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Study of Government Institutions exchange of staff
In this study, we are examining the learning outcomes among public and governmental organisations that are taking part in Norec's professional exchange programme. We are in particular concerned with identifying the specific learning outcomes that characterises public institutions, both at an individual and institutional level. A core element of exchange programmes is that the exchange activity is perceived as a knowledge transfer process. Norec's assumption is that in particular three key dimensions contribute to learning. These are: 1) the timeframe of the exchange; 2) the duration and depth, and; 3) the reciprocity of the partnerships. In this study we examine the impact (or not) of these dimensions, as well as we have identified other dimensions that contribute to learning. The question of how to achieve long-term, sustainable improvement at the institutional level, is one of the key issues in international development. This has mostly been conceptualised as capacity building within the development sector, which of course has many definitions, but to put it simply, it is about improving the organisational performance of institutions. In this study we have therefore looked closer at the transfer knowledge processes, and what it takes for individual learning to become part of an organisations' knowledge.