A Dojo is a hall or place for immersive learning or meditation. The USAID/Vietnam Learning Dojo embraces the idea of immersive learning and creates a space for implementing partners (IPs) to strengthen their capacity for effective collaborating, learning & adapting (CLA) and monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL).
Overview
The USAID Learning Dojo is an exciting capacity building program for IPs to support them in integrating collaborating, learning (including monitoring), and adapting (CLA) practices in their organizations, which in turn, will lead to more effective development. To encourage this organizational transformation, the Learning Dojo is designed to foster shifts in participant mindsets regarding CLA as a practice, to provide technical and interpersonal skills, and to provide a supportive peer learning environment.
Ultimately, USAID Learns’ approach has a clear North Star: helping IP participants apply new monitoring & CLA practices in their organizations, ultimately leading to better development programming & results.
The Learning Dojo aims to spark change at various levels of participating organizations through three complementary tracks:
The Leadership Track – Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through CLA Practices – aims to support leaders as change agents within their teams and organizations, enabling them to create stronger, healthier organizations grounded in effective CLA practices.
The Specialist Track – Foundations in Monitoring – aims to support staff with monitoring and learning responsibilities to strengthen reporting compliance while supporting more evidence-based decision making.
The Strategist Track – Adaptive Management: Culture and Practice – aims to help organizations bridge the technical/MEL divide to support continuous improvement via small, manageable change.
How Does the Dojo Work?
Designed around adult learning principles, the Learning Dojo aims to spark change using a peer cohort model and a variety of learning approaches. Track participants are organized into three cohorts, which are designed as positive learning environments that fosters openness, sharing, and peer learning. Each cohort is also intended to be a journey that extends outside of Dojo sessions with tools and platforms to support ongoing self-directed learning of participants as they apply, reflect upon, and share their learnings.
The Learning Dojo is designed with the underlying assumption that higher levels of participant engagement with in-person sessions, virtual check-ins, tools (e.g., homework assignments, online learning) and platforms (e.g., Zalo, peer sharing) will lead to greater change.
Each track will be based on the adult learning cycle shown here. Beginning with formal training, participants will then apply that learning directly in their work, share their experience with their peer group (called cohorts) , seek out advice and adjust their approach if necessary, and ultimately document their learning and its impact at the individual and institutional levels.
Who Can Join the Dojo?
The Learning Dojo is a program open to all staff working on current USAID/Vietnam funded projects. Each track will have a cohort of approximately 20-25 participants. The three tracks have different target audiences, so to learn more about each, visit the track-specific pages. Participants must demonstrate their commitment to actively participate in all modules, including in-person sessions and virtual check-ins where relevant.
Please note that USAID/Vietnam expects implementing partner organizations, and not USAID Learns, to cover participants' travel-related expenses.