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Demand-driven governance: an analysis of the interventions of international aid agencies

Aid interventions and demand-driven governance in Nepal



Authors: D. Jordhus-Lier; M. Haug; H. Regmi; NORAD
Publisher: Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research , 2009

Full text of document

This working paper reviews demand-driven governance as a set of principles which have characterised aid and development interventions in certain post-conflict contexts, using Nepal as a case study.
 
The paper indicates that as Nepal moves towards stable peace, one challenge is to build the government’s capacity to meet demands for services and infrastructure at the community level. However, the government’s capacity to respond, to plan, to prioritise and to implement is limited. Furthermore, the links are still weak between projects or programmes and government plans and decision-making processes.

The main findings of the paper are:

  • demand-driven development in Nepal is understood as demand-driven development projects or programmes
  • popular participation has been a key element and a driving force in service delivery and infrastructure development programmes
  • a multi-stakeholder model can be discerned through the programmes through other forms of community participation, as well as contributions from the government, NGOs and the private sector.
The paper recommends the following:
  • demand-driven programmes must be context-specific and flexible
  • demand-driven governance interventions should capitalise on what exists
  • interventions must emphasise facilitation of community-local state relations from the beginning
  • demand-driven governance programmes work best when they adapt to the specific situation on the ground, rather than adhering to a particular model developed by an international agencies
  • finding constructive ways of engaging with the institutional infrastructure can minimise the problem of parallel structures
  • an important component of demand-driven governance is to build government capacity at all political scales
  • post-conflict situations require conscious efforts to foster local civil society and enhance organisational capacity.
The paper concludes that the interplay between scales of governance, community-state relations and donor coordination in Nepal are of great importance if facilitating sustainable development there is to succeed.