摘要：Learning provides the basis for fostering transitions toward adaptive comanagement.Understanding the ways in which arenas for collaboration and learning are created, and the outcomes ofthese processes in different contexts, is therefore crucial. This paper presents the results of an experimentalresearch process that identified a small set of key variables that influence effective collaboration andlearning, and tested a methodology for monitoring these in a collaborative way in three case studies inSouth Africa. The small set of key variables tested in this study was sensitive enough to register changeover a period of 18 months. Results suggest that the background conditions necessary for social learningcan be externally managed during an initiative, with positive outcomes for collaboration and learning.Monitoring outcomes suggest that for learning to be effective, a balance needs to be sought betweenmaintaining key individuals within the system, preventing rigidity and vulnerability when this is achieved,and encouraging active participation within communities of practice. Effective facilitation by an 'honestbroker' is one of the ways in which this can be achieved. The results point to an over simplification in therhetoric that currently surrounds the learning outcomes of multilevel networks, and challenges the idea thatdemocratic structures are necessarily important for effective natural resource management at the communitylevel
