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Blog
The vital role of aid in developmentThe UNU-WIDER research programme on foreign aid ( ReCom ) began in 2010, in a period of strong aid scepticism. Dambisa Moyo’s well-known book, Dead...
Journal Article
Aid Targeting to Fragile and Conflict-Affected States and Implications for Aid EffectivenessPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Do Countries Use Foreign Aid to Buy Geopolitical Influence?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
What Does the Evidence Tell Us about ‘Thinking and Working Politically’ in Development Assistance?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Working Paper
Do countries use foreign aid to buy geopolitical influence?In recent years, donor countries have increasingly used different aid allocation channels to boost aid effectiveness. One delivery channel that has grown tremendously is ‘multi-bi aid’—contributions to multilateral organizations earmarked for...
Working Paper
Too many cooks in the kitchen?The total funding envelope for World Bank projects is often divided among various state and non-state actors, each of which can have competing ideas about or interests in the project. How does the division of financing relate to overall project...
Working Paper
Aid targeting to fragile and conflict-affected states and implications for aid effectivenessWhile significant amounts of foreign aid have been allocated to the group of so-called fragile and conflict-affected states in recent years, it is not clear whether that aid is targeted to where it is most needed. This paper extends recent work by...
Working Paper
What does the evidence tell us about ‘thinking and working politically’ in development assistance?This paper critically reviews evidence on ‘thinking and working politically’ in development. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognised that development is fundamentally political, and efforts are underway to develop more politically...
Working Paper
Institutional bypass and aid effectiveness in AfricaMany 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...
Working Paper
Does project-level aid for water and sanitation improve child health outcomes?Empirical studies on the effectiveness of aid to the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector (WASH aid) have focused primarily on access to these services as the benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of aid in this sector. Given the importance of...
Working Paper
The institutions and policies of aid-recipient countries and aid effectivenessThe aid effectiveness principles have limits if the recipient is fragile. The problem of relevance exists if the recipient has an authoritarian or totalitarian regime. In situations of weak statehood and fragility, a large portion of aid would likely...
Working Paper
Politics, policies, and the effectiveness of foreign aid in fragile statesInternational development cooperation has evolved since the 1960s. The effectiveness of aid is still topical, but studies have not paid adequate attention to the relationship between sectoral aid, politics, institutions, and aid effectiveness in...
Working Paper
Do the effectiveness principles matter for development?The Principles of Effective Development Co-operation provide an important reference point for foreign aid and international development assistance. Although the principles—country ownership, focus on results, inclusive partnerships, and transparency...
Working Paper
Development narratives in a post-aid eraThis paper argues that the crisis facing the development effectiveness agenda is fundamentally derived from limited collective commitment to a singular model of development, one where a developed North serves as model and funder for a developing...
Working Paper
Aid effectiveness in fragile and conflict-affected contextsThe objective of this paper is to focus on fragility research findings and examine what works or does not work in development aid and development cooperation in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. We draw on our own research findings as well as...
Policy Brief
Building evidence around the effectiveness principlesThis policy brief draws on the studies presented at the International Research Conference on the Effectiveness of Development Cooperation on 17–18 November 2022, in Brussels, Belgium and jointly organized by UNU-WIDER and the European Commission (DG...
Working Paper
Does aid fragmentation affect tax revenue dynamics in developing countries?There exists a burgeoning empirical literature on the impact of aid fragmentation on development outcomes in aid-receiving countries, with it being widely recognized that aid fragmentation is deleterious. This paper adds to the existing literature by...
Blog
Foreign aid can help stem the decline of democracy, if used in the right wayDemocracy is having a hard time. In India, once the world’s largest democracy, the pandemic has hastened the country’s slide toward authoritarianism...
Working Paper
Donor relations and sovereigntyAs a sovereign country, Mozambique initially relied on international solidarity and managed its donor relations well. Donor dependency entailed some loss of agency for the government as it allowed donors to challenge its capacity but never its...
Book Chapter
Foreign aid and peacebuildingForeign aid is a core component of peacebuilding and among the largest external financial flows to fragile states and conflict-affected areas. Nevertheless, troubling critiques have been raised about its overall impact and effectiveness. Some of the...
Policy Brief
Aid effectivenessThe questions of whether aid has impact and is effective have been the subject of considerable attention. This thematic issue brings together nine studies that speak to the diverse ways in which aid affects development outcomes including, but not...
Working Paper
Putting Paris into practiceThis paper examines the application of the first two principles of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, namely ownership and alignment, to the cases of Mali and Ghana. It argues that Western donors and recipient governments have adopted...
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