Institutional Learning
Some elements of KfW's self-learning system
Institutional learning is a key element of quality management at KfW. KfW as an institution wants to put positive experience from ongoing and completed projects to work in its future activities. It also wants to learn from past mistakes. This is why ex-post evaluations are an important part of quality management at KfW. They offer the opportunity to learn from past experiences - both positive and negative รค- and to apply this new-found knowledge when selecting new projects and programmes and shaping ongoing ones. This type of learning from evaluations should of course not be limited to individual projects or people who happened to play a role in the project implementation and evaluation. Rather, other people and departments within KfW as well as other stakeholders (such as the project-executing agency and other donors) are to take part in this learning process systematically. In this way, KfW becomes a 'self-learning system.'
KfW Entwicklungsbank has created a number of instruments for institutional learning:
- Discussion of the evaluation results with all stakeholders,
- Derivation and dissemination of general conclusions ( lessons learnt),
- Learning by exchanging roles,
- Control of implementation via the Quality Assurance Committee,
- Cross-cutting evaluations.
