WCARO Technical Note #1: How to Identify, Present and Disseminate the “COVID-19 Response Lessons Learned”

This WCARO Evaluation Technical Note on the COVID-19 Response Lessons Learned (including the Template on how to Present the Lessons Learned) was developed by the Evaluation Unit of the UNICEF Regional Office (RO) for West and Central Africa (WCARO) in May 2020 to respond to the need for a more systematic documentation and sharing of Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 response across the region. In particular, the development of this Evaluation Technical Note was spurred by the discussions held within the three COVID-19 Response Evaluation Working Groups set-up by the Regional Office (on average, each one of three group benefits from the active participation of a dozen Country Offices (CO). In addition, this Evaluation Technical Note heavily builds on the content of another WCARO Evaluation Technical Note: the Crowdsourced Synthesis of Lessons Learned during past crisis response including COVID-19.

This Technical Note is specifically aimed at UNICEF CO and RO staff (both within and outside of the region) as well as other in-country COVID-19 response stakeholders who intend to (as in a sort of theory of change):

• Strengthen the effectiveness of their COVID-19 response;
• by improving their capabilities to better capture their operationally and programmatically relevant experiences and document what works and what does not about the COVID-19 response;
• through the identification, presentation and dissemination of Lessons Learned.