Adaptive Learning for Humanitarian Impact: Harnessing Real-Time Tacit Knowledge
Most humanitarian knowledge isn’t written down. It lives in conversations between colleagues, in quick decisions under pressure, and in lessons passed directly from experience. At the Centre for Humanitarian Change (CHC), we believe this tacit knowledge is one of the sector’s most valuable resources and that when it is surfaced, shared, and applied, it can transform the way we respond to crises.
From early 2025, CHC, together with our partners GREDO, SADO, MCAN, ACTED, and REACH, embarked on an ambitious journey supported by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub. Through co-designed workshops, leadership reflections, and peer-to-peer exchanges, we explored how humanitarian organisations in Somalia could create a culture of learning that is immediate, adaptive, and rooted in lived experience.
Our goal was threefold: to create real-time learning spaces that went beyond theory, to help organisations confront the barriers that keep knowledge siloed, and to document and share insights that others could use to strengthen their own practice.
What We Learned
Enabling Environment
Tacit knowledge only becomes useful when organisations make space for it. Leaders play a decisive role: by encouraging reflection, removing fear of failure, and signaling that learning matters. We saw how structured reflection, mentoring, and coaching turned everyday interactions, from team meetings to field debriefs into opportunities for collective insight.
Collaboration
Collaboration is not just about sitting in the same room; it is about inviting the right people, at the right time, for the right purpose. In our workshops, leaders co-designed agendas, broke down barriers to participation, and created inclusive spaces where new voices were heard. The result was not just coordination, but co-creation using collaboration as a driver of adaptation.
Adaptation
Adaptation is not simply change, but the ability to stay agile and responsive in a shifting world. Our facilitators modeled this by refining agendas in real time, shifting approaches to meet participants’ needs, and even adjusting to power dynamics that surfaced in the room. Participants carried this lesson forward, applying adaptive approaches in their own teams and demonstrating how reflection and flexibility can lead to stronger, more resilient programming
What Matters
Across three workshops and countless reflections, this initiative showed that adaptive learning is not an abstract concept, it is a practice rooted in relationships, trust, and openness. By making tacit knowledge visible and usable, CHC and its partners helped strengthen decision-making, accelerate adaptation, and model a way of working that is fit for the uncertainties of humanitarian response.
To wrap up the project, CHC convened a public webinar on July 2025 that brought together leaders, practitioners, and learning partners to reflect on the findings. The session highlighted the project’s impact, showcased the learning insights, and invited wider dialogue on how adaptive learning can strengthen humanitarian action across contexts.
These insights are now available in English, Somali Maxaa Tiri and Maay Dialects, ensuring accessibility to those who need them most. Each language set includes four stories: an introduction to the project, and insights into Enabling Environment, Collaboration, and Adaptation.
We invite you to explore these stories, watch the webinar recording, and join us in advancing a humanitarian sector where learning is not an afterthought, but part of the response itself.