CHAPTER EIGHT The Results Agenda in Swedish Development Cooperation: Cycles of Failure or Reform Success? Janet Vähämäki Sida-Swedish International Development Agency has repeatedly, over decades, tried to introduce a stronger focus on ‘results’ and it has always resulted in a (re)- introduction of a management technology, based on a derivate of the Logical Framework. Since 2006, the ‘results agenda’ has been a top political priority, with large organizational and cultural changes within Sida. The chapter concludes that although there might be factors that support success of the current effort, these changes may however hamper achievement of development results on the ground and be just another ‘tide of reform’. Managing and demonstrating ‘results’ has always been a concern for Swedish development cooperation. Already in 1962, the first Government Bill for Development Cooperation declared results achievement in terms of ‘downward accountability that appeared supportive of transformational development: a ‘major task, which also ought to lie in the interest of the recipient’ and ‘would require a mutual cooperation between the donor and the recipient’ (Proposition 1962:100). Ever since, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has sought to operationalise this political ambition though the agenda has gradually shifted in ways that priviledge accountability to donor governments and taxpayers. While the quest for results is a permanent feature of the public sector, this agenda receives an extra push during ‘“tides of reforms’” when national governments shift from ‘getting and spending’ to ‘achieving’ (Ferlie, Lynn et al. 2009). Results initiatives received such a push in 1971, 1981, 1998 and 2012. Each initiative included the introduction – or reintroduction – of certain ‘new’ and obligatory management technologies or artefacts (Eyben, Chapter 2, this volume), such as the Logical Framework, to help generate evidence of results. Yet each technology encountered severe difficulties, such as staff resistance and low usage, inducing