ABSTRACT

The concluding chapter brings together key lessons that can be learned from the other chapters of the book. It presents three messages for further investigation of learning in development NGOs. First, it argues for taking into account the many faces of learning and forgetting, and for paying special attention to gradual learning in everyday organisational life. Second, it suggests combining different faces of learning with the key dilemma of balancing between organisational control and contextual flexibility in development management. Third, it proposes to understand learning as political and intertwined with different power relations. In the end, the chapter suggests that the categorisation of learning provided in the book could be applied and further developed to investigate learning also among so-called NGO beneficiaries, citizens, in an attempt to contribute to the debates concerning incremental and transformative change and the role of learning in active citizenship in these.