Al di là dell’aiuto : Mutual learning e cooperazione internazionale allo sviluppo

Abstract

What is international development cooperation? A unilateral transfer of financial aid from richer to poorer contexts, or a “positive-sum” game in which each party – different in roles, resources and responsibilities – can benefit trough concrete “doing together”? This volume intends to explore the second perspective by a theoretical and empirical analysis of an emerging concept in the cooperation field: mutual learning. This principle, used as a framework for development projects, policies and strategies, can generate virtuous processes of exchange in which parties have the opportunity to give and receive, to teach and learn from each other. First of all, thanks to some key respondents engaged in different development cooperation sectors, the text attempts to trace the concept boundaries by highlighting its defining elements, conditions of possibility and practical implications, exposing a theoretical/empirical definition of mutual learning. In the next research phase, the direct involvement of four Italian NGOs and the analysis of their development projects allows us to verify whether mutual learning should be considered a buzzword with a purely rhetorical character, or whether it has a real value in orienting the cooperation practice. With the purpose of bringing theoretical reflection and practical experience into dialogue, the volume is aimed at two different categories of actors: firstly, at those who work in the social sciences and want to deepen the study of international development cooperation from a scientific viewpoint; secondly at those who are engaged in the cooperation field and are looking for new tools to guide their design, implementation and evaluation activities.