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Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are a central instrument in international development cooperation and of key importance in guiding donors' policies towards southern recipients. However, many aspects of the PRSP have been criticised by a variety of development stakeholders. A checklist of 85 questions has been developed to analyse the inclusion of aspects of sustainable development in PRSPs and to point to sustainability challenges and opportunities. It thus facilitates targeted advice and quality improvements. The checklist was applied to a selection of 12 PRSPs of developing countries. The results reveal an insufficient integration of the ecosystem services concept, of biodiversity and of climate issues. Property rights, gender issues, water and energy are as a rule well elaborated. PRSPs show significant variation in the integration of environmental sustainability issues. Sustainability assessments can contribute to significant improvements between first and second generation PRSPs provided the assessments are supported by a strong institutional framework and a dedicated political commitment towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of mobilising political will in establishing the conditions necessary for economic and social inclusion of refugees, internally displaced persons, and formerly displaced persons who achieve durable solutions such as voluntary return. It investigates the role and conditions to mobilise political will for more comprehensive and inclusive policies that can lead to long-term local development in contexts of forced displacement in low- and middle-income countries (LICs and MICs). Case studies from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq and Lebanon illustrate the ways in which political will, or its absence, can shape the approach to supporting the forcibly displaced and hosting communities. The paper also proposes a conceptual model for mobilising political will to facilitate sustainable development support in contexts of forced displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts have been made to mainstream the environment in European Commission (EC) development co-operation. In programming, the main tool is the Country Environmental Profile (CEP) which informs, from an environmental point of view, the preparation of Country Strategy Papers (CSPs). Recently CEPs have improved significantly; they have different entry points in CSPs and the results of environmental integration can be found in a series of 'environmental integration outputs'. This paper describes the structure of CEPs, their place in the EC cycle of operations and how they can influence CSPs. It shows, through case studies, the impact CEPs are having on CSPs, resulting in CSPs that prepare the ground for more effective environmental integration throughout the cycle of operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accession of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries to the European Union has triggered their active participation in assistance to less developed countries. Since joining the EU, the analyzed countries have developed ODA legislation and an institutional framework and increased financing in development co-operation. Being a member of the EU and DAC, all V4 countries also have their legal and financial obligations in the area of development co-operation. The shared experience of those countries in creating and implementing their development policy gives reason to investigate their aid systems, development policy challenges and implementation of their commitments as a group of donors. The aims of the paper are to identify main development trends of the V4 countries' development policies as well as to investigate the implementation of their development commitments taken at a global and EU level. This has allowed to define the main challenges for V4 countries in delivering efficient development assistance to other developing countries in the future, such as improvements in institutional systems, transparent and clearly defined legislation as well as substantial increase of financing transferred by V4 to ODA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's official aid programme is non‐transparent and poorly understood. The paper compares development finance from China and the Organization for Economic Co‐operation Development (OECD) generally and through the examination of two cases of Chinese development cooperation in Africa. These cases illustrate a major argument of the paper: that the lion's share of China's officially supported finance is not actually official development assistance (ODA). China does provide finance that meets the definition of ODA, but this is relatively small. Export credits, non‐concessional state loans or aid used to foster Chinese investment do not fall into the category of ODA. China's cooperation may be developmental, but it is not primarily based on official development aid. This suggests that the institutions established at the OECD to develop and apply standards for foreign aid (the Development Assistance Committee) may not be the right ones to govern these growing ties. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is the impact assessment analysis of the pilot project Rede@prender carried out in Colombia under the Programme EUROsociAL within the overall context of the Euro-Latin American cooperation. The first part of the paper introduces to, on the one hand, the Euro-Latin American cooperation model and the Programme's overall philosophy, while on the other hand presents the contents of the Colombian policy on education in citizenship competencies within which context the project was carried out. The second part elaborates an in-depth analysis of the main characteristics of the pilot project and tries to give account of its impact and achieved results. Finally, the third and inal part of the text contains some considerations on the application of the evaluation criteria, best practices and lessons learned from the project Rede@prender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its attempt to become a member of the European Union (EU), Turkey is challenged to upgrade its workforce to keep up with economic developments and improve the living conditions in the country. Multiple policy players on global, European and transnational levels are assisting in reforming Turkey's vocational education and training (VET) sector. Based on the analysis of policy papers, the policy transfer processes that are taking place at these different levels have been critically examined. The authors project that in the medium term, EU policies might have the most significant effect on the future shape of VET in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to debate the new paradigms of international development aid, with a specific focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their implementation within the context of Latin America. The paper will start drawing both the conceptual framework and the international environment, and afterwards will provide readers with an analysis of a success story occurred in the Department of Antioquia (Colombia). A further analytical approach will be proposed to appraise the potential of the North-South and South-South developmental co-operations. These may be linked one to each other with the first strengthening and widening up the second, thus creating innovative enabling environments for fruitful exchanges between local actors and organized civil societies of the North and the South of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: Most weather‐related disasters occur in the world's poorest countries, which have the least capacity to cope. Due to the absence of a clear classification of DRR aid, donors and recipient countries have not known the amount of DRR aid flowing or its effectiveness in terms of supporting disaster risk management in developing countries. Purpose: In 2018, the OECD DAC created a new policy marker for DRR to help donor countries to monitor and report the progress made on mainstreaming DRR into their development activities. Drawing on this DRR marker, this study identifies trends and patterns as well as limitations in the DRR mainstreaming process to guide donor countries to successfully deliver the DRR goals. Methods and approach: When reporting to the OECD DAC, donors are asked to provide information on the purpose of individual projects/programmes, and screen against all policy markers in the reporting system. Using this data, this study conducted an in‐depth analysis of donor countries' development portfolios to provide a comprehensive and granular picture of the funding streams and practices concerning DRR. Findings: This study revealed that current spending on DRR remains a tiny fraction of total development aid. Even after the creation of the DRR marker, which raised donors' awareness of the importance of integrating DRR into development planning, no substantial increase in DRR funding has been made. This implies that most official development assistance from DAC members still fails to consider DRR in any meaningful way. Policy implications: Important areas for improvement include a more comprehensive understanding of disaster risk, increased funding for activities that principally target DRR, financial stability, and further integration of DRR and climate change adaptation into development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite strong political commitment, actual gains in improving accountability in development co-operation have been limited. Main reasons for this include the low level of transparency and high number of actors, as well as the limitations of the self-reported and input-oriented OECD reporting system. Efforts through the International Aid Transparency Initiative ( IATI) and related transparency initiatives are ill-equipped to change this given their decision to adhere to the same system. This article uses the specific area of support to capacity development to illustrate this. While further disaggregation of reporting on technical co-operation could respond to a transparency gap, overcoming the accountability gap requires moving beyond promoting 'supply-side' reform and re-engaging in efforts to promote collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas the global networking of cities is commonly understood from a fiscal-economical and technological perspective explaining world economy and globalisation structures, this paper discusses another viewpoint of city networking in which the exchange of knowledge on urban management and policy-making is examined. It reviews the policy context and practice of Dutch cities in North-South city networking and their role in international development co-operation through the sharing of municipal knowledge and expertise with partner cities in developing countries. Against the background of shifts in development thinking leading to increased acknowledgement of the role of cities in development co-operation, past and current policies at the national as well as the municipal level are considered that shape the framework for Dutch city networking with the ‘global South’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The term partnership, and the balance of ownership within it, significantly influence the direction of the development field and whether it will be able to address increasingly complicated global challenges such as climate change, peace and security and growing inequality. Purpose: The article explores the nature of government donor–recipient partnerships, the struggle over ownership, and the possibility of transitioning from top‐down aid policy to genuine development co‐operation. Approach and Methods: The discussion is based on the lead author's doctoral research and the authors' experiences of working with the Coady International Institute and the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative. Findings: The research revealed ample evidence that proclamations of more equitable partnerships or recipient ownership of aid policy are undermined by historical power dynamics and coherency to dominant development narratives. However, a closer examination also found some room to create change as policy is negotiated and interpreted in a multitude of smaller policy spaces, including influences from networks of civil society organizations (CSOs). The article looks at two CSOs that use their "downstairs" position to act as interlocutors with Southern partners. In some cases, they fostered more equitable partnerships and support South–South networks by applying an emancipatory learning approach and adapting aid modalities. This points to the potential for slow—and often reluctant—progress towards more equitable global partnerships and innovative practices. Policy Implications: The findings suggest that the asymmetrical nature of government donor–recipient partnerships can be addressed through a more nuanced learning approach and increased engagement with CSOs that can experiment with project modalities and support for CSO networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: Close to 15 years have passed since the adoption of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which generated unprecedented efforts to advance effective development co‐operation with a central focus on developing country ownership. Under today's international development co‐operation realities, involving inclusive agendas, strategic divergence and increasing competition, discussions on ownership, harmonization and alignment have lost traction. Yet the practices of development co‐operation relationships show strong continuities. Purpose: This special issue examines how the principle of ownership may be understood and advanced under these new conditions. National ownership is prioritized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development yet has so far been marginalized by a predominantly piecemeal response and by the rise of "mutual benefit" co‐operation. Approach and Methods: This special issue takes an inductive approach to studying specific cases and actors bearing on the challenge of understanding and advancing ownership today, in order to inform future policy and research. The contributions to this special issue mainly draw from qualitative research designs that present detailed research inquiries into specific country and actor cases, drawing from interviews, structured desk reviews of policy documents and the rich body of literature on development effectiveness. They are complemented by two contributions that respectively present quantitative research and probe the critical and post‐development literature for additional insights. Findings: Findings point to an increasing prevalence of pragmatism and self‐interest among all actors, to the detriment of national ownership. Broad co‐operation agendas, a sense of urgency interpreted as a search for quick results, and more diverse, interest‐ and outcome‐driven forms of multi‐stakeholder partnerships all entail a more assertive and proactive approach on the part of external actors. Under these conditions, local initiative may either become stifled or be reasoned away. Given this, today's dominant approaches to co‐operation raise concerns about their ethics and sustainability. Policy implications: Ownership remains both a requirement and a desired outcome of international co‐operation and is key to the effective use of public funding. A key requirement to revitalizing the debate on and practice of ownership is to gather better evidence as the basis for informed scrutiny. To this end, policy‐makers need to reprioritize independent evaluation at both the individual and collective level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: "Local participation" and "national ownership" are widely endorsed ideals in development discourse and practice. With the former referring to people's active involvement in development‐related activities with some form of external input, and the latter to aid‐recipient countries' policy independence in relation to foreign funders, both are concerned with the inherent inequality of aid relationships. In development policy, the two also tend to be used interchangeably and in combination, apparently assumed to go hand in hand, with increased national ownership expected to be conducive to local participation. Purpose: This article problematizes such usage and assumptions, and initiates a more elaborate discussion of possible interlinkages between local participation and national ownership, with the aim of contributing to a more nuanced understanding of what may happen to local participation in situations of increased national ownership. Approach and Methods: It does so by depicting the trajectories and development of local participation and national ownership, by problematizing some expressions of intermingling and assumed links, and by discussing patterns of national ownership and local participation in Rwanda and Cambodia, all based on official documents, available data and others' as well as own research. Findings: Connecting two key concepts and major approaches in development policy, the article points to multiple possible interlinkages, including the possibility that national ownership in certain forms may undermine local participation, and to the need to further investigate the more complex interrelations that are likely to prevail between the two. Policy implications: Such investigations will contribute to a better understanding of the prospects for different sorts of local participation in different situations of national ownership, and shed light on the difference it may make locally that a country's development agenda is primarily domestically owned rather than donor driven. By problematizing widely held assumptions, unanimously endorsed aspects of current aid architecture can be reconsidered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: After generating considerable momentum in the period 2005–2011, policy debates on the aid effectiveness agenda—including the core principle of ownership—witnessed a sharp decline. Current trends raise questions about the continuing relevance of ownership as a fundamental principle for development co‐operation. Purpose: This article analyses how approaches to managing development co‐operation have evolved in Rwanda and Liberia, two aid‐dependent post‐conflict states that were previously at the forefront of the aid effectiveness agenda. It presents new evidence on how ownership features and is promoted in development co‐operation relations. Approach and Methods: The article draws on 48 semi‐structured interviews, complemented by a review of academic literature, policy documents and grey sources concerning the two countries and the broader subject matter. Findings: Recent years have shown considerable drift in Liberia's approach to development co‐operation management, while Rwanda retained its established system to manage its external partnerships and incentivize donor behaviour. Both cases illustrate challenges in promoting ownership among all relevant stakeholders, with a key shift being that donors increasingly favour the "what" of co‐operation over the "how." Policy implications: In view of the importance of ownership for the sustainability of development co‐operation, policy‐makers should consider reinvigorating and repositioning a self‐standing development effectiveness agenda. Such an international initiative should adjust to new co‐operation trends, notably the increased practice of predetermining co‐operation themes and the promotion of multi‐stakeholder approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous global health initiatives after World War II, tuberculosis still poses a major threat in sub-Saharan Africa. This article examines one attempt to tackle this problem: the Somalia-Finland Tuberculosis Control Project. Conducted in the 1980s as a bilateral development aid project between the two countries, it became the most extensive – and expensive – tuberculosis initiative in Somalia in that decade. An interesting feature of the project is that, despite a lack of previous experience in tuberculosis work in developing countries, the Finnish partner decided not to follow the WHO global guidelines designed to standardise tuberculosis activities across the developing world. Instead, Finns established their own treatment programme based on X-ray and short-course chemotherapy – otherwise rarely used in clinical practice in Africa. Through a close reading and comparison of the correspondence, project plans, memos and minutes, the article analyses the formation of this strategy. Focusing on ground-level decision-making, it argues that the decisions were based not only on a belief in the superior clinical effectiveness of these methods, but also on the fact that they better suited Finnish ambitions and project logic. Thus, the article supports the notion that donor perspectives on resources and project objectives determined what was seen as feasible treatment in a developing country. By shedding light on the debate between the supporters of short-course chemotherapy and the WHO standard treatment strategy, it also contributes to the early history of DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article aims to demonstrate that networking activities, if properly planned, applied and monitored, can help increase the long‐term impact of development co‐operation actions. We demonstrate the added value of networking within development actions, focusing on dynamics of trust and reciprocity and on the rationales beyond different collaboration patterns, demonstrating the impact of networking on program effectiveness, intercultural learning and sustainability. Using social network analysis coupled with participant observation, it was possible to trace the development of a large multi‐stakeholder development programme and to understand a number of dynamics not considered by the donor when evaluating the action, thereby reaching a better understanding of the challenges and success of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of development co-operation has changed rapidly in recent years. Developing countries have access to a more diverse range of financing sources, including non-traditional providers of bilateral development co-operation, new or emerging multilateral and regional institutions, philanthropic organizations and private investors. These changes raise pressing questions about how the policies and practices of external providers of development finance must evolve, both to meet changing development priorities and to ensure that the overall development assistance effort from all providers is optimal. This article introduces a special issue of Development Policy Review that presents new perspectives from developing countries on the roles that development finance should play. This introduction highlights commonalities and differences among the articles contained in the special issue, and concludes with next steps for research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides evidence on what developing country governments expect to be their main challenges within five to 10 years, and how they want their relationships with development assistance providers to evolve in order to meet these challenges. The results, based on a survey commissioned by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) of 40 partner country governments, indicate that demand for official development assistance ( ODA) is likely to remain strong in the medium term, but that partner countries are actively diversifying providers in order to spread risk. Countries want ODA providers to shift to a more enabling role in the coming years, providing vital finance, but in support of government-led sector programmes, delivering more and better technical and policy support, and leveraging more private finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents findings from nine country case studies in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, mapping the expanding access of partner country governments to external development finance beyond official development assistance. The article analyzes governments' priorities for the terms and conditions of development finance flows they would like to access. The analysis finds that (1) Chinese official finance is the largest component of external development finance flows beyond official development assistance ( ODA) in the countries analyzed, far larger than global figures would suggest, (2) partner countries welcome more choice and more finance, (3) countries identify ownership, alignment with national priorities, speed of project delivery, portfolio diversification as key priorities, and (4) the rise of providers such as China has increased the potential bargaining power of recipient countries vis-à-vis more traditional donors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development co-operation in the legal and human rights sector is challenging. It is political, nuanced, and involves multiple, often competing, stakeholders. Adding to this, significant time is spent determining suitable fields for co-operation, designing comprehensive programmes, and establishing robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Donors often strive for "ownership" of programmes with tangible results that justify ongoing co-operation. Amid this added complexity, it is easy to forget that good programmes are often simple, well-founded ones that set realistic goals and timeframes. Sense and simplicity can be overlooked. This article draws on lessons learned from personal experiences in two legal and human rights co-operation programmes in Indonesia to discuss six points at the heart of this concept of sense and simplicity. The points are not exhaustive, and are not always easy to implement in the face of political realities. They are a starting point, and stress the need to get back to basics when planning, implementing, and monitoring such programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international system is still governed by a normative framework designed mainly by OECD countries, especially with regard to soft-law standards in the field of development co-operation. However, the growing relevance of ‘Eastern donors’ is weakening its efficiency and raises the question of how compliance with these standards can be assured in a changing donor landscape. Despite efforts to integrate emerging countries into the traditional approach of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to monitoring compliance through peer reviews, the aid architecture of the future might turn out to be a synthesis of established and new approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is planning to create a development assistance agency at a time of growing consensus that traditional aid practices need fundamental change. The profusion of bilateral, multilateral and private aid agencies has created an inefficient system that ensnares recipients in a complex web of regulation and time-consuming consultation that distracts the attention of recipient country staff and undermines the ability of developing countries to develop their own priorities. These faults, widely observed since the 1970s, persist because they are reinforced by powerful but perverse incentives operating at the diplomatic, organisational, staff and recipient government levels. Political pressures within donor countries prioritise diplomatic goals over developmental ones and persistently attempt to finesse rather than genuinely resolve conflicting goals. Confronted with a multiplicity of donors, each with its own complex rules, aid-dependent recipient countries frequently surrender planning initiative to donors and find themselves with an incoherent mix of disparate projects. Avoiding the mistakes of traditional donors and ensuring that South Africa becomes part of the solution rather than a new contributor to the problem will require careful attention to the design and management of South Africa's new aid agency. It needs particular attention to well-designed monitoring and evaluation systems, significant in-house research capacity, well-crafted enabling laws, systems to focus aid in a few productive areas, and efforts to identify and confront the perverse incentives that many aid agencies have preferred to ignore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the consequences of the return to Africa of donors that are not members of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC). It categorises these donors according to form, content, size and modality of their aid. It finds that their return increases external financial flows, in particular to countries not targeted by DAC donors. Moreover, for some donors like China and India the flows are closely related to other financial flow s such as trade and investment. Furthermore, it finds that the return of non-DAC donors may conflict with plans to harmonise aid and may simultaneously raise transaction costs for recipients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a conceptual framework for analysing the governance of natural resource use, as governance is often the primary issue when natural resources are overexploited and degraded. It addresses both spontaneous and active governance, including institutional change induced by development co-operation. Drawing on existing frameworks of institutional analysis, fundamental modifications are presented to adapt the concept to the context of international co-operation, and to include dynamic aspects of institutional change as well as multiple actor interactions. Tested in several case studies, the framework was found suitable and relevant for use in project planning and evaluation, as well as for comparing governance issues across cases in a conceptually rigorous way. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private sector is increasingly seen as a means of enhancing economic growth and alleviating poverty in developing countries. However, most private-sector development programmes do not take the reality of the private sector into account. This article examines the interaction between a Danish development programme in Ghana aimed at reducing poverty through business-to-business collaboration and the Ghanaian private sector. It demonstrates the importance of contextual knowledge in designing development programmes and proposes an analytical framework with which this knowledge might be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]