How can organizations encourage adaptive management? Three insights from Mercy Corps’ evolution toward agility

We are starting to get a better picture of what adaptive management looks like on the ground (the Adapting Aid report that Mercy Corps compiled with IRC gives six examples), but it is tough in practice. It’s easy to point at donor constraints, but the buck doesn’t stop there. An organization’s internal enabling environment has a massive role to play.

So how can an organization encourage and enable on-the-ground adaptation?

At Mercy Corps, this is something we’re trying to find out. We have taken stock of the last few years of our organizational journey, to share our progress - and challenges - towards becoming more agile.