Abstract
The Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness stipulates that broadly owned and results-oriented national plans will be the basis for establishing national ownership and leadership of the aid process and for improving alignment and harmonization. In this sense, there is a close link between the Poverty Reduction Strategy approach and the Paris Agenda, both of which form part of the new aid paradigm that started around the year 2000. This article assesses the actual progress in the implementation of the new aid paradigm in three Latin American countries: Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. The results are disappointing. Frequent government changes and the composition of the donor group in the countries are partially responsible for the disappointing results, but the main conclusion is that the new aid paradigm is based on unrealistic expectations about the role that national poverty reduction or development plans can play in promoting the principles of the Paris Agenda.
La Déclaration de Paris sur l’efficacité de l’aide au développement compte sur l’élaboration de plans nationaux axés sur les résultats afin de renforcer l’appropriation et la maîtrise nationale de l’aide au développement, ainsi que favoriser l’alignement et l’harmonisation de l’aide. Dans ce sens, il existe un lien étroit entre les approches basées sur des Stratégies de Réduction de la Pauvreté et celle de la Déclaration de Paris, les deux étant des composantes du nouveau paradigme d’aide au développement qui a vu le jour vers l’an 2000. Cet article évalue les progrès réalisés dans la mise en œuvre de ce nouveau paradigme d’aide dans trois pays d’Amériques latine et centrale: la Bolivie, le Honduras et le Nicaragua. Les résultats sont décevants. Des changements fréquents de gouvernements et la composition des groupes de donateurs dans ces trois pays expliquent en partie ces résultats décevants, mais notre conclusion principale est que le nouveau paradigme d’aide est basé sur des attentes non réalistes concernant le rôle que les plans nationaux de développement ou de réduction de la pauvreté peuvent jouer dans la promotion des principes de la Déclaration de Paris.
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Notes
Programme aid is aid that is not tied to specific projects, but is usually accompanied by policy conditions (OECD, 1991).
General and sector budget support are forms of programme aid and are thus not earmarked. In the case of sector budget support, the policy dialogue focuses on one sector in particular, while with general budget support the policy dialogue may focus on any aspect of public policies and governance. In SWAps, donors work together to support a sector or sometimes a sub-sector. This usually includes common funds or baskets in which donors pool their funds, but donors may also support separate projects as long as they are in line with the country's sector strategy.
In 1999, Bolivia became a pilot country for the Comprehensive Development Framework of the World Bank, the forerunner of the PRSP approach, also emphasizing government ownership and leadership of the aid process.
The lack of an ongoing IMF programme since 2006 hinders the provision of any programme aid in this country.
Sweden decided in 2007 to gradually move out of both Honduras and Nicaragua.
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Thanks are due to Kees Biekart and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
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Dijkstra, G., Komives, K. The PRS Approach and the Paris Agenda: Experiences in Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua. Eur J Dev Res 23, 191–207 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2010.30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2010.30