Guidance Note 5.5 - Dissemination of Lessons Learned and Emerging Good Practices - Version V. 3 (V.1 – 2012)

Sep 11, 2026

Guidance Note 5.5 provides structured direction for generating, capturing, and disseminating high-quality lessons learned and emerging good practices from all ILO evaluations. It defines key elements, including how lessons should reflect context, explain outcomes, and link contributions to project or programme goals. It emphasizes gender-responsive and intersectional considerations, with disaggregated data to assess relevance and effectiveness. The note also outlines sharing, access, and practical use, supported by annex templates and storage through i-eval Discovery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Purpose and scope

Learning loops: single-loop and double-loop learning

Key elements of lessons learned and good practices

Gender-responsive and cross-cutting dimensions

Templates and i-eval Discovery

Continuum from lessons learned to emerging good practices

Guidance Note 5.5: Disseminationtion of Lessons Learned and Emerging Good Practices X DATE: JUNE 2020 V. 3 (V.1 – 2012) This guidance note is part of Pillar 5 ‣ Use and dissemination of evaluation findings CONTENTS (CLICK TO NAVIGATE) | 1. KEY ELEMENTS OF LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES
2. CRITERIA FOR CAPTURING LESSONS LEARNED AND EMERGING GOOD PRACTICES
3. SHARING AND DISSEMINATING LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES
4. ACCESSING LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES
5. USE OF LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES
ANNEX 1 – TEMPLATE FOR PRESENTING LESSONS LEARNED
ANNEX 2 – TEMPLATE FOR PRESENTING AN EMERGING GOOD PRACTICE | 2
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6 | | --- | --- | The purpose of this Guidance Note is to ensure that high quality lessons learned and good practices emerge from all ILO evaluations. It is addressed to all users of evaluation, and particularly to project staff and evaluation managers who should be working with the evaluation consultants to ensure that lessons learned and emerging good practices are captured accurately in the report. This guidance note is a living document and has not been professionally edited. Right-click on hyperlinks and select ‘Open in new tab’ to access, if viewing in browser. 1 Two of the most important purposes of evaluation are to contribute to improvements in project or programme performance and to promote organizational learning. Evaluations are expected to generate useful lessons that can be applied to these purposes. This guidance note is meant to ensure that high quality lessons learned and good practices emerge from all ILO evaluations. All lessons and good practices from independent evaluations are collected and recorded by the Evaluation Office (EVAL) and are made publicly available through i-eval Discovery (see Guidance note 5.3) . The knowledge produced by evaluations in the form of lessons learned and good practices can also be categorized as single and double loop learning. These learning loops are depicted in figure 1. Figure 1. Learning from lessons learned and good practices Single-loop learning Project/ Programme vision and objectives Project/ Programme implementation Lessons learned and good practices Double-loop learning Single loop learning focuses on applying information to the immediate project or programme which is the subject of an evaluation. Double loop learning occurs when knowledge generated from an evaluation of one project is applied to the design of others. X 1. KEY ELEMENTS OF LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES Lessons learned and good practices are generated from evaluation reports and can be used to learn from past mistakes, include design features that have been shown to improve outcomes and operate more efficiently. They should, therefore, be incorporated into future projects/programmes . EVAL expects evaluations to be gender responsive and take into account race, ethnicity, indigenous identity, disability and the ILO’s normative work. These types of issues should be included as cross-cutting dimensions whenever lessons learned or emerging good practices are discussed. Evaluations should include data and information that is disaggregated so that these types of issues can be examined and an assessment can be made of the relevance and effectiveness of the ILO’s work. They should consider effects on gender equality, inclusion of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups. In addition, they should identify circumstances of empowering people, and eliminating discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, indigenous identity and/or disability. EVAL developed templates for evaluators to easily capture lessons learned and good practices (Annexes 1 and 2) . The information is collected, coded, stored and made publicly available through i-eval Discovery. This information supports three core levels of the ILO’s work: 1) project design, 2) identifying trends in technical and administrative

FAQs

What is the purpose of Guidance Note 5.5?

It ensures that high-quality lessons learned and good practices emerge from all ILO evaluations, supporting improvement in project performance and organizational learning.

How should evaluations capture lessons learned and good practices?

They should be accurately documented in the report, include relevant context, explain why something worked or did not, and support evidence for replication when turning a lesson into an emerging good practice.

Why does the guidance emphasize gender responsiveness and disaggregated data?

It requires consideration of gender equality and inclusion across race, ethnicity, indigenous identity, disability, and other marginalized groups so that relevance and effectiveness of the ILO’s work can be assessed.

Sep 11, 2026

Uploaded by Oliver Hayes