Spanish version available in IDRC Digital Library: Construcción de sistemas de aprendizaje para el desarrollo de Hondura

IDRC, Rural Poverty and Environment Program Initiative

International Development Research Centre: IDRC Digital Library

Building LearningSystems for HonduranDevelopment---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rural Poverty and Environment Program InitiativeInternational Development Research Centre250 Albert StreetP.O. Box 8500Ottawa, OntarioCanadaK1G 3H9Tel: (613) 236-6163Web: www.idrc.ca/rpe-honduras-en---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The International Development Research Centre is a public corporation created by theParliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing countries use science and technology to findpractical, long-term solutions to the social, economic and environmental problems they face.Support is directed toward developing an indigenous research capacity to sustain policies andtechnologies that developing countries need to build healthier, more equitable and moreprosperous societies.The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is Canada's lead agency fordevelopment assistance. It has a mandate to support sustainable development, in order toreduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable, and prospeAn initiative of the International Development ResearchCentre and the Canadian International Development AgencyIn Latin America and the Caribbean, only Haiti andGuatemala rank as poorer nations than Honduras.Approximately 53 percent of Honduras' 7.2 million peoplelive in poverty. Proper sanitation is lacking for 31 percent ofHondurans and 13 percent of the population has no accessto potable water. These burdens weigh most heavily onwomen, children, indigenous people and other vulnerablepopulations. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch deepened the nation'swidespread poverty when it killed some 7,000 Honduransand left up to 1.5 million homeless.In this context, Honduras urgently needs efficiency,knowledge, and best practices in developmentinterventions. Unfortunately, the reality for practitioners hasbeen just the opposite. They often lack information on howbest to design and implement projects. Where informationdoes exist, it is not readily accessible or available in user-friendly format. Comprehensive and relevant research toinform planning is lacking.As a result, development projectsand policy are rarely based on evidence and seldomintegrate lessons from past experiences.Learning systems are methods, processes and activities that enable people to create,organize and share knowledge that can help make better institutional decisions and moreappropriate interventions. The integration of learning systems within an organization,institution or network establishes practices and mechanisms that facilitate collectiveknowledge generation.The goal of the Building Learning Systems Initiative has been to strengthen the capacity ofpeople and institutions in Honduras to create and use sound knowledge to improvedevelopment practice for the benefit of poor and other vulnerable populations. The workingassumption of the project is that dialogue combined with research and collaborative learningsignificantly improves development interventions.IDRC's approach in Honduras has been double-pronged. It was essential to build thecapacities of Honduran development practitioners in participatory research and learningmethods. At the same time, these methods had to be applied in actual projects to generateknowledge on issues that would contribute to the country's development efforts.During the initiative's first two years, activities responded primarily to the challenge ofovercoming weak institutional capacity to carry out development projects that integratelearning in Honduras. Thus, the main focus was on capacity building, training, partnershipsand project development. The initiative centered around building the capacities of partners inseveral research and learning methodologies, including systematization, outcome mappingand social analysis systems. In subsequent years, project implementation and monitoringtook centre stage. The projects concentrated on specific sectors and geographic locations inHonduras (Olancho and the north coast) in line with CIDA priorities. Initially, agriculture andnatural resource management were the primary sectors. Later, health and local economicdevelopment were added at the request of Honduran partners.The nine briefs in this series highlight key projects and include work on participatorywatershed management, farmer field schools, alternative conflict management, localeconomic development, and migration and remittances. The series also features the pilotprogram for national development research known as PRIDE, which promises to continuebuilding on IDRC's investments in promoting research for development in Honduras.Through consistent and continuous support many Honduran partners have succeeded inbuilding skills and capacities to use research and learning to improve developmentinitiatives. In order to continue building on these efforts, IDRC invites governments, donorsand development practitioners to review these experiences and to engage with partners inareas of mutual interest.Moreover, most development initiatives lack mechanisms to capture and document learning asit unfolds. Projects rarely compile, analyze and accumulate knowledge during their lifetimes, orcapture lessons to apply to future projects. Little monitoring occurs to build learning into theproject cycle to facilitate adjustments along the way. It is common practice to "reinvent thewheel" with each new initiative.The double challenge of addressing Honduras' development needs and doing so in ways thatbuild on knowledge has been the focus of five years of collaboration between the InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA).Following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, the government of Honduras began its nationalreconstruction with support from the international community. CIDA created a developmentassistance strategy based on the development priorities expressed in Honduras' poverty reductionstrategy paper and on previous Canadian assistance in the country. As a complement to the CIDAstrategy, IDRC began the five-year initiative "Building Learning Systems for HonduranDevelopment" in 2002. Designed by IDRC and co-funded by CIDA, the initiative has aimed to buildresearch and learning activities into development practice in Honduras.

Building learning systems for Honduran development

https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/10625/35369/1/127347.pdf

Building learning systems for Honduran development

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International Development Research Centre: IDRC Digital Library