CONCEPT NOTE
INTERNATIONAL TRAINING ON EXPERIENCE CAPITALIZATION FOR CONTINUOUS LEARNING
COURSE BACKGROUND
In dynamic development and humanitarian contexts, countless valuable experiences are generated daily through projects, programs, and policy initiatives. However, too often, the rich lessons embedded within these experiences remain undocumented, unshared, or unapplied. This missed opportunity leads to a repeated cycle of challenges, hinders innovation, and results in inefficient use of resources. Organizations frequently struggle to systematically capture tacit knowledge from their practices and transform it into actionable insights that can drive continuous improvement and generate broader, more impactful change.
ECAS Institute, deeply committed to enhancing organizational learning and effectiveness in development, recognizes this critical gap in leveraging practical experience. By offering this specialized training course, ECAS introduces and provides practical tools for Experience Capitalization (EC), a robust methodology designed for structured learning from real-world practice. This initiative directly aligns with ECAS’s mission to strengthen the capacity of professionals and organizations to systematically harness their own experiences for improved performance and sustainable development outcomes.
This course is specifically designed to equip professionals with the methodology and practical skills required for effective experience capitalization. Participants will learn how to systematically analyze, document, and share lessons from their work, thereby transforming raw experiences into valuable, actionable knowledge. The ultimate aim is to empower individuals and organizations to cultivate a culture of continuous learning, ensuring that insights gained from past initiatives consistently inform and generate positive change in future endeavors.
COURSE OBJECTIVES OF THE TRAINING
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Demonstrate the ability to facilitate and strategically plan an experience capitalization process effectively.
- Acquire the skills to implement an experience capitalization process step by step, from information gathering to knowledge sharing.
- Understand how to adopt, adapt, scale up, and mainstream experience capitalization within their organizations and broader initiatives to foster a culture of continuous learning and generate change.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
This course will provide participants with a comprehensive understanding and practical application of the experience capitalization methodology. You will learn:
- The foundational concepts and benefits of systematically capturing and learning from organizational experiences.
- How to effectively set up and manage an experience capitalization process, including facilitation techniques and planning steps.
- A step-by-step guide to executing an experience capitalization process, covering data collection, analysis, documentation, and knowledge sharing.
- Strategies for leveraging capitalized knowledge to foster real change, including adapting lessons, scaling up successful practices, and embedding experience capitalization into organizational routines.
DURATION AND PROGRAM
This is a structured training course. The program consists of 13 lessons, each ranging from approximately 30 to 60 minutes in duration, meticulously grouped into five comprehensive units. The detailed program schedule, including specific session timings, interactive exercises, and collaborative activities, will be communicated prior to the training commencement.
TARGET PARTICIPANTS
The course is designed for professionals involved in reflecting upon, learning from, and sharing the lessons of their work within various organizations. The target audience includes:
- Team leaders and managers: Responsible for overseeing project implementation and team performance.
- Project and programme technical staff: Directly involved in designing, executing, and evaluating interventions.
- Monitoring and evaluation officers: Tasked with assessing project performance and learning.
- Communication professionals: Involved in disseminating project outcomes and lessons.
- Knowledge management and knowledge sharing professionals: Responsible for organizational learning and knowledge dissemination strategies.
TRAINING MODULES
The course is structured into five progressive units, guiding participants through the entire experience capitalization process:
| No | Module | Details | |
| 1. | Unit 1 – Introduction |
This introductory unit provides the foundational understanding of experience capitalization, clarifying its purpose and significance for continuous learning and change within development practice.
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| 2. | Unit 2 – Facilitate |
This unit focuses on the crucial role of facilitation in an experience capitalization process. It covers the skills and techniques necessary to guide group analysis and ensure productive engagement throughout the learning journey.
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| 3. | Unit 3 – Prepare |
This unit delves into the essential preparatory steps for an experience capitalization process. It covers how to effectively frame the experience to be analyzed and how to plan the entire capitalization exercise strategically.
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| 4. | Unit 4 – Implement |
This extensive unit guides participants through the core implementation phases of experience capitalization. It covers how to gather, organize, and analyze information, document the insights, and effectively share the resulting knowledge.
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Unit 5 – Generate change |
The final unit focuses on the ultimate purpose of experience capitalization: generating positive change. It explores how documented lessons can be adopted, adapted, scaled up, and mainstreamed into organizational practices and broader initiatives.
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TRAINING STYLE
The modules will be taught through PowerPoint presentations, and lectures and will include a case study/field visit, breakout sessions, case studies and other interactive discussion components.
The course will also include a few guest speakers, both in person and via Zoom and other online learning platforms for overseas speakers. This provides useful real-world insights alongside the more theoretical aspects of the course.
The conference faculty shall consist of experienced decision makers, as well as practitioners and representatives from established educational and research institutions active around climate change, engineering and international development. Throughout the course, theoretical presentation of concepts will be moderated and more group discussions and plenary engagements will be optimized. PowerPoint presentations will be made by facilitators and resource persons, to highlight key concepts before embarking on group work.
GENERAL NOTES
- Training manuals and additional reference materials are provided to the participants.
- Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be issued with a certificate.
- We can also do this as a tailor-made course to meet organization-wide needs. Contact us to find out more: info@ecasiafrica.org.
- Payment should be sent to our bank account before the start of training and proof of payment sent to: info@ecasiafrica.org.
ABOUT ECAS INSTITUTE
The ECAS Institute designs and delivers independent and targeted training, research, and consulting services. Our work focusses on climate change and resilience building, carbon markets, renewable energy, nature-based solution, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and food systems, We are located in Nairobi Kenya and work across the African region. We have implemented training and research assignments in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia, Malawi, Rwanda, Congo, and South Africa. Globally, we have supported our partners from the UK, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and USA.