'International humanitarian aid provides relief to tens of millions of people each year: in 2007 to more than 43 million people through UN humanitarian appeals alone. However, it is also often too little, too late, and unpredictable, or inappropriate to the needs of communities, including specific groups such as women and girls. The UN-led reforms since 2005 to improve humanitarian aid have begun – but only begun – to make a difference to this variable performance.

Oxfam International pub more...

'In this sense, the purpose of this mid-term evaluation report is to take stock of Joint Donor Team (JDT’S) progress against the above objectives. The paper firstly notes that JDT has strengthened donor harmonisation between UN, World Bank and bilateral agencies, through its involvement in the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) and other pooled funds. In addition, JDT has become a key intermediator for the government, multilateral agencies, and International NGOs in the region over the years. Howev more...

A recent joint donor evaluation aimed to deepen understanding of what works and what does not work in donor support to Citizens Voice and Accountability interventions, and to uncover the reasons why. This Policy Brief summarises the Synthesis report for the project, pulling together the findings of all the outputs from this evaluation and seeks to identify common themes and lessons, core principles and key recommendations for improved donor practice, and areas worthy of further research. Full pa more...

In this short ODI opinion paper, author Court assess the growing importance of governance in development agendas. He states that this focus is timely and also that with regards to DFID, the focus on governance set out in the White Paper is the right one. He argues that governance is an area where DFID has a comparative advantage which is particularly important given the constraints on the World Bank in focusing on politics. He concluded by stating that the key to this process will be to see how more...

'This background paper aims to inform discussions on the establishment of a system to monitor the implementation of the governance goals and strategies as articulated in Malawi’s national development plan: the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS).

Governance is one of the themes addressed by the plan and is recognised as the enabler for the successful implementation of all other themes. The paper mainly focuses on the indicators and data collection considerations suggested for moni more...

The new approach to assisting developing countries inspired by the Paris Declaration emphasises greater recipient control over the funds provided, thus confining donors' influence to upstream points in the policy process, where political aspects of development co-operation become more important. Understanding better the role that power plays in the aid relationship will be critical to the implementation of the Declaration. This article shows how the political science literature can inform this s more...

'In this paper, Jean-Michel Severino and Olivier Ray describe shifts in the objectives of overseas development assistance (ODA) over time and conclude that it is time to put the concept itself to bed - in favor of what they propose should be called “Global Policy Finance.”

'In this paper, a former programme officer at the Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania considers challenges to aid effectiveness in a major natural resources programme. After twelve years of support by the Norwegian government totalling about US$ 60 million, an evaluation by independent consultants revealed in 2006 that up to half of the funds allocated may have been lost through corruption and mismanagement. Explanatory factors discussed include inadequate analysis of the sector’s political economy, more...

'Effective whistleblower protection (WBP) is seen as an essential management strategy for strengthening accountability, responsibility, and good governance. This U4 Brief argues that aid organisations and all other public organisations need to encourage staff to regard whistleblowing as their legal and professional duty, and to report misconduct and corruption to a proper authority so it can be dealt with.'

This U4 Brief analyzes how embezzlement occurred in a donor-funded project, and what can be done to minimize the risk.