Action Learning and Tacit Knowledge: A mapping of approaches for humanitarian action

Learning is critical to good humanitarian action – particularly for those who are directly involved in delivering a humanitarian response. Yet many efforts to strengthen learning in the humanitarian sector fail to support the specific learning needs of frontline staff. 

This mapping paper identifies a range of approaches that support practitioners to engage in ‘on the job’ reflection and learning. It also informed the development of an ALNAP resource pack to support learning processes at field level in humanitarian responses. 

This paper outlines potential approaches that can be applied to support national and international humanitarian field staff to strengthen their learning processes without placing additional burdens on their time. It also includes a review of approaches to sharing the less explicit and more experience-based knowledge that field staff often develop through their work.