Conceptualizing the Effectiveness of Sustainability Assessment in Development Cooperation

Jean Hugé, Nibedita Mukherjee, Camille Fertel, Jean-Philippe Waaub, Thomas Block, Tom Waas, Nico Koedam and Farid Dahdouh-Guebas
Additional contact information
Jean Hugé: Systems Ecology & Resource Management Lab, Biology Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Camille Fertel: Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD)—HEC Montreal, Côte-Sainte-Catherine Rd. 3000, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Jean-Philippe Waaub: Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD)—HEC Montreal, Côte-Sainte-Catherine Rd. 3000, Montreal, QC H3T 2A7, Canada
Thomas Block: Centre for Sustainable Development, Universiteit Gent, Poel 16, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Tom Waas: Centre for Sustainable Development, Universiteit Gent, Poel 16, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Nico Koedam: Plant Biology & Nature Management Lab, Biology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Farid Dahdouh-Guebas: Systems Ecology & Resource Management Lab, Biology Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Sustainability assessment has emerged as a key decision-support process in development cooperation in response to the growing acknowledgement of the impacts of global change. This paper aims at conceptualizing the effectiveness of sustainability assessment as applied in development cooperation, by focusing on the sustainability assessment practice by actors of the official Belgian Development Cooperation. The conceptualization of the effectiveness of sustainability assessment is synthesized in a set of issues and concerns, based on semi-structured interviews. The paper highlights the specificity of sustainability assessment in the development cooperation sector (e.g., through the cultural and discursive compatibility dimensions of assessment in a North-South context). Effectiveness is inherently linked to the expected functions of sustainability assessment in the decision-making process, which include fostering organizational change, shaping contextually adapted framings of sustainability and operationalizing the sustainability transition. These findings highlight the relevance of a discourse-sensitive approach to sustainability assessment if one is to strengthen its credibility and legitimacy.

Keywords: sustainability assessment; effectiveness; development cooperation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:5:p:5735-5751:d:49341

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