Examples of double-loop learning in global health

Five examples of double-loop learning in global health

Reda SadkiWriting

Read this first: What is double-loop learning in global health? Example 1: Addressing low uptake of a vaccine program Single–Loop Learning: Improve logistics and supply chain management to ensure consistent vaccine availability at clinics. Double–Loop Learning: Engage with community leaders to understand cultural beliefs and concerns around vaccination, and co-design a more localized and trustworthy immunization strategy. What is the difference? Double-loop learning questions the assumption that the primary goal should be to increase uptake at all costs. It considers whether the program design respects community autonomy and addresses their real concerns. It may surface competing values of public health impact vs. community self-determination. Example 2: Responding to an infectious disease outbreak Single–Loop Learning: Rapidly mobilize health workers and supplies to affected areas to contain the outbreak following established emergency protocols. Double–Loop Learning: Critically examine why the health system was vulnerable to this outbreak, and work with communities to redesign …

What is double loop learning in global health

What is double-loop learning in global health?

Reda SadkiGlobal health

Argyris (1976) defines double-loop learning as occurring “when errors are corrected by changing the governing values and then the actions.” He contrasts this with single-loop learning, where “errors are corrected without altering the underlying governing values.” This is challenging because it can threaten one’s sense of competence and self-image. Checking for double-loop learning: ‘Are we doing things right?’ vs. ‘Are we doing the right things?’ In global health, double-loop learning means not just asking “Are we doing things right?” but also “Are we doing the right things?” It means being willing to challenge long-held assumptions about what works, for whom, and under what conditions. Epistemological assumptions (“we already know the best way”), methodological orthodoxies (“this is not how we do things”), and apolitical stance (“I do health, not politics”) of epidemiology can predispose practitioners to be dismissive of a concept like double-loop learning.  Learn more: Five examples of double-loop learning …

Why lack of continuous learning is the Achilles heel of immunization

Why lack of continuous learning is the Achilles heel of immunization 

Reda SadkiGlobal health, Theory

Continuous learning is lacking in immunization learning culture, a measure of the capacity for change.. This lack may be an underestimated barrier to the “Big Catch-Up” and reaching zero-dose children This was a key finding presented at Gavi’s Zero-Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH) webinar “Equity in Action: Local Strategies for Reaching Zero-Dose Children and Communities” on 24 January 2024. The finding is based on analysis large-scale learning culture measurements conducted by the Geneva Learning Foundation in 2020 and 2022, with more than 10,000 immunization staff from all levels of the health system, job categories, and contexts, responding from over 90 countries. Year n Continuous learning Dialogue & Inquiry Team learning Embedded Systems Empowered People System Connection Strategic Leadership 2020 3830 3.61 4.68 – 4.81 4.68 5.10 4.83 2022 6185 3.76 4.71 4.86 4.93 4.72 5.23 4.93 TGLF global measurements (2020 and 2022) of learning culture in immunization, using the Dimensions of Learning Organization …

Protect Invest Together

Protect, invest, together: strengthening health workforce through new learning models

Reda SadkiGlobal health

In “Prioritising the health and care workforce shortage: protect, invest, together,” Agyeman-Manu et al. assert that the COVID-19 pandemic aggravated longstanding health workforce deficiencies globally, especially in under-resourced nations.  With projected shortages of 10 million health workers concentrated in Africa and the Middle East by 2030, the authors urgently call for policymakers to commit to retaining and expanding national health workforces.  They propose common-sense solutions: increased, coordinated financing and collaboration across government agencies managing health, finance, economic development, education and labor portfolios. But how can such interconnected, long-term investments be designed for maximum sustainable impact? And what is the role of education? Rethinking health worker learning In a 2021 WHO survey across 159 countries, most health workers reported lacking adequate training to respond effectively to pandemic demands. This exposed systemic weaknesses in how health workforces develop skills at scale. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, limitations of traditional learning approaches were …

Partially-melted chocolate

Hot fudge sundae

Reda SadkiWriting

Through their research on informal and incidental learning in the workplace, Karen Watkins and Victoria Marsick have produced one of the strongest evidence-based framework on how to strengthen learning culture to drive performance. Here, Karen Watkins shares an anecdote from a study of learning culture in which two teams from the same company both engaged in efforts to reward creative and innovative ideas and projects. However, one team generated far more ideas than the other. You won’t believe what turned out to be the cause of the drastically disparate outcomes.   I recorded Karen via Skype while she was helping me to perform my first learning practice audit, a mixed methods diagnostic that can provide an organization with new, practical ways to recognize, foster, and augment the learning that matters the most. Recognizing that the majority of learning, problem-solving, idea generation, and innovation do not happen in the training room …

Rainbow of Ribbons (Fleur/flickr.com)

12 questions that learning strategy seeks to answer

Reda SadkiLearning strategy

Learning is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies (behaviors) through experience and study. We all want to learn, so why is it so difficult to stop work to make time for learning, despite our best intentions? In exploring possible solutions to this question, learning strategy emerges from the existing practices and strengths of the organization – together with a diagnosis of where it needs to improve knowledge performance. Learning strategy examines how knowledge and learning can be improved, starting with mundane, routine or recurring questions and frustrations of daily work life, such as: What can I do when I have too much e-mail? How often should we meet as a team? How can I experiment and innovate when I have so many urgent tasks to deliver? The strategy also answers questions about how we work together as a team and with people outside the organization (partners, beneficiaries, customers…): How can I best …

Young man at a vocational education and training center, Marrakesh, Morocco. © Dana Smillie / World Bank

Making humanitarians

Reda SadkiLearning strategy, Thinking aloud

The industry to tackle growing humanitarian and development challenges has expanded rapidly since the mid 1990s, but not nearly as fast as the scope and scale of the problems have spiraled. Professionalization was therefore correctly identified as a major challenge of its own, with over a decade of research led by Catherine Russ and others clearing the rubble to allow the sector to make sense of what needs to be done. The bottom line diagnosis is a now-familiar litany: a shortage of people and skills, lack of quality standards, inability to scale. Despite the growth of traditional university programs to credential specialized knowledge of these challenges and how to tackle them, young people armed with multiple masters find that they really start learning upon entering their first NGO. They face a dearth of entry-level positions (sometimes spending years as “interns” or other forms of under-recognized labor) and discover professional networks closed to them …

Mission performance

Reda SadkiLearning strategy

Thanks to Karen E. Watkins (University of Georgia) and Maya Drobnjak (Australian Army).