010 (GN-2479), aims to promote the creation, dissemination, exchange and use of knowledge necessary to increase development effectiveness.

This strategy stipulates that the mandate of the Knowledge Management Division (KNL / KNM) is to facilitate and improve, both within the Bank and with clients and counterparts in the Region, the flow and use of knowledge from operational experience from the bank. Part of this operational experience is manifested in Lessons Learned and Good Practices.

The purpose of this document is: (i) to share a definition of Lessons Learned and Good Practices, and ii) to propose an appropriate analysis and reflection framework for its identification, documentation and dissemination through Notes of Lessons Learned.

What do we understand by Lessons Learned?

The documentation of Lessons Learned helps convert tacit knowledge (that which is in the mind and derives from the experience of people), in explicit knowledge (that contained in documents, electronic files or objects), facilitating its dissemination.

The Lessons Learned can be defined as the knowledge or understanding gained through reflection on an experience or process, or a set of them. This experience or process can be positive or negative (eg, strengths and weaknesses in the design or implementation of a project).

For the Lessons Learned to be relevant and useful, they must be:

• Applicable, because they have real or potential impact on operations or processes
• Valid, because they are based on true facts
• Significant, because they identify processes or decisions that reduce or eliminate failures or reinforce a positive outcome

These Lessons can be extracted from loan operations, technical cooperation or knowledge products and capacity building aimed at borrowing member countries, or from corporate initiatives in the areas of organizational management, operational policies and procedures and staff training, among others. The Lessons Learned allow one to:

• Identify success factors (effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability)
• Identify shortcomings in policies, strategies, programs, projects, processes, methods and techniques
• Identify and solve problems through new courses of action
• Improve future decision making and serve as a model for other interventions.

Good Practices can be defined as efficient solutions to solve a problem. These practices have been validated by its extensive use and obtaining positive results in diverse contexts, which are confirmed by evaluations. In short, Good Practices are those that:

• have been executed with proven effectiveness
• can be replicated and applied in other contexts yielding similar results
• have met or exceeded the objectives set, and delivered the expected products
• are sustainable over time

The documentation of Lessons Learned is a first step in the identification and validation of Good Practices. While the Lessons Learned can originate in

One or several projects or initiatives, Good Practices arise from the knowledge and lessons accumulated in multiple practices, in order to give rise to standards.

What do other international organizations learn from lessons learned?

For the Asian Development Bank (ADB) lessons learned are “concise descriptions of knowledge based on the experience that can be communicated through methods and techniques such as storytelling or brief reports or systematized in databases. These lessons often reflect what was done well, what should have been done differently, and how the process should be improved to be more effective in the future. ”

According to the OECD / DAC, these are “generalizations based on the experiences of evaluating projects, programs or policies in specific circumstances, which apply to broader situations. Often, the lessons highlight the strengths or weaknesses in the preparation, design and implementation that affect the performance, results and impact of projects, programs or policies. ”

How to identify Lessons Learned?

There are several methodologies that can be used to identify Lessons Learned, which allow a systematic and collective reflection. The purpose of this reflection process is to make practical recommendations, in order to improve the present or future experience and identify the new contributions made by that experience, and that advance on the existing knowledge.

Among the methodologies proposed by KNL for this purpose, they include:

• After Action Review
• Case Studies
• Experience Observatories

The choice between various methodologies will depend on the purposes to be achieved, the target audience, the analytical complexity and the time and resources available.

The common and fundamental characteristic of all these methods lies in the collective nature of their reflection process. In general, the process of collecting data and perceptions to propose lessons learned should involve the various relevant actors.

It is important that the lessons identified be validated by peer review opinions of experts on the subject, before a wider dissemination.

How to document Lessons Learned?

To document Lessons Learned it is important to define:

• What is the knowledge or lesson learned that you want to document
• To whom do you want to transmit and for what purpose?
• What evidence supports the new knowledge or lesson learned
• How this new knowledge or lesson learned contributes to existing knowledge on the subject and to what extent it validates, complements and / or refutes

• Under what specific context this new knowledge or lesson learned is relevant

There are several ways to document the Lessons Learned: the Memory Help of After Action Review; the narration and analysis of the Case Study and the Experience Observatory Report, by way of examples.

In order to consolidate a friendly and accessible set of Lessons Learned, KNL proposes a series of Notes of Lessons Learned that can be published in printed and electronic format and collected in a searchable database.

The Note of Lessons Learned that is proposed consists of a brief analytical document, which presents the lessons derived of a collective reflection process in which those involved in the experience or set of experiences analyzed participate.

KNL recommends that the Lessons Learned Note include the following sections:

Background (brief description of the experience analyzed and the context in which it takes place)

• Results achieved (outputs, outcomes and impact achieved to date)

Costs and other financial and non-financial resources involved

Lessons identified and critical factors for obtaining results (ex: elements that facilitate and hinder, identified risks and attention strategy)

• Assumptions for the implementation of these lessons in other contexts
• References (contact details, project bibliography, similar experiences)

In addition, it is important to:

• Prepare the Note in conversational language, using active verbs
• Minimize the use of acronyms
• Include citations and references whenever
• Costs and other financial and non-financial resources involved
• Recognize the participation and effort of relevant teams that made possible the analysis and documentation of their experience

A Note of Lessons Learned should not exceed 5 pages (2500 words).

KNL proposes to support the Bank’s organizational units and the executing units in the preparation, publication and dissemination of the Lessons Learned Notes. We invite interested personnel to contact any of the KNL / KNM Officers identified in this text as contact points.