The Cultural Adaptation of Health Promotion Projects in International Development

Abstract

While the imperative of taking into account the cultural dimension in international development project management is widely recognized, there is relatively little discussion in the literature about how this is put into practice. To address this gap, this paper explores the cultural adaptation of health promotion initiatives and its relation to project success by way of a multiple case study of four such international development projects funded by Global Affairs Canada. To this aim, project cases were studied through the analytical lens of Resnicow’s surface/deep structure framework, while also drawing on Ika’s concept of international development project success. The findings align with the argument posited in this paper and supported by many researchers and experts that adequate cultural adaptation positively affects project success and, more precisely, encourages participation and local ownership and supports project relevance and sustainability. Moreover, the use of more comprehensively participative methodologies appears to be a significant factor in attaining greater adaptation. Thus, this study adds to the existing literature arguing that cultural adaptation is a factor, and even a condition, of project success, and can also inform ID practitioners unsure of the best approach to promote the cultural fit of initiatives.