‘twinning’ as a method of sustainable institutional capacity building

‘Twinning’ is the distinctive method employed during the last two decades by the Swedish International Development Co‐operation Agency (Sida) to promote institutional capacity building in development co‐operation. This article reports on a study undertaken to provide evidence which would help Sida to make judgements about the efficacy of the twinning model as a basis for sustainable capacity building, and to explore ways of enhancing the method. The study indicates that the twinning method has potential advantages over other modes of development co‐operation, particularly that it offers enhanced possibilities for organizational learning and sustainable capacity building. However, the study suggests that this potential is not being fully exploited. Twinning arrangements have produced major benefits in professional/technical upgrading, but there is less evidence of outcomes at the level of sustainable institutional capacity building. Contrary to Sida's expectations of its distinctive advantages, in operation, twinning tends to become a rather routine process, viewed by developing country partners as an unexceptional way of delivering aid which presents few fundamental challenges and provides essentially the same benefits as alternative methods. It appears that institutional development and organizational learning are generally not issues of major significance for partner organizations in twinning arrangements. Even at the individual level the focus is on training rather than learning, which results in the usual emphasis on formal off‐job training rather than seeking opportunities for learning from work. The article presents ideas on how the current twinning approach might be renovated, and considers how agencies such as Sida might enhance their development co‐operation in the realm of governance by moving beyond twinning. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.