Evidence and Lessons from Latin America (ELLA)

The ELLA Knowledge platform shares knowledge materials produced specifically for the ELLA programme by Latin American Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs). There are five main types of ELLA knowledge materials:

• ELLA Guides - present a general overview of a theme, offering a window on the evidence and lessons coming from Latin America’s experiences. They highlight how the theme and evidence are relevant to Asian and African contexts. Guides help orientate the reader to the key sub-issues related to the theme and offer quick links to other relevant ELLA Knowledge Products.
• ELLA Briefs - focus on the concrete details of the experiences and lessons highlighted in the Guide. Briefs present policy initiatives, reviews of practice and implementation, and case studies. The Briefs draw out the contextual and enabling factors underlying the Latin American experiences, to facilitate a critical review of the likely transferability of the Latin American experiences to other contexts.
• Spotlights on Knowledge - orientate the reader to the key publications (such as original research, policy analysis, and programme evaluations) and main arguments and ways of thinking related to the issues presented in the Guides or Briefs. Spotlights on Knowledge offer a quick analysis of the publication or argument with links to the original text.
• Spotlights on Organisations - orientate the reader to the key organisations relevant to the particular themes, specifically highlighting areas of expertise and main contributions to the field, and drawing out what that organisation can offer to Asian and African readers.
• Multimedia - includes podcasts and short videos that have been produced to complement the different thematic Guides and Briefs and to highlight specific issues raised.

Along with the knowledge materials, ELLA is supporting Learning Alliances between partners from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Learning Alliances are structured exchanges and learning programmes designed for people and organisations facing similar development challenges who wish to learn from each other, by sharing experiences, critically reviewing these, and determining how to apply lessons learned. Most of the exchange and learning are conducted online, supplemented by face-to-face activities. Online activities include use of an interactive wall, discussion boards, question and answer sessions, webinars, and multimedia. Offline activities are focused in the core countries selected for each Learning Alliance. Participants have the opportunity to meet face-to-face, at meetings convened by the ELLA African and Asian Regional Coordinators.

ELLA is managed by a consortium of Southern and Northern based development research and practice organisations. A network of three Latin American Regional Centres of Expertise produces the ELLA knowledge materials and leads the Learning Alliances, while four African and Asian Regional Coordinators communicate with partners in those regions and support regional participants in the Learning Alliances. In the development phase of the initiative, research was conducted into the demand for lessons from Latin America, potential sources of knowledge, and existing knowledge networks within Latin America and their links to the global development community.

Governance, Environment, Economic Development

ELLA was created based on the idea that Latin America is a rich source of knowledge about development policies and practices that work, and those that don’t, but geography, cultural context, language, and unfamiliarity all mean that accessing and using that knowledge can be difficult – all the more so when the evidence is dispersed and knowledge links with Latin America are weak. The project was developed to address this gap.