|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 18, No. 2,
433-449 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0956247806069625
© 2006 International Institute for Environment and Development
Aiding local action: the constraints faced by donor agencies in supporting effective, pro-poor initiatives on the ground
Julie Crespin
julie.crespin{at}gmail.com
This paper examines the institutional and political constraints that inhibit multilateral and bilateral donor agencies supporting poverty reduction initiatives on the ground. These include the constraints related to their own structures and the political systems in which they are embedded, and those related to their relationships with recipient governments. The paper also considers how current trends in development assistance towards greater donor harmonization and the associated processes within Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), the shift from project support to budget support, and the drive for greater "efficiency" may further limit donors’ capacity to support pro-poor local initiatives. It also discusses how these trends in development assistance are marginalizing support for those aspects of development that require relatively little external funding but also require that this funding be used carefully and strategically, engaging directly with poor groups and their organizations, and enlarging their scope for influence and action.
Key Words: Aid • budget support • development • PRSPs • poverty reduction
References
- Bigg, Tom and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2005), How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs, IIED, London .
- Booth, David (2004), "Budgets not projects: a new way of doing business for aid donors", in ODI Opinions, February, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London , website: %5Bhttp://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/index.html%5D 3Budgets not projects.
- Carlsson, Jerker and Lennart Wohlgemuth (2000), "Learning in development cooperation - an introduction", in Lennart Wohlgemuth and Jerker Carlsson (editors) (2001), Learning in Development Cooperation, International Expert Group on Development Issues, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, pages 6-23 .
- Chambers, Robert (1997), Whose Reality Counts: Putting The First Last, Intermediate Technology Publications .
- CLIFF website: http://www.theinclusivecity.org
- DANIDA (Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (2004), Danida Annual Report 2003, Copenhagen, Denmark , website: http://www.um.dk/Publikationer/Danida/English/DanishDevelopmentCooperation/AnnualReport2003/AarsberetningUk2003.pdf.
- D’Cruz, Celine and David Satterthwaite (2005), "Building homes, changing official approaches: the work of urban poor federations and their contributions to meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas", Working Paper 16 in the Poverty Reduction in Urban Areas Series, IIED, London .
- Degnbol-Martinussen, John and Poul Enberg-Pedersen (2003), Aid, Understanding International Development Cooperation, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (Danish Association for International Cooperation), Zed Books, London.
- DFID (2000), "Eliminating world poverty: making globalization work for the poor", White Paper on International Development , website: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/whitepaper2000.pdf.
- DFID (2005), DFID Departmental Report 2005, CM 6534, June, website: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/departmental-report/default.asp.
- DGIS (1996), "Aid in progress - development cooperation and the re-verification of foreign policy", Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), The Hague .
- Driscoll, Ruth, Karin Christiansen and David Booth (2005), "Progress reviews and performance assessment in poverty reduction strategies and budget support; a survey of current thinking and practice", Overseas Development Institute Report, May, London .
- Edgren, Gus (2000), "Fashions, myths and delusion: obstacles to organizational learning in agencies", in Lennart Wohlgemuth and Jerker Carlsson (editors) (2001), Learning in Development Cooperation, International Expert Group on Development Issues, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm , pages 41-68.
- Eyben, Rosalind (2003), "Donors as political actors: fighting the Thirty Years War in Bolivia", IDS Working Paper 183, April, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton .
- Eyben, Rosalind and Clare Ferguson (2004), "How can donors become more accountable to poor people?", in Leslie Groves and Rachel Hinton (editors) (2004), Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development, Earth-scan, London , pages 163-180.
- Green, Reginald Herbold and John Toye (1996), Multilateral Development Bank Concessional Lending. Forward into the Second Half Century, in Degnbol-Martinussen, John and Poul Enberg-Pedersen (2003), Aid, Understanding International Development Cooperation, Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (Danish Association for International Cooperation), Zed Books, London .
- Groves, Leslie and Rachel Hinton (editors) (2004), Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development, Earthscan, London .
- Hasan, Arif, Sheela Patel and David Satterthwaite (2005), "How to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in urban areas?" , in Environment & Urbanization Vol 17, No 1, April, pages 3-19 .
- Hermele, Kenneth (2005), "The Poverty Reduction Strategies: a survey of the literature" , Paper prepared for the Forum Syd, June 2006, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Hinton, Rachel (2004), "Enabling inclusive aid: changing power and relationships in international development", in Leslie Groves and Rachel Hinton (editors) (2004), Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development, Earth-scan, London , pages 210-220.
- Homeless International website: http://www.homelessinternational.org/standard_1.asp?category=3&id=27741.
- Jassey, Katja (2004), "The bureaucrat", in Leslie Groves and Rachel Hinton (editors) (2004), Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development, Earthscan, London Groves and Hinton (editors), pages 128-136.
- King, Kenneth and Simon McGrath (2004), Knowledge for Development? Comparing British, Japanese, Swedish and World Bank Aid, Zed Books, London and New York, and HSRC Press, Cape Town .
- Lahiri, Sojal and Pascalis Raimondos-Moller (2002), "Coordinated and uncoordinated foreign aid", in B Mak Arvin (editor), New Perspectives on Foreign Aid and Economic Development, Praeger, London , pages 125-138.
- Martens, Bertin, Uwe Mummert, Peter Murrel and Paul Seabright (2002), The Institutional Economics of Foreign Aid, Cambridge University Press .
- Maxwell, Simon (2005), "Spyglass. Spigot. Spoon. Or spanner. What future for bilateral aid?", ODI Working Paper 250, July, Overseas Development Institute, London .
- Mitlin, Diana and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2004), Empowering Squatter Citizen: Local Government, Civil Society and Urban Poverty Reduction, Earthscan, London .
- Mosse, David (2005), Cultivating Development: An Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice, Pluto Press, London .
- Naschold, Felix (2002), "Aid and the Millennium Development Goals", in ODI Opinions, February, Overseas Development Institute, London , website: http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/opinions/index.html.
- Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: http://www.minbuza.nl.
- OECD website: http://www.oecd.org.
- Olsen, Gorm Rye (2000), "Public opinion and development aid: is there a link?", CDR Working Paper 009, December, Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen, Denmark .
- Olsen, Gorm Rye (2001), "European public opinion and aid to Africa: is there a link?" , in Journal of Modern African Studies Vol 39, No 4, pages 645-674 .
- Ostrom, Elinor (team leader), Clark Gibson, Sujai Shivakumar and Krister Andersson (2002), Aid, Incentives and Sustainability; An Institutional Analysis of Development Cooperation, Sida Studies in Evaluation # 02/01, December, Sida, Stockholm .
- Patel, Sheela and Diana Mitlin (2004), "The work of SPARC, the National Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan", in Diana Mitlin and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2004), Empowering Squatter Citizen: Local Government, Civil Society and Urban Poverty Reduction, Earthscan, London , pages 216-244.
- Piron, Laure-Hélène with Alison Evans (2004), "Politics and the PRSP Approach: Synthesis Paper", ODI Working Paper 237, March, Overseas Development Institute, London .
- Pollard, A and J Court (2005), "How Civil Society Organizations Use Evidence to Influence Policy Processes: A Literature Review", ODI Working Paper 249, July, Overseas Development Institute, London .
- Quarles van Ufford, Philip and Ananta Kumar Giri (2003), A Moral Critique of Development: In Search of Global Responsibilities, Routledge, London .
- Randel, Judith, Tony German and Deborah Ewing (editors) (2000), The Reality of Aid 2000. An Independent Review of Poverty Reduction and Development Assistance, Earthscan, London .
- Rihani, Samir (2002), Complex Systems Theory and Development Practice: Understanding Non-linear Realities, Zed Books, London
- Rogerson, Andrew with Adrian Hewitt and David Waldenberg (2004), "The International Aid System 2005-2010, Forces For and Against Change", ODI Working Paper 235, March, Overseas Development Institute, London .
- Satterthwaite, David (2001), "Reducing urban poverty: constraints on the effectiveness of aid agencies and development banks and some suggestions for change" , Environment & Urbanization Vol 13, No 1, April, pages 137-157 .
- Satterthwaite, David (2005), "Meeting the MDGs in urban areas; the forgotten role of local organizations" , Journal of International Affairs Vol 58, No 2, pages 87-112 .
- Satterthwaite, David (2005), "Meeting the MDGs in urban areas: the forgotten role of local organizations", in Tom Bigg and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2005), How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs, IIED, London , pages 99-126
- Satterthwaite, David (2005), "Why local organizations are central to meeting the MDGs (Introduction)" in Tom Bigg and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2005), How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs, IIED, London , pages 1-25.
- Sida (2005), Sida’s 2004 Annual Report, Stockholm, Sweden , website: http://www.sida.se.
- Sida’s website on housing programmes in central America: http://www.sida.se/Sida/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=693&a=8275.
- Smilie, Ian (1996), "Mixed messages: public opinion and development assistance in the 1990s", in Colm Foy and Henry Helmich (editors), Public Support for International Development, OECD, Paris , pages 27-54.
- SPARC website: http://www.sparcindia.org.
- Stein, Alfredo and Luis Castillo (2005), "Innovative financing for low-income housing improvements: lessons from programmes in Central America" , Environment & Urbanization Vol 17, No 1, April, London , pages 47-66 .[CrossRef]
- Stern, Marc (1998), Development Aid: What the Public Thinks, Office of Development Studies, Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP, New York .
- Stokke, Olav (2005), "The changing international and conceptual environments of development cooperation", in Paul Hoebink and Olav Stokke (editors), Perspectives on European Development Cooperation: Policy and Performance of Individual Donor Countries and the EU, Routledge, London and New York , pages 32-112.
- Toulmin, Camilla (2005), "Foreword", in Tom Bigg and David Satterthwaite (editors) (2005), How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs, IIED, London , pages vii-x.
- UN Millennium Project Taskforce on Water Supply and Sanitation (2005), Health, Dignity and Development: What Will It Take?, Taskforce Final Report, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and the UN Millennium Project, New York , website: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/What_Will_It_Take.pdf.
- Van Rooy, Alison (editor) (1998), Civil Society and the Aid Industry, Earthscan, London .
- Wieslander, Anna (2000), "When do we ever learn?", in Lennart Wohlgemuth and Jerker Carlsson (editors) (2001), Learning in Development Cooperation, International Expert Group on Development Issues, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm , pages 250-266.
- Win, Everjoice (2004), "If it doesn’t fit on the blue square it’s out! An open letter to my donor friend", in Leslie Groves and Rachel Hinton (editors) (2004), Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in International Development, Earthscan, London Groves and Hinton (editors), pages 123-127.
- Wohlfensohn, James D (1999), "A proposal for a comprehensive development framework - a discussion draft", website: http://www.worldbank.org/cdf/cdf-text.htm.
- World Bank (2004), The World Bank Annual Report 2004, website: http://www.worldbank.org/annual-report/2004/.
- World Bank website: http://www1.worldbank.org/harmonization/romehlf/Documents/RomeDeclaration.pdf.
- World Bank website: http://www1.worldbank.org/harmonization/Paris/FINALPARISDECLARATION.pdf.
- World Bank website: http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/MDG/gdmis.doc
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati What's this?
|
