1 Edited by Jerker Carlsson and Lennart Wohlgemuth LEARNING IN DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION 2 Jerker Carlsson Associate Professor Department of Peace and Development Research University of Gothenburg Sweden Telephone: +46 370 30 14 30 Telefax: +46 370 493 31 e-mail:
[email protected] Lennart Wohlgemuth Director The Nordic Africa Institute Box 1703 SE-751 47 Uppsala Sweden Telephone: +46 18 56 22 00 Telefax: +46 18 56 22 90 e-mail:
[email protected] Distributed by: Almqvist & Wiksell International P.O. Box 7634 SE-103 94 Stockholm Sweden Telefax: +46 8 24 25 43 e-mail:
[email protected] 3 Table of contents Part I Jerker Carlsson and Lennart Wohlgemuth Learning in Development Co-operation – an Introduction 6 Part II Elliot Berg Why Aren’t Aid Organizations Better Learners? 24 Gus Edgren Fashions, Myths and Delusion: Obstacles to Organisational Learning in Aid Agencies 41 Astri Suhrke From One Crisis to Another: Organisational Learning in UNHCR 69 Naoki Suzuki What Prevents Development Organizations from Learning? The Difficulties in Learning to Be Learners 88 Part III Louk Box The Toils and the Spoils: Agricultural Knowledge Networks, Professionals and Practitioners 104 Jerker Carlsson Learning from Evaluations 120 Kai-ming Cheng Learning the Local Perspectives 130 Margareta Grape What Did Mr Olofsson Learn? 142 Jacques Hallak Learning in International Development Co-operation – an Example of a Small International Institution 152 Kenneth King A Personal Reflection – Learning and Development Aid, 1960-2000 164 4 Kirsti Lintonen Learning in Development Co-operation – the Case of Finland 181 Narciso Matos Development Co-operation and the Process of Learning 192 Thandika Mkandawire Non-Organic Intellectuals and “Learning” in Policy-Making Africa 205 Ernesto Schiefelbein and Paulina Schiefelbein Slow Learning in Development Co-operation to Latin American Education 213 Willi A.