Managing development programs for sustainability: Integrating development and research through adaptive management

Abstract

As sustainability becomes an increasingly common goal of international development programs, the need to focus on processes in addition to outcomes in program design, management, and evaluation becomes more apparent. Using a case study from the Philippines, this article explores how integrating development and research through adaptive management can help focus programs on process and sustainability. The case study programs - the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM CRSP) and the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) - were found to be effectively contributing to sustainable development, not because of a commitment to any particular quantifiable outcomes, but because of a willingness to engage in an evolving, learning-oriented process that is responsive to local people, integrates development with research, and is rooted in adaptive management. A well-integrated system of monitoring and evaluation is essential to this learning process and to maintaining program relevance.