Browsing by Author "Virta, Marianne"

This thesis examines the assumed impact of development cooperation projects, and the implementation of result-based management as well as the measurement of the achievements. In this thesis I analysis the theories of change and implemen-tation of result-based management in the project documents of the Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) -programme. Result-based management came into the development field following the new public management in the 1990’s, and it became central within development cooperation as a critique towards failures to achieve sustainable results. The concept of theory of change was also introduced in the 1990’s, and it describes the process assumed to lead to desired outcomes. This is a qualitative research, and the methods used are narrative analysis and content analysis. The material is the project documents of HEI ICI -projects. The project documents and result frameworks are analyzed narratively examining their theories of change. The result frameworks are also examined through content analysis examining the result-based manage-ment and measurability of results. From the documents, four change-narrative types were created. The types are related on the role higher education has on promoting employment and entrepreneurship, how better targeted curriculums can respond to challenges in the society, the role of trained teachers and staff have on development, and how higher education can support sustainable development. The result frameworks were examined based on the four predefined result areas, focusing on measurability. Promoting the quality and relevance of higher education can have an impact on poverty reduction, promotion of human rights and achievement of sustainable development goals. Higher education is also important for economic growth. Through reform-ing curriculums and teaching education can be targeted to respond better to the needs of the society. Education also has a role in the societal change, and higher education is important in orientating the curriculums to be in line with sustainable develop-ment. Promoting higher education and by improving knowledge of sustainable land use and sustainable resources, sustaina-ble development and democracy can be improved. Each of the four result areas has its own indicators on how the results are achieved. The quantitative indicators include for example, the number of trained teachers, number of new curriculums and degree programmes, number of publications and number of course participants. Qualitative indicators can be linked to how curriculums are improved, how to improve teach-ing and research results, how facilities are improved and how attitudes towards education have changed. Each project’s result framework differs, but in the end the indicators and means to achieve results are very similar. The expected impacts of HEI ICI -projects are very diverse and the objectives are cross-cutting. Higher education has many different opportunities to affect the development of the society and create change. This thesis only examines the context of the HEI ICI -program, but it still shows the importance of higher education and different ways how higher education can support development.