As multilateral and bilateral development agencies have increased the priority of their knowledge and organizational learning agendas, they have also intensified efforts to share learning with each other and to deliberately learn together, and to champion knowledge and learning investments across the international development sector. The Multi-Donor Partnership on Learning for Development Impact (MDLP) was created with these ends in mind.

Launched at USAID’s “Moving the Needle” event on June 15, 2018, the MDLP initially comprised DFID, GIZ, IDB, SIDA, UNICEF, USAID and the World Bank, with USAID and DFID* named as co-chairs (UNICEF replaced DFID* as co-chair in December 2019). IFAD and The Wellcome Trust joined the partnership in 2020.

Member organisations agreed on an initial engagement of two years (September 2018 -August 2020), in order to:

• Share knowledge, lessons and experience to strengthen Organisational Learning (OL) practice and deepen the institutionalization of OL in each member organisation, resulting in more effective aid programmes.

• Consolidate the strongest OL partnership in international development to advocate publicly on behalf of better OL practice and more robust OL investment by international development organisations, based on evidence of OL’s contribution to development effectiveness.

Since that initial engagement period, MDLP has continued to meet, share and learn together, meeting virtually through the Covid-19 pandemic, during which time the members co-authored the book, ‘Return on Knowledge’ as a celebration of the impact of knowledge, learning research and evidence in their organisations. During 2023, the MDLP is supported USAID’s Covid learning initiative, facilitating multilateral workshops and generating knowledge products.

In the summer of 2023,. MDLP welcomed the World Food Programme and Norad into the partnership.
We look forward to further growth in the future.

*DFID was replaced by FCDO - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in August 2020.