Learning to Respond: The European Development Organisations in a Changing Global Political Context

In a globalised world and in the face of shared global challenges (the U.N. Millennium Goals, international peacekeeping, WTO trade negotiations, etc.), development policy has ceased to be an autonomous international policy area and has come to be understood as part of a concerted international action. For development organisations and institutions, and, concretely, European ones, these new challenges leave them no other option but to become better learners and to rapidly and permanently improve their capabilities for institutional innovation. In this sense, the author analyses two paths, which for him are fundamental, aimed at these development organisations and institutions: on the one hand, what he calls adaptable management, and, on the other hand, organisational learning. The application of both alternatives is essential if one wants to successfully battle the complex challenges awaiting us.