Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

Ran B. Morapaya in his contribution shares his experiences both as a
long-serving government official of Sri Lanka and as an official of the Swedish
development office in Colombo, of the dialogue at project level between
the two countries in question. His point of reference is his deep
involvement in the Dialogue in Rural Development from the Integrated
Rural Development Programme of Sri Lanka.
Nakanyike Musisi gives an account of the dialogue with the donors in
the process of the major reform of Makerere University. She concentrates
her account on the relationship between Rockefeller Foundation and
Makerere University, which has been very important, if not decisive, for the
rapid and positive development of the university in recent years. She points
at what made the dialogue so successful but also the pitfalls and risks involved
in such a close relationship.
Armoogum Parsuramen focuses on development aid in the field of education,
in Mauritius, in the context of the preparation, formulation and implementation
of a five-year plan for education. He illustrates how the government
with the help of dialogue managed to build consensus with internal
and external stakeholders around a broad reform agenda.
Joel Samoff in his contribution takes the new concentration on sectoral
support as his starting point. Based on his assignment from UNESCO to
review the education sector analysis process in a great number of African
countries he makes some major observations on the Sector-Based Development
and Educational Partnerships, which have serious implications for the
aid dialogue.
Bounthavy Sisouphanthong gives an example of the concept of twinning
between the two national statistical institutes of Laos and Sweden as a
method of continuous and successful dialogue. He addresses the questions
whether twinning actually works and whether it ensures a good dialogue
between the partners.
Uno Winblad in his contribution points to the fact that the asymmetric
relationship is not only between donors and recipients but also between
the government officials in the recipient countries and the ultimate beneficiaries
of aid and development. As one of very few examples of a meaningful
dialogue he has witnessed in his many years of development work he
describes the Shiksa Karmi Project in India. With the help of intermediaries
a direct dialogue between donor-government representatives and the intended
beneficiaries became possible and actually influenced the implementation
of the project.
Finally, the editors wish to express their appreciation to the members of
the project’s reference group (Benno Ndulu, Torgny Holmgren, Eva Tobisson,
Ingemar Gustafsson, Stefan Molund, Ingrid Wetterqvist, Gunilla Olsson and
Ulrica Risso Engblom) for their helpful and constructive comments. Many
thanks also to Elaine Almén for her language checking and in particular to
Nina Frödin for her administration of the manuscript.
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