ABSTRACT
The perpetuation of interorganisational learning depends on the shared learning interests of cooperation partners on one hand, and on interorganisational learning barriers on the other. Learning in and from complex institutional arrangements cannot be regarded—or only to a very limited extent—as the consequence of the efforts and successes of the participating actors. The systematic reference to the deep structures and process rules of the organisations involved is therefore essential for the theoretical reconstruction and the empirical research of learning. The conditions and possibilities of organisational and interorganisational learning (or lack of learning) can only be revealed against the background of those institutional specifics (cf. Ingram 2002). In this chapter, we will attempt to trace this issue using the example of development cooperation (DC). Learning in this large sector is (or should be) an indispensable condition closely linked to both the sector's transnationalism as a set of organisational arrangements and effective social support in developing countries: Which types of organisational set-ups perform better than others? Which lessons have to be learned about successful and failing strategies? However, first of all the problem to what extent organisations and individuals are motivated to learn needs to be analysed.
