This articel offers reflection on an unexpected outcome of a study of the distinctive 'twinning' method employed during the last two decasodes by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to promote sustaible organizational and institutional capacity building in developing countries. Twinning arrangements have produced impressive benefits at the level of professional/technical up granding, but results at the level of sustainable capacity building have generally been less satisfactory. Consequently, SIda have speculated whether the nation of organizational learning might provide a productive framework for twinning projects. The article reports on what appears to be the 'discovery' of an evolving 'learning organization' in apparently unlikely circumstances, and examines the factors which might account for this. The broader implication of the 'discovery' are discussed, and the possible relevance of the nation of tacit knowledge is suggested.