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Do donors and northern NGOs disburse their aid money in ways that actively promote the kind of development needed to achieve long term positive change for the poor?
More aid is being promised to tackle poverty, especially in Africa. This is welcome and urgently needed. However, to date little attention has been paid by donors or northern NGOs to understanding whether current aid disbursement mechanisms (policies and procedures) are appropriate or conducive to building autonomous, strong local organizations and communities better able to address their problems and achieve their rights.
The focus of research and interest is usually firmly on the ability of organizations and individuals in the south to use aid well- do they have the capacity? Are their systems robust enough for good accountability? Can they show change in a measurable way to meet the demands of northern treasuries? Only a few researchers have begun to explore the role of the way donor/northern NGO's currently allocate grants or contracts in shaping development relationships and results.
Many assumptions appear to underlie the current dominant aid procedures: that they are professional, accountable, allow for the tracking of aid money, raise the standards of work of local organizations and communities, and are efficient and effective. These have not been properly tested through empirical research or analysis, though some research has been done by this team and others. This research examines and explores current aid modalities and their effect on the development discourse governments and civil society, and how they shape the analysis and work of doors and national and local NGOs in the north and the south.
The research is based on work in UK, Uganda and South Africa, but has relevance and resonance beyond Africa. The focus is broadly on the impact and implications of the almost universal adoption of rational management tools, drawn from private and public sector work especially in USA and UK, on NGO partnerships and practice in international development. It explores what kinds of relationships are created by the current terms and conditions of funding, and where the tensions lie; whether different funding requirements enable different kinds of work to be undertaken; and how funding conditionalities are negotiated at different levels within the funding chain.
It has been carried out by an international research team from Oxford Brookes University, the University of Natal, Durban, and a joint team from CDRN, ActionAid and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Key research questions addressed include:
- How do the increased conditionalities around funding, including the use of certain management tools, planning and reporting systems, affect the way different NGOs, north and south, approach development work. How do they shape current development debates at donor, government and NGO/civil society levels?
- Do the current approaches and ways of managing the funding relationship ensure accountability and control of resources? Do they promote the stated aims of the NGO sector including participation, enhancing local ownership and contributing to the building of strong civil societies?
- Are they helping to create transparent organisations able to stand up for poor people? Are they being enabled to tackle the causes and effects of poverty effectively?
This website makes available a number of papers written on the research findings. These present some of the core findings and data from the individual countries.
A comprehensive comparative study will be coming out in book form in early 2006, which will trace funding from the official donors to the national development discourses, and the work of national and local NGOs and their relationships with those who are the intended beneficiaries of aid. The book will draw the three country case studies together, empirically and analytically.
The team welcome your feedback and comments.
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