Learning partnerships are collaborations that support strategic learning. They play a vital role in helping philanthropic organisations drive systemic change. However, there is scant literature and evidence on when, why and how they add value.
As commissioners of and participants in learning partnerships, Porticus were keen to reflect on the effectiveness of their own learning partnerships and consider whether adjustments were needed. They also wanted to understand how other philanthropies are using these partnerships and what approaches work, so that lessons could be shared more widely in the philanthropy sector.
Our role
We were commissioned by Porticus to undertake a short exploratory study on ‘When, why and how do learning partnerships add value’. Our research sought to:
- Understand the current state of play of learning partnerships in philanthropy.
- Understand when, why and how learning partnerships add value or fail to add value.
- Provide practical guidance on how best to design and deliver learning partnerships.
Our approach
We adopted a qualitative and case-based approach, drawing on participatory action research principles. We drew on the UN Partnership Accelerator framework and The Multi-stakeholder Partnerships Guide to articulate key dimensions, ingredients and conditions of learning partnerships, which informed our inquiry.
We conducted 43 in-depth interviews with Porticus partners, external experts, and foundation staff, 1 focus group discussion, and 2 participatory sensemaking workshops.
We also reviewed publicly available literature and internal documents.
Once we had gathered the primary and secondary data, we undertook qualitative coding and led three participatory workshops with the research team, foundations and Porticus staff, and five learning partners.
Outcomes and impact
Our research uncovered the reasons behind the shift from traditional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to collaborative learning partnerships, documented real-life examples, and generated insights to inform Porticus’s decision-making on the future of their learning partnerships.
Research findings will be shared publicly in Autumn 2025 in the form of a short report. To support wider dissemination in the social change sector, the results will be discussed at a panel event hosted by UNDP in September.
