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Curriculum implementation often falls short because of a lack of cultural understanding by curriculum developers and aid organizations. This paper describes a single-case study of a professional development programme for polytechnic Heads of Department in Ghana, which aimed at identifying how curriculum development activities were sensitive to culture. A conceptual framework for culturally sensitive curriculum development was applied to facilitate the identification of culture in the curriculum development process. Two curriculum specialists and various project members from Ghana and the Netherlands participated in the data collection by means of interviews, documents, and a researcher's logbook. Results showed that the conducted curriculum development activities were strongly impacted by Hofstede's cultural dimensions--High-Low Power Distance and Collectivism--Individualism and to a limited extent by Hall's cultural dimensions--High-Low Context and Polytime-Monotime. The outcomes of this study strengthen the relevance of Context analyses, iterations of design-implementation-evaluation activities, and additional implementation support. Through the conduction of these activities, culture can be taken into account in curriculum development processes and a good fit between the developed curriculum and the local context can be ensured. Furthermore, this study encourages curriculum developers and project teams working in international cooperation contexts to create more cultural understanding by using the framework and by intensively collaborating with informed experts. (Contains 3 tables.)

Abstract: International cooperation initiatives often focus on the development of curricula to increase the quality of education in developing countries. Through the adoption of a culturally sensitive approach, effective conditions for curriculum development can be created. Nevertheless, aid organizations and international project teams frequently lack cultural understanding to create conditions related to ownership and adequate project management. Consequently, misunderstandings and conflicts between project members and with stakeholders occur, which can lead to curriculum implementation failures and unsuccessful educational reform initiatives. This paper outlines a case study which aimed to identify how conditions supporting the development of a professional development program for polytechnic Heads of Department in Ghana, were sensitive to culture. A conceptual framework for culturally sensitive curriculum development was used to facilitate the identification of culture in conditions related to Creation of ownership and Project management. Project members from Ghana and The Netherlands participated in the data collection by means of documents, interviews, and a researcher''s logbook. Results showed that the creation of stakeholders’ involvement, partnership between project team members, and the management of project resources, budget and time were impacted by Hofstede''s cultural dimensions of High-Low Power Distance and Collectivism–Individualism and by Hall''s cultural dimensions High-Low Context and Polytime-Monotime. By developing different types of culturally sensitive strategies, the project team anticipated on culture to strengthen the conditions for curriculum development, but culture remained challenging to cope with. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]