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“What efforts are
made by public and private actors to promote
development?”
“Which aid policies, modalities and instruments are most
effective?”
“What are the characteristics of the main actors, such as
government,
NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral donors?”
This Master’s offers insight into the nature of
development evaluation, as well as its relevance and challenges, at
both a methodological and an institutional level. Students are
familiarised with multidisciplinary tools that will improve their
capacity to understand interactions among actors involved, and to
contribute to an enhanced conceptualisation, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of development policies and programmes.
The programme offers two tracks with specific objectives and
courses:
Track 1: National Institutions, Poverty Reduction Strategies and Aid
Track 2: Development Interventions and Local Institutional
Change
Track 1: National Institutions, Poverty Reduction Strategies and Aid
|
MA
of Governance and Development |
MA
of Globalisation and Development |
MA
of Development Evaluation and Management |
| Module I |
Theories of Development - Research Methods I & II
|
| Module II |
Governance
for Development |
Globalisation
and Development |
Evaluating
Development
Effectiveness
|
| Module III |
From
Violent Conflict to State Reconstruction |
Local
Institutions and Poverty Reduction |
National Institutions, Poverty Reduction Strategies & Aid
|
| Module IV |
Dissertation
|
Please click here to see the full programme details
The ‘Macro Dimensions of Development
interventions’ track focuses on the analysis of the
interaction between external actors, local politics and institutions,
at the macro level. The basic question addressed is why the aid
strategies of the donor community are sometimes
successful but more often fail. This leads to further, more operational
questions. What lessons have been learned from the study of past
failures and successes, and how convincing are present policy
prescriptions and paradigms, as enshrined in the 2005 Paris
Declaration?
The programme helps the student to use appropriate analytical
frameworks and to apply relevant scientific methods in evaluating
results and drawing policy conclusions. It introduces students to
different kinds of evaluation, relying on quantitative as well as
qualitative techniques.
This track is intended for participants who have work
experience in government institutions (including public research
institutions), donor agencies (including international NGOs, bilateral
and multilateral donors), civil society (including research institutes,
universities). Candidates work in the field of development intervention
or poverty reduction initiatives,
and are macro-level policy oriented. Professionally, they belong to
middle management with policy responsibilities and/or are in charge of
managing the interface between different policy levels (national to
international, national to local) or between different arenas
(government-donors, INGO-national NGO, etc.).
Programme structure
Module I - Theories of Development | Research Methods I
& II
(12 weeks – 18 credits)
-
Theories of Development:
provides an overview of recent evolutions in the literature on the
politics and economics of development, and on poverty and inequality.
-
Research Methods I and II:
update of contemporary quantitative and qualitative research methods;
possibilities for combining these methods and applying them within
ongoing development processes.
Module II: Evaluating Development Effectiveness
(9 weeks – 12 credits)
It starts with an
overview of the debate on development effectiveness. Students are
introduced to different theoretical
frameworks
for understanding the behaviour of actors, and for analyzing outcomes.
Part II of the module focuses on the scientific evaluation of
development effectiveness. It thoroughly examines the tools employed in
monitoring and evaluation, and discusses methods of evaluation. By the
end of this module, students are able to apply both quantitative and qualitative techniques in adressing the leading development
evaluation challenges. This module is organised by the Thematic Group
‘Aid Policies’.
Module III: National Institutions, Poverty Reduction
Strategies & Aid
(9 weeks – 12 credits)
The vantage point of this
module is the current debate on poverty reduction and the international
aid architecture launched around the turn of the millennium
and confirmed in the Paris Declaration (2005) and the Accra Agenda for
Action (2008). The theory of development underlying the new aid
approach, the aid modalities and instruments that are promoted, and
particularly the roles envisaged for the key actors (donors,
governments, civil society) are all studied in depth. The module
assesses the present state of implementation of the aid architecture
and
analyses the challenges for the future. This module is organised by the
Thematic Group ‘Aid Policies’.
Module IV: Dissertation
(15 weeks – 18 credits)
To be developed on the
basis of one of the assignments written at the end of either module II
or III.
Track 2: Development Interventions and Local Institutional
Change
|
MA
of Governance and Development |
MA
of Globalisation and Development |
MA
of Development Evaluation and Management |
| Module I |
Theories of Development - Research Methods I & II
|
| Module II |
Governance
for Development |
Globalisation
and Development |
Evaluating
Development
Effectiveness
|
| Module III |
From
Violent Conflict to State Reconstruction |
Local Institutions and Poverty Reduction
|
National
Institutions, Poverty Reduction Strategies & Aid |
| Module IV |
Dissertation
|
Please click here to see the full programme details
The ‘Development Interventions and Local
Institutional Change’ track conceptualises socio-political
and economic
development as the outcome of interactions between a conditioning
institutional environment and the agency of
local, national and international actors, including multi- and
bilateral, governmental and non-governmental aid actors.
Special
attention is paid to the importance of micro-level institutions and
processes, and how these condition the effectiveness of development
efforts in improving livelihoods and neutralising processes of social
exclusion. Exploring in detail how the local context transforms the
processes of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of
development interventions, is of crucial importance to recognising
opportunities for resolving the poverty conundrum.
This track is intended for participants who have work
experience in
civil society in the South (e.g. at research institutes or
universities, or with local NGOs or entrepreneurial associations),
donor
agencies (including international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral
donors) and government institutions. The candidates should be involved
in development interventions or poverty-reduction initiatives in micro
or mesolevel projects and programmes. Professionally, the candidates
hold middle-management positions involving policy responsibilities
and/or managerial responsibilities at the interface between different
policy levels (local to national, national to international) or between
different arenas (e.g. civil societygovernment, government-donors,
INGO-national NGO, etc).
Programme structure
Module I - Theories of Development | Research Methods I & II
(12 weeks – 18 credits)
-
Theories of
Development: provides an overview of recent evolutions in the
literature on the politics and economics of development, and on poverty
and inequality.
-
Research Methods I
and II: update of contemporary quantitative and qualitative research
methods; possibilities for combining these methods and applying them
within ongoing development processes.
Module II: Evaluating Development Effectiveness
(9 weeks – 12 credits)
It starts with an
overview of the debate on development effectiveness. Students are
introduced to different theoretical
frameworks
for understanding the behaviour of actors, and for analyzing outcomes.
Part II of the module focuses on the scientific evaluation of
development effectiveness. It thoroughly examines the tools employed in
monitoring and evaluation, and discusses methods of evaluation. By the
end of this module, students are able to apply both quantitative
and qualitative techniques in adressing the leading development
evaluation challenges. This module is organised by the Thematic Group
‘Aid Policies’.
Module III: Local Institutions and Poverty Reduction
(9 weeks – 12 credits)
The module analyses how
the interactions of actor strategies and institutional structures
generate inequality and poverty as well as well-being. It applies this
analysis to specific policy domains: value chain development,
microfinance, land policies, gender, public services, role of local
government, management of natural resources, migration and the impact
of trade (the latter topic emphasises measurement and quantitative
assessment, while the others involve qualitative and quantitative
approaches). This module is organised by the Thematic Group
‘Poverty and Well-being as a Local Institutional
Process’.
Module IV: Dissertation
(15 weeks – 18 credits)
To be developed on the
basis of one of the assignments written at the end of either module II
or III.
detailed
information
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