Sustaining and upscaling project outcomes: Creating an expert network

Projects have become a core approach to contributing to societal development, institutional change, and innovation. The increased prevalence of projects in all societal sectors, including private businesses, research, environmental protection, and development cooperation, has led to terms such as “project society” and “projectification” ​(Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017; Schoper et al., 2018)​.

Projects, in general, refer to a goal-, task-, or outcome-oriented work or activity that has a specified, fixed time frame, budget, and set of actors ​(Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017)​. ​Turner & Müller (2003)​ defined a project as “a temporary organization to which resources are assigned to undertake a unique, novel and transient endeavour managing the inherent uncertainty and need for integration in order to deliver beneficial objectives of change”.

Projects are considered an efficient tool to create and experiment with new products, concepts and/or practices, in order to innovate, create tailored solutions, and initiate transformative change ​(Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017; Nylén, 2021)​. On the other hand, the short-termism and isolation of many projects, coupled with a lack of coordination among different projects, cause sustainability concerns, especially related to continuity and expansion. Long-term objectives and impact are challenging to achieve in short-term projects, and there is a risk of losing the generated outcomes, such as knowledge, practices, and networks, when the project and associated funding ends ​(Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017; Nylén, 2021)​. Projects are often site- and topic-specific, reducing and complicating their upscaling potential ​(Munck af Rosenschöld, 2017)​. Mitigating these challenges requires delicate planning, implementation, and management of any given project.

Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) has been working in East and Southern Africa during 2020–2024 to develop higher education and promote problem-based learning through the EU-funded AgriSCALE (agriscale.net/) and PBL-BioAfrica (pbl-bioafrica.net/) projects. The project activities included, among others, training on problem-based learning (PBL) ​(Määttänen et al., 2022b)​ and practical implementation of PBL through student challenges ​(Määttänen et al., 2022a)​. This article presents the sustainability strategy of these projects – PBL Practitioners Network in Africa – as a practical example to showcase how project results and outcomes can be sustained and even cascaded after the project exits.

PBL Practitioners’ Network in Africa

To sustain the AgriSCALE and PBL-BioAfrica projects’ outcomes and, even more, to upscale and push them forward in the whole continent, the projects’ African partners established a PBL Practitioners Network in Africa (PBL-Net Africa). Bishop Stuart University (BSU) in Uganda has offered to host and coordinate the network. Other core university partners of this network include Egerton University, the University of Zambia, Mulungushi University, Gulu University, and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Aalto University, Häme University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Pavia have provided support in the initial establishment of the network.

The network’s vision is to lead the pedagogical transformation of African higher education institutions (HEIs), with the mission of “promote and facilitate training, research and innovation in HEIs for sustainable development” ​(AgriSCALE & PBL BioAfrica Consortia of partners, 2024)​. The main strategic objectives of PBL-Net Africa are (i) educational capacity building, (ii) awareness-raising on PBL, (iii) curricula revisions, (iv) policy engagement, and (v) resource mobilisation (Figure 1).

FIG 1

Figure 1. The guiding principles and objectives of the PBL Practitioner Network in Africa. Source: ​AgriSCALE & PBL BioAfrica Consortia of partners (2024)​Fi

Currently, the network hosts more than 70 core experts who have been trained in PBL methodology and who are committed to sharing their expertise with other teachers and HEI staff around Sub-Saharan Africa. The members of the PBL-Net Africa will work to integrate best practices into the organizational structure of their respective institutions, and upscale them to other educational institutions. 

The network has created a management structure and an activity plan with indicators to guide and measure the effectiveness of the work. The PBL-Net Africa is committed to various activities, including:  

(1) Arranging regular online meetings for the network members to agree on and continuously modify a strategy that will ensure continuous development of knowledge and skills on PBL. 

(2) Collaboratively customising and creating PBL and other educational materials and guidelines to fit into the African educational setting. This will facilitate the adoption and implementation of various modern practices and approaches by individual teachers and whole institutions alike.  

(3) Organising trainings for network members, as well as non-members, to expand knowledge on and applicability of PBL in teaching and curricula development. 

(4) Provide information to policymakers to secure an enabling and supportive policy environment.  

(5) Collaborative exploring and utilizing funding opportunities to support and secure the operation and important activities of the network.  

The full list of envisioned activities can be found in the 1^st Strategy of PBL Practitioners Network in Africa ​(AgriSCALE & PBL BioAfrica Consortia of partners, 2024)​. As time goes by and the network grows in size and influence, additional activities will be added to the activity toolbox.  

To enhance the operationalisation and spread of the network, BSU engaged with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 163 universities in 40 African countries. RUFORUM has welcomed the decision of BSU to take on the network and has agreed to support the network.  

Lessons learned 

The emergence of PBL-Net Africa is a practical example of how project outcomes can be sustained and cascaded after a project exits. We have recognised core success factors within the PBL-Net Africa and the projects that led to its establishment. 

PBL-Net Africa is a fully beneficiary-led initiative, not bound to the resources or knowledge of the original coordinator of the projects. Literature indeed emphasises the importance of co-learning and responsibility reallocation within projects to sustain their outcomes ​(e.g. Nylén, 2021; Schoper et al., 2018)​. We believe that the participatory and need-based approach in project planning and implementation have led to a feeling of ownership and, thus, motivation to continue the activities.   

To enable true, sustainable, change requires breaking routines and daily practices ​(Nylén, 2021)​. The AgriSCALE and PBL-BioAfrica projects supported these demanding tasks through a provision of practical, hands-on experiences and peer support, i.e. not just knowledge and skill provision but also its application.  

The projects aimed to break the common isolation of project activities by being multi-country and multi-HEI initiatives and by working closely with other stakeholders and regularly sharing practices and lessons learned. The deliverables were not specified to a given HEI but were formulated to be easily adapted and used by other institutions as well. The PBL-Net Africa will continue this approach by integrating itself into a wider societal context including the policy framework. 

Finally, the PBL-Net Africa aims to secure the economic and political viability of the continuity of the activities by sourcing for funding and providing policy recommendations. This is crucial to enable sustainability and to upscale the practices.  

It will be a great pleasure to follow up on the work of the network, and the outcomes and impact to be reached. We forecast that this network will become an important player in the Sub-Saharan African educational setting and will pave the way for the continuous professional development of the teachers and, subsequently, for the constant development of important graduate competencies.