Aid
Policy dialogue under the new aid approach: which role for medium-sized donors? Theoretical reflections and views from the field
What role can medium-sized donors play in policy dialogue?
Authors:
N. Molenaers; R. Renard
Publisher:
Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp, 2008
The new aid approach (NAA) - crystallised in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action - pays particular attention to the politico-institutional dimension of development. It is largely centred around a reform-driven governance agenda. This paper looks critically at the policy dialogue between recipient government and donors in order to find out if and to what extent a medium-sized donor, can play a role and add value to the policy dialogue. The authors enumerate seven principles which in their view underlie the NAA. These are then contrasted with what can be realistically expected from donors and recipient governments from a political economy perspective.
The authors describe the set-up of the research during the field visits to four countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Tanzania, and Vietnam). It is argued that regarding donor discourse and the theoretical literature on aid the NAA appears to be overly optimistic. In fact, the robustness of the NAA is threatened by a complex set of collective action dilemmas, on the side of donors, on the side of the government, and in the interaction between the two. The authors do not dismiss the NAA, arguing that it is the most sensible way yet imagined to incorporate the lessons from the past decades and zoom in on the most crucial development traps. But they argue that it is important to see the inevitable construction flaws in such an ambitious undertaking. In the concluding section, the authors distil a number of characteristics that a medium-sized donor would do well to pursue, using Belgium as a specific example. These include:
- good donors have clear missions and views. Hence they know when to focus on what and why, they know which battle to pick, and on which issues to contest
- good donors are internally harmonized. ‘Harmonization begins internally and at home’ would be a useful slogan in this regard
- good donors are also decentralized
- good donors also concentrate and specialize to a much higher degree
- good donors must find each other and mutually collaborate effectively.
