BEYOND THE BLUEPRINT: A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEIVED BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – A CASE STUDY OF CHRISTIAN AID IN SIERRA LEONE

Abstract: This study examines the practical application of Adaptive Management (AM) within the international development sector, a field marked by complexity and volatility. While AM is increasingly promoted as a flexible alternative to rigid, blueprint-style project management, a significant empirical gap remains regarding its implementation across the aid chain. Using in-depth qualitative research in Sierra Leone, the study draws on interviews and focus groups with three stakeholder groups: international NGO staff, local implementing partners, and community beneficiaries. The findings reveal divergent perceptions shaped by each group’s position within the development system. International staff views AM as a strategic imperative for donor accountability and project relevance. Local partners, however, experience it as an administrative burden and a new form of conditionality, facing a dilemma of responsibility without authority. Beneficiaries judge AM not by its formal methodologies but through the quality of frontline relationships and tangible responsiveness to their needs. Four interlocking dimensions emerge as critical: power and agency, structural and bureaucratic constraints, the tension between learning and accountability, and contextual cultural fit. The study concludes that institutionalizing AM requires more than technical adjustments. A genuine shift demands fundamental changes to donor contracting, a deliberate devolution of decision making authority to local actors, and efforts to decolonize knowledge systems. The research contributes to project management theory by grounding the ideals of AM in the political and relational realities of practice, offering empirically grounded recommendations for more effective and equitable adaptive programming