MSc in
Development Evaluation and Management
T rack 1: L ocal institutions
and poverty reduction
The track in ‘Local institutions and poverty
reduction’ conceptualises socio-political and
economic development as the outcome of
interactions between a conditioning institutional
environment and the agency of local, national and
international actors, including multilateral and
bilateral, governmental and non-governmental aid
actors.
Programme content
The Master in Development Evaluation and
Management focuses on the efforts made,
particularly by external (public and private)
actors, to promote development. It provides
a solid understanding of the past and present
aid policies of multilateral and bilateral donors,
also addressing the major aid modalities
and instruments deployed. The institutional
characteristics of the actors involved – be they
governments, community-based organisations,
international NGOs, bilateral or multilateral
donors – are analysed in order to attain a better
understanding of development processes and
outcomes. The main theoretical perspective is
that development is best understood as a set
of interlocking collective action problems. The
Master programme offers methodological and
practical insights into development evaluation, its
relevance and challenges.
Applicants to this Master should show a keen
interest in studying and analyzing the institutional
context in which development interventions
take place, in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
and the design, implementation and evaluation
14 · master programmes
of local and (inter)national development
interventions as well as the role of external actors
in development.
Most of our students are engaged (or aspire to
become engaged) in development (cooperation),
as professionals and/or researchers. The Master
programme will improve the capacity of these
students to assess the strengths and weaknesses
of the prevailing development paradigms and
the envisaged role of aid and external actors in
promoting change. Students learn to appreciate
the importance of different institutional arenas,
as well as how they work and interact. They will
become familiar with multidisciplinary analytical
tools that will improve their capacity to analyse
interactions and enhance the conceptualisation,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
development policies and programmes.
The Master programme offers two tracks, each
with specific objectives and course packages that
are intended for a specific audience. The first track
is focused primarily on the macro (international
and national) level, while the second focuses
mainly on the micro (local) level.
Special attention is paid to the importance of
micro-level institutions and processes, as well
as to how they condition the effectiveness of
development efforts in improving livelihoods
and neutralising processes of social exclusion.
The detailed exploration of how local contexts
transform processes involving the planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation
of development interventions is of crucial
importance to recognising opportunities
for resolving the poverty conundrum.
This track is intended for participants who
have work experience or who aspire to a career
in civil society in the South (e.g. at research
institutes or universities, or with local NGOs or
entrepreneurial associations), donor agencies
(including international NGOs, bilateral and
multilateral donors) and government institutions.
Candidates s hould be involved in development
interventions or poverty reduction initiatives
in micro-level or meso- level projects and
programmes. Professionally, candidates are
middle-managers with policy and/or managerial
responsibilities at the interface between different
policy levels (e.g. local to national, national to
international) or between different arenas (e.g. civil
society- government, government-donors, INGO-
national NGO).
T rack 2: N ational I nstitutions ,
P overty R eduction
S trategies and A id
The track in ‘National institutions, poverty
reduction strategies and aid’ focuses on the
analysis of the interaction between national
institutions, local politics and external actors.
The basic question addressed concerns why
development interventions are sometimes
successful but more often fail. This leads to more
operational questions such as: which lessons
have been learned from the study of past failures
and successes, and how convincing are current
prescriptions and paradigms for development
policy?
The programme teaches students to use
appropriate analytical frameworks and to apply
relevant scientific methods in evaluating results
and drawing policy conclusions. It introduces
students to various kinds of evaluation, based on
quantitative as well as qualitative techniques.
This track is intended for participants who
have work experience or who aspire to a career
in government institutions (including public
research institutions), donor agencies (including
international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral
donors), civil society (including research institutes,
universities).
Candidates work in the field of development
intervention or poverty reduction initiatives, and
they are oriented towards macro-level policy.
Professionally, they are middle managers with
policy responsibilities and/or responsibility for
managing the interface between different policy
levels (e.g. national to international, national
to local) or between different arenas (e.g.
government-donors, INGO-national NGO).
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