Reports & briefings
Photo credit: Emmanuel Museruka/Malaika Media
Our work
Learning from each other
Saferworld creates space and opportunities for staff to share experiences, exchange insights, strengthen their skills and use their knowledge to increase the positive difference they can make. We believe that learning is crucial for creativity and growth, and we involve all staff in this process. Using remote learning spaces, we bring together staff from different countries to think through questions and share experiences.
We also connect learning from our programmes with broader policy and research demands and the priorities of our partners. This horizontal culture of mutual learning allows staff and partners to develop solutions to complex challenges. Saferworld supports staff to participate in each other’s activities and review processes, building an adaptive learning environment that continually seeks to improve our ways of working.
Learning with and from our partners
We recognise that learning from others is essential to building more equitable partnerships. Our strategy commits us to put partners at the forefront of our work, devolving decision-making power and fostering a learning environment where partners lead the way in shaping approaches to peace, security and justice.
Our partners and networks around the world have a wide range of experiences that can benefit our work. By facilitating two-way learning and investing in different ways of working with partners, we can challenge the status quo and transform how peacebuilding and conflict prevention are conducted.
Outcomes and impact
In 2012, we introduced a new approach to monitoring, evaluation, learning and accountability that focuses on measuring our impact: ‘outcome harvesting’. We developed an approach that looks at achievements – or ‘outcomes’ – and brings staff together to talk about them, learn from them and share them with other teams to use in their own programmes (see our brochure on outcome harvesting here).
Given Saferworld’s focus on changing behaviours and relationships in conflict-affected countries through our country programmes, policy and advocacy, this outcome harvesting approach allows us to get to the heart of what matters. It is a straightforward and accessible way of shifting attention away from activities – the ‘what did we do?’ question – and towards looking at the changes in behaviour of those we want to influence.
Our approach is participatory and inclusive. We support partners and communities to monitor changes in behaviour and relationships in their areas of work, and to come up with their own ideas for how to measure success. We also deliver workshops to other organisations, covering how to develop and use an outcome-focused monitoring and learning system, and providing insights and practical tips for putting such a system in place.
Reviewing and evaluating our work
Saferworld conducts external reviews and evaluations of our work. Evaluation teams, accompanied by staff from other Saferworld programmes, talk to the communities, donors and partners we work with. This system of organisational learning enables Saferworld staff to absorb knowledge and learning from wider programmes, and to then apply this learning when adapting or designing programmes. The results demonstrate an increased effectiveness in our work.
We also work with the peacebuilding community to combine our knowledge and learning. For example, as part of a deep-dive learning on our programmes in Sudan and Yemen, we brought together staff and partners from Kenya, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen at a cross-organisational learning workshop. We learnt from each other about how we are collectively supporting community-led peacebuilding approaches and we reflected on how we can advocate for structural reforms that will drive necessary changes in the wider aid system.
Our lead role – in partnership with the Clingendael Institute and the International Development Law Organization – in managing the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law (KPSRL) also provided valuable opportunities to share and gather knowledge across the sector. The platform aims to improve the quality and impact of security and rule of law policy and programming in fragile and conflict-affected settings. It includes a repository of materials and pilot learning initiatives, further enriching our evidence base and approach to learning.
