PROSPECT lost: when a pilot project does not look to learn

If a development project is destined to reach only a selection of its intended beneficiaries or to give them only momentary or uncertain benefits, there is a strong rationale for making it instead a project of trials from which lessons can be taken for obtaining the impact that it may not otherwise have. Because the fundamental problems and opportunities of development are very complex by their nature, interventions that seek to test practice knowledge and to learn above all else may have the greatest potential for benefit in the long term. A project that wishes to create experience from which others can learn will engage in research, so it must be conceived, led and conducted as such. This means it must be designed with knowledge of research. It must be led with an appreciation and understanding of research method. Specific research activities must be conducted that produce knowledge and promote its up‐take, so that learning is a principle project outcome. The large urban anti‐poverty project, PROSPECT, conducted in Lusaka, Zambia, illustrates this argument. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.