ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the lessons learned from co-operation with developing African countries as an illustration of the importance of intercultural understanding. It focuses on the developing of teacher training programmes but most of what it says can also be applied to other types of co-operational projects. When designing a teacher training programme for a country other than one’s own, there is always a tendency or temptation to start from a set of assumptions derived from the cultural context to which one belongs. Institutional development is concerned with the training in managerial capabilities of groups or departments responsible for the implementation of the project, enabling them to assess progress and to adjust strategies in order to attain the project goals and objectives. Intercultural education helps to understand the human similarities behind the cultural differences and helps to see that the closer we are to other cultures, the more we become aware of their enriching differences.
