Judith Mühlenhoff
Public authorities are increasingly using collaborative governance practices to tackle the complex societal challenges of today and tomorrow. They integrate different types of knowledge and experience to co-create public value and promote change. Engaging in co-design and co-creation processes entails a kind of learning in itself. Particularly at the local level, a growing number of collaborative governance arrangements have been shown to be successful in addressing a wide range of challenges. In these processes, crucial learning happens in situ, in communities and in other social spaces. However, when transferring and spreading these learning effects across levels, i.e. from smaller to larger social systems, from local niches to other government departments, these attempts often fail. So, how do we learn across multi-level collaborative governance?
This conceptual overview examines the literature and frameworks on learning across multiple levels of collaborative governance, with a focus on public authorities and government. Based on the double- and triple-loop learning framework, as well as the concept of social learning, the conceptual overview identifies three principles that help to promote learning across different levels of collaborative governance: Linking formal and informal learning, navigating through landscapes of practice with knowledgeability, and strategically addressing tensions.
KEYWORDS: learning, social learning, policy learning, organisational learning, collaboration, co-design, multi-level governance
RSD TOPICS: Learning & Education, Policy & Governance