Now selecting partners for 2027
Programmes should not have to choose between rigorous evidence about what works and practical learning that arrives in time to change delivery.
The Colectiv Adaptation Lab brings together what we've learned about helping programmes improve while they deliver. Better data alone is rarely enough. What matters is connecting evidence about performance with knowledge from people close to delivery, and connecting both to decisions about what to change.
We are now selecting a small number of funder and implementing partners for our first 2027 Adaptation Lab projects. Get in touch and we can see whether your work is a good fit.
Is your programme a good fit?
The strongest opportunities usually have four things in common:
An outcome that matters
A clear behaviour, service outcome or programme goal you want to improve, with data on current performance.
A question about what drives the outcome
You want to understand why people behave as they do, why delivery varies, or what is holding back progress.
People close to the answer
Frontline teams, service users or communities can help explain what is happening in practice.
Room to act
The programme can change how it works based on what it learns, and see what happens next.
For example
A vaccination programme that tracks completion rates, wants to understand why some families don't attend, can hear from community health workers, and has scope to change delivery.
How it works
The Lab is a staged process, with each stage building on the one before.
- 1
Adaptation Blueprint
Selected programmes begin with a no-cost Adaptation Blueprint, developed together with the programme and funding teams. We map the programme’s information network for adaptation: how performance data, frontline and community knowledge, and decision-making currently connect, and where there may be a strong opportunity to improve delivery.
- 2
Live Adaptation Sprint
Where the Blueprint identifies a strong opportunity, we move into a Live Adaptation Sprint: a paid engagement of around two months, focused on one live delivery question. We combine programme data with rapid evidence from people close to delivery, identify a practical adaptation, and establish how to test whether it improves the outcome.
- 3
Capacity building
Where the Sprint proves valuable, we help teams build the approach into routine programme management, developing the capacity to keep outcome data, frontline and community insight, and decisions connected over time.
You can read more about our approach here.
What this can look like
In Rajasthan, working with the Centre for MicroFinance, IWMI and IDS, monitoring data showed where microirrigation installation was high or low, but not why. Regular WhatsApp interviews with people close to delivery revealed the barrier: community water champions were motivated but often lacked the confidence and knowledge to navigate government schemes and subsidies. Programme teams used this evidence to change training and strengthen support for government engagement. The full story is in the Rajasthan case study.
For funders
You do not need to know in advance which programme in your portfolio is the strongest candidate. We can review a small number of programmes with you and identify where an Adaptation Lab project would create the most value. Selected programmes begin with a no-cost Blueprint. We ask that the people able to support a next phase are involved from the outset, with further funding committed only where the Blueprint identifies a clear, actionable opportunity. Talk to us about your portfolio.
Work with us
If you run or fund a programme with an outcome that matters, want to learn more about why delivery or behaviour varies, and have room to act, we would love to hear from you. If you are not yet sure which programme to put forward, we can work that out together.
Get in touch