How We Learn

Our learning cycle in action 
UNDP Accelerator Lab teams are helping UNDP and partners close the gap between the current practices of international development and an accelerated pace of change. To do this, the Labs are creating new service lines in development that are open‑ended and safe to fail. The Lab network does this by iterating in a cycle of sensing, exploring, testing and growing. 

• SENSE is about understanding what are emerging challenges and opportunities in the local context and determining where we need to focus our attention. 

• EXPLORE is about better understanding the challenge and looking for solutions, particularly by looking at how citizens are already addressing these challenges and opportunities. 

• TEST is about designing a portfolio of potential solutions to intervene at multiple points in the system and continuously testing them until we are confident they can work. 

• GROW is about handing over the portfolio of solutions, advocacy for policy change or spinning solutions off as private ventures. 

What differentiates us from more conventional development approaches? 

1. Working differently 

If we compare more conventional approaches to development with ours, we do development differently by acting and reflecting rapidly throughout learning cycles. We have a chance to learn what works and what doesn’t and grow solutions based on experience and learning. 

2. Learning cycle 

Accelerator Lab teams are helping UNDP and partners close the gap between the current practices of international development and an accelerated pace of change. We do this by iterating in a cycle of sensing, exploring, testing and growing. 

Sense is about understanding what are emerging challenges and opportunities in the local context 

Explore is about better understanding the challenge and looking for solutions, particularly by looking at how citizens are already addressing these challenges and opportunities. 

Test is about designing a portfolio of potential solutions to intervene at multiple points in the system and continuously testing them until we are confident they can work. 

Grow is about handing over the portfolio of solutions, advocacy for policy change or spinning solutions off as private ventures 

3. Start with solutions, not problems 

We build on what exists, rather than depending on not-yet invented ideas or technologies to solve development challenges. 

These types of existing innovations are often home-grown solutions that have never been codified, applied elsewhere, nor taken to scale. To tap into this potential, we explore the field to connect with local innovators who are in search of potential solutions that will bring insights into delivery of the sustainable development goals. 

We build on local solutions to see where breakthroughs are possible. 

4. Innovative approaches 

The UNDP Accelerator Labs explore primarily through collective intelligence and solutions mapping. The Labs are working with grassroots communities to identify innovators, entrepreneurs and makers who are actively addressing social and environmental challenges for themselves. 

Collective Intelligence Design is about creating the conditions, structures, platforms enabling people to work together, often with the help of technology, to mobilise a wider range of information, ideas and insights to address a social challenge. 

Solution mapping is a method that helps organisations and communities identify needs, issues and opportunities by looking for solutions developed by people in response to concrete problems they face. 

To learn fast in this complex world and equip decision-makers with actionable insights, the UNDP Accelerator Labs moved away from linear planning and singlepoint solutions and adopted a portfolio approach.