Debating ‘visibility’ and its effects on the effective delivery of Official Development Assistance – diagnosis, justification and possibilities

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Vollmer
Keyword(s):  
Development Assistance ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Partner Country ◽  
Paris Declaration ◽  
Effective Delivery ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
The Impact

Development cooperation has to be visible in some form to ensure domestic political support for Official Development Assistance. This explains the frequent calls for greater visibility at the headquarters level of aid agencies. However, effective development cooperation is not compatible with every form of visibility. Aid practitioners at field level in partner countries report that actions geared toward increasing the effectiveness of development cooperation become more challenging if these actions lack a certain degree of visibility. Whether aid is delivered on or off the budget of the partner country or whether aid programmes are aligned to the partner country’s priorities is linked to the domestic pressure on development partners for visibility in the partner country. This paper analyses the influence of visibility on the implementation of the aid effectiveness agenda. It assesses the impact of visibility on the principles and commitments of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008) and the Busan Partnership Agreement for Effective Development Cooperation (2011), and presents parameters of a ‘new’ visibility that is conducive to the agenda.

Aid Effectiveness

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-104
Author(s):  
Constantine Michalopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Partner Country ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Bilateral Assistance

This chapter starts with a description of some of the specific steps the Utstein group took to streamline their aid procedures in order to reduce the burdens imposed on partner countries and increase effectiveness in the implementation of their bilateral assistance programmes. This is followed by a similar discussion of U4 efforts to help improve the effectiveness of EU aid in which three of the four ministers were involved. The chapter then turns to a discussion of the U4 aid to Tanzania which four of them visited in 2000 as a showcase of what they had been advocating. They spread their message about a new approach to development cooperation in which the partner country is in the driver’s seat by organizing so called ‘Big Tables’ with African leaders (including Ministers of Finance) that permitted a frank exchange of views on ways to make aid more effective in achieving poverty reduction. The final part of the chapter reviews U4’s support to fragile states, focusing on their joint efforts in several countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Sudan.

Development Assistance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Pieth
Keyword(s):  
Financial Institutions ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
International Financial Institutions ◽  
Multilateral Development Banks ◽  
Flow Of Funds ◽  
Key Players ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Donor Interest

Amongst the key players in combatting corruption are the institutions promoting development assistance, the International Financial Institutions (or Multilateral Development Banks, MDBs) and the bilateral development aid agencies. This chapter questions the effectiveness of development assistance, particularly the autocratic states’ tolerating embezzlement. That discussion also touches on the logic of development assistance and describes donor interest. The chapter then turns to the Oil-for-Food Programme, describing its planned distribution of oil proceeds, and then notes what went wrong, including the topic of the impact of oil surcharges and humanitarian contract kickbacks on the flow of funds. It concludes with a discussion of the contributions of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) toward improving aid effectiveness.

scholarly journals Does official development assistance affect a donor’s exports? South Korea’s case

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bobae Noh ◽  
Almas Heshmati
Keyword(s):  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Unobserved Effects ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

AbstractThis paper studies the impact of official development assistance (ODA) provided by South Korea for its exports to recipient countries. The empirical analysis is based on data from 1996 to 2014 and covers 121 recipient countries. The paper uses a 3SLS estimation method that accounts for a two-way causal relationship between ODA and exports while the endogeneity and sample selection bias are accounted for. Using the gravity model, we confirm the positive effects of ODA when fixed unobserved effects are controlled. The model is further generalized by disaggregating ODA into its underlying types of aid. Our results show that technical cooperation and loans have positive and significant effects, but grants have a negative impact on South Korea’s exports to recipient countries. In addition, we also examine South Korea’s ODA allocations. Our findings suggest that there is a two-stage decision-making process in the provision of aid. In the first stage, the aid’s humanitarian purpose plays a key role in responding to countries’ needs even when there is lower bilateral trade with these countries. In the second stage, decisions regarding the size of ODA are considered and these present a mixed purpose for giving ODA to higher importer countries.

Toward the Green Comfort Zone: Synergy in Environmental Official Development Assistance

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeongwon Bourdais Park
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Comfort Zone ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
High Level

This forum article discusses environmental official development assistance (ODA), the official aid allocated for the purpose of making environmental improvements in recipient countries, focusing on the affinity between the changing ODA rules and the patterns of green aid activities at a global level. It explores the question of how far ODA rules and principles can consistently accommodate the interface between aid and the environment, through examining the changing ODA principles reflected in the outcome of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), held in Busan in 2011–2012. This article argues that the shifting emphasis and the subsequent laxness in ODA norms may increasingly facilitate donor-oriented green-labeled projects that, in turn, create and reinforce a negative synergy with an undesirable aid modality. If ODA in this field were better managed, it could serve as a significant tool for improving the quality of life through environmental protection in poorer countries.

scholarly journals Development Cooperation as a Foundation of Japan's Foreign Policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Tsukasa Takamine
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Japanese Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Economic Nature

This paper addresses the question of what do Japanese foreign policymakers exactly mean when they repeatedly state that development cooperation has been, and still is, a foundation of postwar Japanese foreign policy, through a case study of Japan's official development assistance (ODA) towards China. More particularly, it investigates the complex policy objectives of Japanese ODA and the broader interests behind it, in order to clarify roles and significance of development assistance within Japan's overall foreign policy. My research demonstrates that despite its inherently economic nature, Japan's ODA provision to recipient countries has in application been more politico-strategic than commercial. Thus, it supports the point that development cooperation has undoubtedly been a foundation of postwar Japanese foreign policy.

scholarly journals Impact of Official Development Assistance on the Growth of WAEMU Member Countries: Assessment Following the Recommendations of the 2002 Monterrey Conference

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Bayoko Lacine
Keyword(s):  
Development Assistance ◽  
Official Development Assistance ◽  
Minimum Threshold ◽  
Support Resources ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Development Support ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Econometric Approach ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper evaluates the impact of official development assistance on the growth of WAEMU countries using an econometric approach. This assessment heeds the recommendation of the 2002 Monterrey Conference that diversification of development support resources is needed. The results obtained indicate that the total net public assistance received has a positive and significant impact in the short and long term on the growth of WAEMU countries. By diversifying the development support resources of the zone, the minimum threshold of official development assistance needed to boost the growth of the countries of the zone is 13.5% of GDP per capita.

scholarly journals Bypassing Government: Aid Effectiveness and Malawi’s Local Development Fund

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Chasukwa ◽  
Dan Banik
Keyword(s):  
Local Development ◽  
Recipient Country ◽  
Aid Effectiveness ◽  
Paris Declaration ◽  
Development Fund ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Budget Support ◽  
Widespread Agreement ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact

Many practical and action-oriented international roadmaps to improve the quality of aid and its delivery and impact on development—including the Paris Declaration, Accra Agenda for Action, and Busan Partnership—emphasize a more active involvement of domestic institutions and procedures. Despite widespread agreement among both donor and recipient countries on this issue, we find that aid often tends to bypass national institutional structures. This practice is sometimes justified on grounds of high levels of political and administrative corruption and weak implementation capacity in recipient country bureaucracies. We examine how and to what extent multilateral and bilateral development agencies bypass national and local government institutions while channeling aid and the impact of such practices on aid effectiveness in Africa. Based on an empirical study of project aid and budget support provided to Malawi by the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the German Economic Group, we argue that earmarked funding, specialized procurement arrangements, and the proliferation of Project Management Units are among the mechanisms used to circumvent the involvement of national institutions. We conclude that while such practices may achieve short-term gains by displaying successful and visible ‘donorship’, the long-term impact is more uncertain. The bypassing of local institutions results in fragmentation of aid, lack of coordination among aid industry actors, and a general weakening of policy space and domestic capacity to formulate and implement development policy.

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