Further Development of the Learning Office Concept With Reference to Sierra Leone and East Timor and a Developed Proposal to Run a Test Office during 2001

 This document presents the results of the work undertaken to develop the Learning Office concept since the April 2000 ALNAP Biannual Meeting. The consultants undertook visits to Sierra Leone and East Timor/Australia during August to obtain the views of agency personnel on the Learning Office concept and consider how it would have functioned in these two contexts. Additional interviews were undertaken with a small number of key agency personnel in Geneva, New York and the UK. On the basis of this work and the earlier ‘retrospective model’ study in the Orissa context, the consultants have developed a funding proposal and programme to prepare for and operate a real-time test of the Learning Office in a location to be decided. The objective of the real-time test will be to assess the feasibility and potential use and benefits of the Learning Office concept at field level in an ongoing operation. The proposal is presented in a way that can be considered directly by potential funding organisations: it is hoped that this will facilitate support from ALNAP Full Member organisations if it is decided to proceed with the LO Test.