Learning is at the heart of LIFE-AR: its phased approach is designed to allow countries to try, experiment, learn, improve, and scale up. LIFE-AR countries have set up different systems and feedback loops, and Uganda provides an interesting example of intentional learning translating into adaptive management.
Learning during the Establishment phase
From the start, the national team in Uganda designed activities to foster learning, knowledge and experience. These activities included:
- critical reflection sessions organised by the national Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) working group,
- an initial training and refresher follow up workshops for the LIFE-AR Uganda ‘Training of Trainers’ graduate cohort,
- hosting and participating in bilateral peer learning visits with Bhutan and Malawi.
In addition, quarterly MEL Working Group write-shops aim at producing thematic briefs that demonstrate progress in implementing different facets of locally led adaptation. These write-shops subsequently inform periodical performance assessment and reporting. Quarterly write-shops are based on thematic areas consistent with LIFE-AR principles but drawn from lessons captured during deployment of locally led adaptation investments in communities. The transition from Establishment to Test and Evolve (investment) implied intensified community level investment monitoring and learning underpinned by meaningful community participation, and clear information feedback loops.
A partnership with communities
The investment phase is supported by direct work with communities, integrated as MEL partners, and a shift from periodical MEL cycles to a continuous process, allowing to detect challenges and deploy appropriate adaptive management measures. A district level MEL focal points was designed to liaise with the Parish Climate Change Committee and serves as conduit for real time monitoring and learning. Besides formal meetings, community level learning is undertaken through organising and holding barazas that give community members a platform to voice their concerns, perceived areas of operational improvement and challenges associated with LIFE-AR investment implementation. Categorisation by gender and demographic groups in different locations thwarts inherent social barriers that suppress one gender from being assertive due to the presence of a culturally dominant demographic group or gender. At community level, the Parish Climate Change Committee members share real time lessons and feedback with the district MEL Focal Point.
The data gathered by district ML focal point is further captured, validated and consolidated during the quarterly MEL Working Group write-shops. The captured lessons have facilitated adaptive management through informing and shaping investment designs, governance regimes, site locations and changing investment sites based on community advisory. This positive feedback loop has enhanced the effectiveness of adaptation finance in building community adaptive capacity, capabilities and overall resilience, anchoring a “business unusual” way of working in learning practices.
MEL Working Group critical reflection sessions
Following key activities at national and local level, the Uganda team systematically organise critical reflection and analysis workshops designed to turn experiences into opportunities for learning and improvement in implementation. These reflection sessions are essential for transforming activities such as field visits into actionable insights that improve performance of the initiative in different areas. By analysing lessons learned and identifying opportunities for improvement, the sessions strengthen the effectiveness and responsiveness of Uganda’s implementation approach to LIFE-AR initiative.
A high-level commitment to learning
Beyond the critical reflection workshops, learning is imbued throughout LIFE-AR Uganda’s ways of working. The national team has set learning guidelines, including assigning responsibility for collating lessons and following up on agreed actions. Learning is documented by all teams, with clear learning plans, questions and reports that inform future plans and activities. For example, the Uganda Secretariat holds regular weekly reflection activities to obtain feedback from the field teams and to plan for upcoming activities, some pilot districts organise daily de-briefs at the end of each day, and routine reflections by the field teams are shared over a WhatsApp platform.
Intentional Learning activities are prioritised and included in the annual planning and budgeting documents to ensure a dedicated budget for learning. Key actions generated in learning sessions are followed up by MEL focal points for progression to the relevant decision-making governance organs such as the national secretariat team, National Task Force and Steering Committee who approve enforcement.
Learnings from Uganda are shared with the other LIFE-AR implementing countries and feed into the wider community of practice discussions.
Uganda's experience shows that adaptive management can occur when learning is designed in from the start, resourced, and owned at every level. What makes Uganda’s approach distinctive is the way reflection, feedback and adaptation are woven into routine practice: budgeted for, documented, and systematically fed back into decision-making. This is an illustration that building resilience to climate change means building the capacity to learn and adapt just as deliberately as building the wells, roads and irrigation systems themselves.