Learning
As much as it is about doing, Twaweza is also about learning. If we turn the key premises in our theory of change into questions, we get:
- How can access to information – including the means and pathways to accessing information – be expanded at large scale in the East African context?
- Does expanded access to information enhance citizen agency (citizen ability to exercise greater control over their lives and make a difference)?
- Does enhanced access to information and citizen agency contribute significantly to improving basic service delivery outcomes (in health, education and water) and enable citizens to make a difference in other areas of concern to themselves?
- What was the contribution that Twaweza made to these changes?
We want to be able to answer these questions. While our initiatives build on experience around the world, we are also trying out new approaches and experimenting with unorthodox ideas as we craft our partnerships. We need solid evidence on how the concept of citizen agency can make a lasting difference in the lives of people. We aim to test our ideas on citizen agency and to translate evidence into lessons that can be shared and used within Twaweza, amongst its partners and more widely in the public arena. That is why learning and communication are given such high priority, and why innovation and learning, monitoring and evaluation, and communication of lessons are such key pillars of the Twaweza approach.
Twaweza supports its partners to reflect on practice and develop cultures of learning; including self-criticism and the view that failure provides opportunities to learn lessons and shape something different. We accent long-term mentoring and coaching and facilitate the placement of both East African and international university students among partners, particularly to document and communicate lessons. In addition, we will work closely with our independent external evaluators to feed back lessons from their research into our work.
