Reforming Foreign Aid Practices: What country ownership is and what donors can do to support it

Authors: Paolo de Renzio, Lindsay Whitfield, and Isaline Bergamaschi

Abstract

What would it take for donors genuinely to support ‘country ownership’ in aid dependent countries? And what does ‘ownership’ actually mean? In the last decade there has been a signifi cant shift in the paradigm for foreign aid, embodied in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005. At the centre of this paradigm is the idea of country ownership. Recipient governments are urged to take ownership of development policies and aid activities in their country, to establish their own systems for coordinating donors, and only to accept aid that suits their needs. A few years down the line, however, the spirit and goals of the Paris Declaration are far from being achieved. There is still a serious gap between the rhetoric of ownership and practices on the ground. In many aid dependent African countries donors still dominate
decision-making over which policies are adopted, how aid is spent, and what conditions are attached to its release. This briefi ng draws on research from eight African countries to analyse the reasons for weak ownership in many African countries, and to outline ways in which donors can bridge the gap between rhetoric and practice in supporting recipient country ownership.