The Sustainability of Development Cooperation

Every year more than 60 billion dollars (US) are expended on development aid worldwide. Nonetheless, surprisingly little is known about the effects of such cooperative efforts, let alone their sustainability. And there is more than just a lack of interest: as yet no empirically useful models have been developed for providing a grounded analysis of sustainability.
The author develops an operational conception for the empirical measurement of the sustainability of development programs. A differentiated evaluation framework for data collection stands at the core of this comparative analytic approach: it is suitable for evaluating the most diverse projects and programs in development aid implemented in collaboration with the local institutions of receiver countries.
The analytical conception is applied to a central field of development policy: vocational training. A systematic study is made in this area of assistance of just how effective development policy is in the long term.
The author holds a chair in sociology at the University of Saarland and has been implementing evaluation studies for national and international development-aid organizations for over 10 years.