Managing international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary collaboration in health and well-being capacity building: Lessons learned within the CASO higher education project

Abstract

In defining successful collaborative international projects within the theory of change or logic model, focus is often on ‘outcome’ and ‘impact’. Less empirical information is available regarding the ‘input’ and ‘activities’ aspects of this model. To address this knowledge gap and to offer insight into pivotal elements for management, this study focused on the lessons learned from the development and management of the international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary collaboration Caring Society (CASO) project. A needs analysis among project members was performed using a cross-sectional questionnaire with 31 multiple-choice and 10 open-ended questions. The combined quantitative and qualitative findings resulted in seven key elements being identified: information/communication, personal capacity building, finance, organization, time, facility, and quality.