Managing Development Projects and Programmes: Fresh Perspectives towards an Action Research Agenda

Abstract

This paper was first published in 1998 as Working Paper No. 21 in a series edited by Jennifer Wilby of the Lincoln School of Management in the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside – since re-launched as the University of Lincoln. It followed an invitational conference held at Lincoln in August 1997 to launch an internationally-focused Centre for Applied Development Studies, directed by Dr. Amanda Gregory. John Friend was appointed as part-time Research Professor in order to develop its research programme. The inaugural conference was attended by visitors from Brazil, Venezuela, Japan, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Netherlands and Sweden, and by doctoral students from India, China, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia. The paper set out to compare three different families of tools for support of development projects and programmes: participatory development tools; systems thinking tools; and decision support tools. After reviewing critically the widely-accepted concepts of participation, partnership, evaluation and sustainability, the paper proceeded to suggest guidelines for an action research agenda. These guidelines were subsequently followed through as opportunities arose in Africa, in Venezuela and in South East Asia. Although the Centre was closed in 2001, its action research ethos was sustained through more local projects when the Community Operational Research Unit moved to Lincoln in 2001, under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Herron.