| dc.description.abstract | This research project seeks to understand the influence of mutuality on the effectiveness of a
partnership through a case study of a school triangular cooperation partnership. This is a partnership
between members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and pivotal countries to implement
programmes or projects in beneficiary countries. This form of cooperation is seen as a complement of
both North-South and South-South cooperation. To achieve this, triangular cooperation is guided by a
number of principles one of which is mutuality. Mutuality is seen as a means of creating win-win
situations for the parties involved and is considered a success factor for effective partnerships. However,
even in the practice of South-South cooperation (that is viewed as most mutual), critics observe that this
win-win situation is never achieved. The importance of this principle in the practice of effective
triangular cooperation is thus put to doubt.
Therefore, the main objective of the study is to determine to what extent the variations in mutuality
influence the effectiveness of Triangular cooperation education partnerships. This analysis is based on
mutuality indicators of effective communication and coordination, participation and inclusivity, mutual
accountability and, mutual resource contribution and access. The existence of these indicators in the
partnership is investigated and then a further analysis of their influence on the partnership effectiveness
indicators of goal achievement and partner satisfaction is done.
The study is carried out as a qualitative case study. The study areas are three schools involved in the
partnership in Malawi (Bambino Primary School), Zimbabwe (St. Paul’s Primary School) and in Norway
(Trosvik Skole). Primary data was collected from respondents from these three schools categorized in
two: partnership leaders and committee members. The data was collected through in-depth interviews
and semi-structured questionnaires for the leaders and committee members respectively. Key
informants drawn from the education, public and non-governmental sectors were also used as data
sources. Secondary data sources were from books, journals and partnership documents. The analysis of
the data was through content analysis.
Key research findings show that this partnership started as a triangular cooperation from the onset and
that it exhibits typical triangular cooperation characteristics as discussed in literature. The partnership
formation process was initiated and handled by the Norway coordinator with little involvement of the
two South schools. The Norway school is the donor partner while the Malawi school seems to be the This research project seeks to understand the influence of mutuality on the effectiveness of a
partnership through a case study of a school triangular cooperation partnership. This is a partnership
between members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee and pivotal countries to implement
programmes or projects in beneficiary countries. This form of cooperation is seen as a complement of
both North-South and South-South cooperation. To achieve this, triangular cooperation is guided by a
number of principles one of which is mutuality. Mutuality is seen as a means of creating win-win
situations for the parties involved and is considered a success factor for effective partnerships. However,
even in the practice of South-South cooperation (that is viewed as most mutual), critics observe that this
win-win situation is never achieved. The importance of this principle in the practice of effective
triangular cooperation is thus put to doubt.
Therefore, the main objective of the study is to determine to what extent the variations in mutuality
influence the effectiveness of Triangular cooperation education partnerships. This analysis is based on
mutuality indicators of effective communication and coordination, participation and inclusivity, mutual
accountability and, mutual resource contribution and access. The existence of these indicators in the
partnership is investigated and then a further analysis of their influence on the partnership effectiveness
indicators of goal achievement and partner satisfaction is done.
The study is carried out as a qualitative case study. The study areas are three schools involved in the
partnership in Malawi (Bambino Primary School), Zimbabwe (St. Paul’s Primary School) and in Norway
(Trosvik Skole). Primary data was collected from respondents from these three schools categorized in
two: partnership leaders and committee members. The data was collected through in-depth interviews
and semi-structured questionnaires for the leaders and committee members respectively. Key
informants drawn from the education, public and non-governmental sectors were also used as data
sources. Secondary data sources were from books, journals and partnership documents. The analysis of
the data was through content analysis.
Key research findings show that this partnership started as a triangular cooperation from the onset and
that it exhibits typical triangular cooperation characteristics as discussed in literature. The partnership
formation process was initiated and handled by the Norway coordinator with little involvement of the
two South schools. The Norway school is the donor partner while the Malawi school seems to be the pivotal partner with the Zimbabwe school being the beneficiary partner. The research reveals a lack of
consensus on the importance of mutuality in triangular cooperation though there is some agreement on
the view that in reality, it is often realized in varying degrees. In regard to the mutuality indicators, the
extent of their realization differs with more emphasis on communication and coordination and
accountability than on the other two. On partnership effectiveness, the findings indicate that not all
partnership goals are achieved hence negatively affecting the effectiveness score of the partnership. The
partner satisfaction indicator however shows a lot of positive findings. The influence of mutuality
indicators on the effectiveness indicators shows that the three indicators, communication and
coordination, mutual accountability and, participation and inclusivity have the most influence on the
effectiveness of a partnership. This is especially true for their influence on partner satisfaction. The
strongest link between the two variables however has to do with mutual accountability. The links
between the goal achievement indicator of effectiveness and the mutuality indicators and; mutual
resource contribution and access indicator of mutuality and the effectiveness indicators however are
not as clear as the other links.
The study recommends further studies on the relationship between goal achievement and the mutuality
of partnerships to ascertain whether there is any link and what the nature of such a link is. A
recommendation is also made on more inclusion and participation of the committee members in the
decision making process of the partnership as they seem to have valuable input as implementers. Key words: Triangular cooperation; Malawi, Norway and Zimbabwe; Mutuality; Partnership Effectiveness | en_US |
