Long-Lasting, But Not Transformative. An Ex-post Sustainability Study of Development Interventions of Private Development Initiatives

This article presents the results of the first ex-post sustainability study among 93 development interventions implemented between 1990 and 2008 in Kenya, India, South Africa, and Ghana. The interventions were undertaken by 42 different local organisations with support from an equal number of Dutch small-scale, voluntary development organisations. We find that a large number of interventions still achieve the intended output and outcome results. The results show no differences between interventions that took place 5, 10, or 15 years before the study. Financial dependency on the Dutch partner organisations remains large. The levels of sustainability differed significantly between the four countries, with Kenya and South Africa portraying the most positive picture. In addition, the results indicate that the majority of the interventions are focusing on the direct reduction of poverty: offering concrete support to people through the provision of basic needs. While many local organisations expect that these interventions will also contribute to more structural change, the findings of this study question this supposed transformative effect.