How can foundations make better decisions in complex, fast-changing environments?
As systems become more unpredictable, the role of learning partners is evolving – from evaluating performance to supporting real-time learning, reflection and adaptation.
A new article by Julian Williams (MacArthur Foundation) and Michael Moses (Itad) explores what this looks like in practice. It highlights how learning partnerships that support programming in complex systems must themselves be adaptive, drawing on lessons from the MacArthur Foundation’s Big Bet on Nigeria.
What the article explores
The article reflects on a long-term evaluation and learning partnership supporting a major systems change initiative tackling corruption in Nigeria.
Rather than focusing only on results, it looks at how learning happens at multiple levels – and what it takes to make learning meaningful, timely and useful for decision-making in complex systems.
Five key insights to guide adaptive learning partnerships
- Map – and re-map – the context
Explicitly assessing the programme’s internal context, operating environment, organisational dynamics and stakeholder perspectives is essential – particularly in complex systems that are constantly shifting. - Adaptation is a strength, not a weakness
Effective learning partnerships don’t just support programmatic learning and adaptation; they also embed ongoing cycles of reflection, learning, and course correction within their own approach. This reflexivity is critical for driving evidence use and enabling strategic adjustments. - Co-create to make learning usable
Learning is most powerful when it is co-produced. In this case, shorter, targeted learning products – developed collaboratively with programme teams and partners – proved far more useful than traditional reports. - Invest in sustained engagement
Regular interaction with programme teams and partners strengthens relationships and improves the quality of insight. It also helps ensure learning feeds into action. - Prioritise relationships, not just methods
Strong relationships – built on trust, openness and shared purpose – are the foundation of effective learning partnerships. Without them, even the most robust technical approaches fall short.
What this means in practice
The experience highlights a shift in how evaluation and learning are delivered:
- from external assessment to embedded partnership
- from static reporting to ongoing sensemaking and adaptation
- from traditional outputs to a focus on relationships and influence.
For philanthropies and their partners, including evaluation and learning partners, this means investing not just in methods, but in the relationships and practices that enable collective learning and adaptation.
As organisations navigate increasing complexity, the question is not just what works – but how we work together to learn what works, how, and under what conditions, in real time.
