While development cooperation largely consists of policy advice, the suggestions and inputs on development that policymakers in the Global South receive from donors and other international actors, little research exists on what makes policy advice useful to these policymakers. The aim of this study was to find out why policymakers in the Global South find some advice useful and some not. This was done through a field study in Kenya, using interviews with 23 policymakers and advisors. The analytical framework that was applied to the material reconciled the SCL model of analysing policy advice in terms of its content, with a critical postcolonial perspective which regarded the delivery of advice. The study showed that  the usefulness of policy advice for Kenyan policymakers is as dependent on the delivery of the advice as it is on its content, unlike what has been implied previously by Western research on think tanks. The study also concluded that not only is it possible to merge the two theoretical perspectives of policy advice and postcolonial theory, despite the difference in abstraction levels, applying a postcolonial perspective can be crucial in order to examine the full scope of what makes policy advice useful to policymakers in the Global South.

Fragile states are characterized by institutions which do not have the political will or ability to reduce poverty in the interests of their citizen, to establish basic social security, to promote a successful development process, and to guarantee security and human rights. The regional disintegration processes after the period of imperialism and the fall of the iron curtain have created many new states, which still are politically unstable and unable for a sustainable development. In the literature such states are describes as "weak", "failing or failed", "collapsed", "conflict or post-conflict" - dependant on the extent of the particular state failure. Several indicators try to describe such states and partly allow for projections of the future development. Then the role of taxation is discussed in detail before recommendations for the development cooperation are presented. Obviously taxation plays a key role for the democratization process in fragile states.

This thesis is a study of three global issues – development cooperation, education and gender - and their transformation to local circumstances in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. Combining post-colonial and post-structural perspectives, it sets out to understand how discourses of education and gender in Laos intersect with discourses of education and gender within development cooperation represented by organisations such as the World Bank and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Through field observations, analysis of national and donor policies on education and gender, and interviews with Lao educationalists, this thesis offers an analysis that shows the complexities arising at the intersection where the first-world-north meets the local in the context of development cooperation. Foucault’s notion of the production and reproduction of discourses through different power-knowledge relations is used to show that the meanings accorded to education and gender within development cooperation, indeed are historically, culturally and contextually constructed. Within development cooperation policy, first-world-north discourses appear to have a hegemonic status in defining education and gender. Thus ‘Education for All’ and ‘Gender Mainstreaming’ become privileged discourses that also take root in Lao national policy-making. Development cooperation further brings with it discourses defining the cooperation itself. Partnership is one such privileged donor discourse. These policy discourses are however interpreted by Lao educationalists that are not influenced by policy alone; rather, contextual discourses also affect how policies are understood and negotiated. It is when these discourses intersect that structures of power and preferential rights of interpretation become visible. The analysis points to how the perspectives of international development cooperation organisations representing the first-world-north are in positions to set the agenda for development cooperation within policy. This position of power can, from a post-colonial perspective, be traced back to how former colonial structures created a privileged position for first-world-north knowledge that still prevails. This is to some extent acknowledged by development cooperation organisations through the emphasis on partnership. However, in the local context, partnership is not experienced as a discourse which has the effects of redistributing power. Partnership is rather transformed into a discourse of superiority and subordination where development cooperation organisations monitor and evaluate and local actors adjust and implement. Lao education officials however express alternative interpretations of partnership that are based on face-to-face collaboration and collective effort. These strategies have closer links to local practices and also reflect contextual discourse-power-knowledge relations which the education officials are well aware of. These strategies of negotiation also extend to the issues of education and gender. Discourses of ‘Education for All’ and ‘Gender Mainstreaming’ are acknowledged among the education officials as policy goals which to some extent also extend into practice. These discourses are however renegotiated to accommodate local circumstances. ‘Education for All’ is thus replaced by the ‘5-pointed star’ which serves as an operationalisation of the concept of ‘learner-centred education’. ‘Gender Mainstreaming’ has to co-exist with local discourses that on the one hand build on patriarchal organisations of society and on the other hand build on local strategies for access which weaken patriarchal structures. The analysis ultimately stresses the importance of incorporating local, contextual knowledge in educational development cooperation processes, both among international and national stakeholders. This process can be supported by a willingness to deconstruct taken-for-granted understandings and value systems; and in doing so, recognising the normative aspects operating both in the areas of education and gender.

The concept of partnership has emerged to highlight donor-recipient relationships within international development, where both large and small actors has adopted the concept that defines a contractual relationship on equality where partners have chosen to work collaboratively with agreed objectives, roles, and responsibilities. However, a common cited constraint to the formation of partnerships is the distorted power relationship in the form of e.g. differences in resources, motives and control between Northern and Southern partners. The overall aim of this study is to show how the partnership rhetoric is reflected in the development cooperation between Swedish Forum Syd and two of their partner organisations in Tanzania under prevailing circumstances. In doing so, the study focuses on theories of legitimacy, resource-dependency and social control. Linked to the empirical results of the studied partnerships, the thesis attempts to examine whether a desired authentic partnership discourse really has been possible to accomplish on the ground or not. Three qualitative methods have been used in this study, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic text analyses, and participant observations. The results that have been analysed with the theoretical framework of choice, shows that it is difficult to form any "authentic partnership" when there are differences regarding power, motives, needs and access to information between the partners, which in turn are the result of scarcity of resources and the dependency on them.

There has been an increased focus on ICT-related projects in development cooperation in the last decade based on the assumption that ICTs expands opportunities for economic growth as well as for poverty reduction. This is also the case with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). I wanted to better understand the reasoning behind the increased focus on ICT. Specifically I have chosen to look at SIDA’s policies and projects with universities in Tanzania and Nicaragua to understand how different stakeholders perceive that increased ICT use at universities can affect poverty reduction. Some questions guiding my research are: In what ways can these ICT investments meet the development goals of SIDA, and might do these ICT investments theoretically fit into a national system of innovation?

Manufacturing companies are searching for new techniques day by day to launch qualified products with a competitive price to the market. Companies believe in the importance of teams which have members coming from different disciplines who use their knowledge, experiences, and creativity for achieving the goals of their teams. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of teamwork for successful product development process by focusing on the relationship between the team members &ndash / especially engineers&rsquo / and industrial designers&rsquo / relation. After a broad literature survey, a descriptive-survey study that aims demonstrating the relationship between engineers and industrial designers in manufacturing companies in Turkey is held in order to investigate the effectiveness of teamwork in product development process. A twelve item questionnaire which has four open-ended questions and eight Likert-scaled statements has been prepared. As the result of this study, a positive relationship is found between the performance of product development team and the effects of cooperation, social and professional communication, having clear and common goals, sharing knowledge and experiences, leadership, coordination and cooperative problem solving and decision making processes to the relationship between engineers and industrial designers.

Within the field of development cooperation policy coherence has received increasing attention. Definitions of policy coherence are elusive; from describing consistency between intention and outcome to describing synergies between and within different policy areas. Potential incoherence has been ascribed not only to potentially incongruent goals but also different frames, discourses and underlying values. This thesis uses the concept of worldviews to understand how coherence or incoherence can be discerned between and among the United Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Swedish development cooperation policies from Sida, Swedfund and SEK. The conclusion indicates that there is potential dialectic tension between normative worldviews of corporatism and development framing of egalitarian elements. Coherence is found in the technocentric, prevailing worldview. Results indicate that coherence and subsequent policy implementation can be affected by underlying aspects and mechanisms beyond trade-offs and goal-conflicts.

Vystomojo bendradarbiavimo politika yra neatsiejama ES, Lietuvos ir viso pasaulio užsienio politikos dalis, kuri apima tiek geografines, tiek temines paramos vystymuisi formas. Todėl būtent pilietinio sąmoningumo pagrindu turi būti skatinamas visuotinių problemų suvokimas, žinių bei gebėjimų ugdymas, partnerystės tarp įvairių lygių sprendimų priėmėjų ir NVO plėtojimas vystomajam bendradarbiavimui įgyvendinti. Dalyvavimas, kaip priemonė, siekia užtikrinti, kad bus atsižvelgta į visų grupių interesus ir integruoti bendrus aspektus į sprendimo priėmimo procesą. Dėl to yra svarbu, kad bendradarbiavimas ir NVO dalyvavimo formos būtų grįstos skaidrumu bei pasitikėjimu, taip užtikrinant sklandesnį institucijų ir visuomenės įtraukimą į vystomojo bendradarbiavimo politiką. Lietuvoje nevyriausybinės organizacijos susiduria su finansavimo, informavimo, atstovavimo ir eile kitų problemų, kurioms spręsti yra reikalingas bendras, sisteminis požiūris į vystomąjį bendradarbiavimą. Visuomenes veikia įvairūs iššūkiai, kurie yra sąlygojami socialinių ir ekonominių pokyčių, globalizacijos, politinių konfliktų bei technologijų tobulėjimo, todėl reikalinga nustatyti priežastis, kurios lemia realų atotrūkį tarp objektyvios partnerystės tarp institucijų ir organizacijų Lietuvos vystymo politikos įgyvendinime. Darbo tikslas – ištirti nevyriausybinių vystomojo bendradarbiavimo organizacijų atstovavimo galimybes ir neįtraukimo priežastis įgyvendinant Lietuvos vystomojo bendradarbiavimo politiką... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Development cooperation policy is an integral part of foreign policy of EU, Lithuania and the whole world. It includes both - geographic and thematic development aid forms. Therefore the understanding of global challenges, knowledge and skills education, the partnership among various levels of decision-makers and NGOs in the development of development cooperation should be built. Participation is a mean to ensure that the interests of all groups would be taken into account and integrated in the decision - making process. Therefore it is important that the cooperation and participation of NGOs would be based on transparency and trust. This can ensure equal inclusion of institutions and society in the implementation of development cooperation. Lithuanian NGOs face funding, information, advocacy and a range of other issues which can be solved by a systematic approach to development cooperation. Today societies are affected by various challenges, which are conditioned by the social, economic changes, globalization, political conflicts and technological development. According to these issues it is necessary to analyze the reasons which lead to the gap between the objective partnership of institutions and organizations in Lithuanian development policy. The aim of the paper is to explore the possibilities of non-governmental organizations‘ representation and involvement issues in the implementation of Lithuanian development cooperation policy. To achieve the aim, following... [to full text]

The dissertation examined the South-South cooperation as an alternative development strategy for Southern countries by targeting the collaboration between Brazil and Haiti, two countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Examining development cooperation between Brazil and Haiti could contribute to a better understanding of the central question, why Southern countries engage in South-South cooperation? In the context of the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing reduction of aid coming from Global North countries to developing countries, South-South cooperation has become an alternative economic and political arrangement from the more traditional North-South framework. For this reason, South-South cooperation between emerging donors and recipients was deemed an important development for the international aid architecture as a whole. A combination of semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires were conducted to capture the professional, diplomatic and political perspectives of high-ranking officials, leaders and experts on South-South cooperation and Latin American and Caribbean relations. The study’s findings revealed that the benefits and challenges of the South-South cooperation framework does not affect development in a conclusive way.

Historically there have been various discussions on how to achieve development from different scopes and spaces. The vision of development from a global space has undergone a significant evolution to the present day, in particular after World War II, in the context of international development cooperation. Within a regional space, economic cooperation mechanisms have shown to be dynamic and positive for development. This paper aims, firstly, to set forth a review of the evolution of the development vision from a global and regional perspective. Secondly, to analyze contributions in commerce from a regional development perspective through a comparative analysis of the Pacific Alliance and the Latin American Integration Association between 2005 and 2014, as economic cooperation mechanisms in Latin America and the Caribbean that seek development within the same region. / Históricamente han existido distintos debates para alcanzar el desarrollo, desde diferentes ámbitos y espacios. La visión del desarrollo desde el espacio global, ha tenido una importante evolución hasta nuestros días, principalmente después de la II Guerra Mundial, a través de la Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (CID). Desde el espacio regional, los mecanismos de cooperación económica han reflejado ser dinámicos y positivos para el desarrollo. Por ello, el presente trabajo pretende en primera instancia, realizar una revisión de la evolución sobre la visión de desarrollo desde un contexto global y regional. En una segunda fase, busca analizar las aportaciones comerciales, desde una visión del desarrollo regional, por medio de un análisis comparativo de la Alianza del Pacífico (AP) con respecto a la región y a la Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI) para el periodo 2005-2014, como mecanismos de cooperación económica en América Latina y el Caribe (ALyC) que buscan un desarrollo dentro de la misma región.