Donor Delivery Style, Learning, and Institutional Development

The technical co‐operation styles of three aid donor agencies, amely Britain′s Overseas Development Administration, the Swedish International Development Authority and the Japan International Co‐operation Agency, are respectively described and analysed as “blueprint”, “hands‐off” and “collaborative”. They are compared in terms of their effectiveness in producing sustainable benefits and in fostering institutional development, which is critically important to management development efforts. It is posited that learning is, or must become, a central process in development intervention styles. The Kolb experiential learning cycle is used as the tool of analysis in comparing the delivery styles of the three agencies. It is concluded that it may be necessary to develop a consistent model which places the emphasis on learning at the centre of delivery strategies, reconciling and using different delivery styles to realise effective learning.