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2014/2015  KAN-CCDEO1007U  Managing Development Intervention

English Title
Managing Development Intervention

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Lotte Thomsen - MSC
  • Peter Ørberg Jensen - Department of Strategic Management and Globalization (SMG)
Main academic disciplines
  • Globalization, International Business, markets and studies
Last updated on 19-08-2014
Learning objectives
Upon completion of the course the students should be able to:
  • • Analyse the interplay of aid rhetoric, policy, management, practice and impact in relation to development aid interventions.
  • • Outline and assess the relevance, design, effectiveness and sustainability of the various types of private sector development programmes.
  • • Describe, apply and assess analytical tools of development aid management, including planning, implementation and evaluation.
  • • Relate these tools to the trends and policies of international development assistance in general and more specifically to the modalities of aid (project, programme, sector programme, budget support etc).
Course prerequisites
Relevant Bachelor degree in business and management or equivalent.
Examination
Managing Development Intervention:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual
Assignment type Essay
Duration 72 hours to prepare
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period May/June, The exam will consist of a 72-hour case-based written exam paper. At the beginning of the exam, students will be given a case and a set of questions which relate the case to the exam curriculum. The case will either be a text from one of the international teaching case data bases (e.g. ECCH, Ivey) or a customized text prepared by the course coordinators. The exam paper will have a maximum length of 10 standard pages (not including cover page and references).
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content and structure
The course aims to provide students with a conceptual and theoretical overview of the discourse in development studies and policies and will introduce students to a range of more practical analytical tools and experiences with development assistance intervention. Within the contemporary context of international development policies the course emphasizes in particular market and private sector driven development including aid interventions in support of local business development and poverty alleviation. The course covers Danish and international aid strategies, experiences and analytical tools and draws upon practical experiences of course faculty.

The course is divided into four parts: The first part consists of an introduction to the trends in international development assistance with particular emphasis on the evolution of policy aims, themes and strategies of OECD donor countries in relation to recipient developing countries. The second part presents methodologies and tools for planning, implementing, evaluating and communicating development interventions (i.e. projects, programmes, sector programmes and other forms of development assistance). This part of the course introduces project/programme management tools such as the Logical Framework Analysis (LFA), and evaluation methodology. The third part will focus on Private Sector Development (PSD) programmes. This section will discuss and assess the relevance, design, effectiveness and sustainability of the various types of PSD programmes and related analytical tools. The fourth and final part will address the cross cutting question of poverty alleviation and pro-poor aid interventions emphasising the potential impacts of aid on poverty reduction and recent initiatives to combat world poverty, i.e. the overriding objective of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
The course is an integrated part of the MScBLC Business and Development Studies (BaDS) and a sequel to the Development Strategy in a Global Economy course (where the focus is on the role of states in economic and social development, situated within regional and global regulatory institutions and international political relations). The course relates to the other tools-oriented course of BaDS, Foreign direct investment projects in developing countries: Strategy, planning and management, which takes on strategic, analytical and practical issues of foreign direct investment projects in developing and emerging economies, and also to the more theoretical courses, International business and economic development, and Business strategy in developing countries and emerging markets.
Teaching methods
The course is designed to integrate analytical and practical aspects of managing development interventions. The course will mix lectures by faculty and external aid researchers, administrators and practitioners respectively and include active participation of students through case analysis, group and plenary discussions. The course readings amounts to approx. 950 pages.
Expected literature

To be announced on Learn, but most likely:

  • Compendium: Managing Development Interventions, Volume 1 & 2, Frederiksberg: Samfundslitteratur
  • Degnbol-Martinussen, J. & Engberg-Pedersen, P. (2003). AID – Understanding International Development Cooperation. London: Zed Books.
  • Martinussen, J. (1997). Society, State & Market – A Guide to Competing Theories of Development. London: Zed Books.
Last updated on 19-08-2014