Ownership is considered a precondition for sustainable results of development projects, this primarily refers to ownership after the project is concluded. Yet the impact of the relationship between sustainability and ownership at the project stages is not yet clear. This study therefore analyses the ownership-results’ sustainability nexus at the project level, with particular attention to the implication of multi-stakeholder ownership, and how sustainability of results relates to stakeholder ownership of impacts throughout the project life cycle. This study uses the qualitative research design with an empirical point of departure combined with the abduction approach. The research analyses a multi-stakeholder project, the Kosovo Environmental Programme (KEP), using data from online semi-structured interviews with key individuals from four different stakeholder categories involved in the project: Donors, implementing agencies, partners, and right holders. The analytical framework used for the study was the Local Engagement Assessment Framework (LEAF), where the ownership of KEP stakeholders was assessed in three different categories: priorities, implementation/resources, and sustainability. By assessing KEP, the study makes several key findings that can be applicable to a wide range of cases. Firstly, that ownership develops over time and that it is a process that goes on throughout the project cycle. If there is active and effective cultivation of ownership along the process, sustainability will be strengthened in a systemic and comprehensive way. Promoting ownership and sustainability throughout the project cycle is therefore necessary for sustainability and this should start at the initial phase, not during the process nor near the end. Secondly, ownership does not belong to one actor anymore; rather, it sits with different groups of actors, and these can include both relevant international and local actors. Thus, a multi-stakeholder approach is considered especially relevant in broad based projects and where the right conditions exists, such as mutual understanding and trust between stakeholders, awareness, communication, partnership etc. Thirdly, while there have been attempts to fill the ownership gap between donor and recipient governments, the gap between recipient governments and other state and non-state-actors is evident and remains an issue. Therefore, further research is needed into extending ownership beyond central governmental institutions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-97948 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Muçaj, Pranvera |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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