Experiences and lessons learned from Partner Driven Cooperation
This evaluation explored the experiences and lessons learned from Partner Driven Cooperation (PDC). PDC has been the main aid modality in the Swedish development cooperation 2009-13 with seven countries: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The bilateral development cooperation with these countries ended in 2013. PDC was aimed at establishing partnerships between Swedish actors and actors in these seven countries, in order to (i) promote Swedish knowledge, (ii) build sustainable relations and (iii) achieve development cooperation goals. PDC aimed at establishing relationships of mutual interest and in the long term financed by other means than development cooperation funding.
The purpose of the evaluation was threefold:
- To summarize PDC as an aid modality
- To show how PDC has been implemented and whether PDC has contributed to the goals in the PDC policy
- To document the results of Swedish PDC cooperation with the seven countries with Selective cooperation.
The main finding of the evaluation was that a number of strong partnerships based on mutual interest have been created, many of which will continue in some form also after 2013, although financing for the Swedish partners remains an issue. One observation is that partnerships take a long time to become fully operational and sustainable, and that PDC is therefore not suitable for phasing out development cooperation during shorter periods such as three years. It is recommended that a new type of PDC is considered, where the main objective would be to create sustainable relations based on mutual interests.
The evaluation was presented at Sida Development Talks, 17 December 2013.