[ Many donors, little efficiency ]

Developing countries complain time and again that donors pursue their own priorities and when they allocate development assistance they apply red tape processes which do not suit the recipient country. That means additional burdens for poor countries – especially if they have to deal with several donors and all cling to their own rules.

In this book the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) suggests how development assistance could be delivered in a simpler and more efficient way. For instance, it says donors should adjust their payment rhythms to the developing countries' official fiscal years and base their project planning on official statistics – as far as they are available. Where possible, the donors should also use and promote local management capacities, instead of overtaxing the administrations of the recipient countries by continually demanding fresh reports (whose requirements also vary from one donor to another). Local ownership, the DAC Guidelines message says, must be aimed at as early as the allocation of development assistance. (dem)

DAC Guidelines and Reference Series: Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery. Paris, OECD 2003, 128 pp.,
Euro 25, ISBN 92-64-19982-9