How Donors Get Aid Effectiveness Wrong and What They Should Do Instead

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How donors get aid effectiveness wrong and what they should do instead: Reflections from Tanzania Rakesh Rajani, Independent Africa Canada Forum/CIDA Consultation Ottawa, 4 October 2007

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Outline of presentation 

Six things donors do poorly ◦ (HakiElimu example)

Three concluding reflections

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1. Don’t conflate method with results

Paris principles are about how to disburse aid and manage aid relationships, not change on the ground  Keep this in perspective  Link method with purpose and results  Be open to debate and critique, avoid new orthodoxies and fundamentalisms  Avoid harmonization turning into monopoly of thought 

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2. Apply Paris principles to engagement with CSOs

A core idea behind the Paris agenda is to reduce multiple demands on governments so that they can get on with their agenda.  CSOs need the same type of support  Yet donors continue to apply a double standard: 

◦ Treat CSOs as ‘contractors’ ◦ Require separate proposals, reports and timeframes ◦ CSOs have to fit donors and not vice versa 4


3. Rethink Accountability ‘When-in-doubt-add-a-requirement’ reflects a lack of imagination  Filling in too many boxes creates a mechanical mindset that undermines responsiveness and a strategic posture  Onerous reporting drains time from implementation, often of the best people  Requirements passed down the chain  Illusion of accountability through bean counting that creates an incentive to lie 

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4. Avoid the planning fetish Good development practice/’strategy’ is an ability to read the signs and respond, but...  Over-planning promotes a rigidity that undermines responsiveness and creativity  Planning is not how it works – LG PEFAR, business (on this Bill Easterly is spot on)  Instead ask CSOs to be clear about the overall goals and then require them to be concrete when reporting 

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3/4. HakiElimu approach One plan, one budget, one report  Joint MOU that sets the terms/principles  Multi-year commitment, with predictable annual disbursements  Annual narrative (analytical) and externally audited financial report  Half year progress brief (against plan)  Twice year joint donor/HakiElimu meetings instead of bilateral missions 

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5. Real accountability Shift accountability from donors to constituencies/citizens (and donors get their satisfaction from the quality of this)  Transparency, public disclosure and access to information essential  Make internal learning the primary motivation for M&E  Create incentives that reward self-critical, reflective practice and learning 

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6. Donors should ‘do no harm’ 

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There is an inevitable conflict of interest and incentive among governments and donors to make things look good Donors should not undermine local voices through rosy pronouncements Focus on creating a level playing field for domestic accountability, esp. in making information available and fair rules of the game Develop/implement independent evaluation standards (ref. to CGD work on this) As it gets political, donors need to know how to handle the heat/avoid blunt aid withdrawal 9


Conclusion 1: the present state CIDA and Canadian CSOs are stuck in a runaway train  Many are responding from a place of fear, uncertainty , lack of confidence  An edge of desperation about the situation but dialogue unable to address it  An illusion of progress that barely masks an erosion of strategy and good practice 

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Conclusion 2: what is needed 

Leadership on both sides, able to: ◦ Situate the Paris agenda and role of CSOs within sound development practice ◦ Recast accountability to be less onerous, deeper, more effective, and towards citizens ◦ Promotes a culture of real learning and intellectual ferment that can rise above the plumbing ◦ Able to get outside a technocratic box and develop a keen understanding of (political) drivers of change 11


Conclusion 3: Eyes on the prize At heart development is about citizen agency: the ability of citizens to know and act, to make things happen rather than just have things happen to them  This needs to be the key yardstick of success and core of RBM  CSOs need to reclaim and renew this role (rather than clamor to be mere conduits of aid); CIDA needs to challenge Canadian CSOs on this rather than narrow concerns 

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