On 18 January 2010, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) presented its report ‘Less pretension, more ambition: development aid that makes a difference’ to the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr Bert Koenders
Leon Willems: Wanted: New perspectives
Leon Willems | 25 March 2025It is refreshing that the WRR report is unmoved by the strategic communications speak that is typical for the development sector, defensive and focused on self-interest. Rightfully it concludes that there is much room for improvement, that there i...
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Brian Pratt: we need a new debate
Brian Pratt | 24 March 2025Despite the torrent of words, we are still mainly working within a set of parameters set out over 40 years ago – parameters which assume the transfer of resources (money and expertise) from rich to poor. The notion of 0.7% of GDP spent on aid has...
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Fantahun Wakie: A healthy whole strives on healthy parts: a call for new paradigm
Fantahun Wakie | 18 March 2025Solutions to our global development problems will only come if we dare to challenge the old, prevailing and dominant paradigm. The prevailing paradigm has been to try and get prosperous within a system. It gives priority to individuals in a commun...
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Shobha Raghuram: Development futures: global commitments and national duties
Shobha Raghuram | 15 March 2025When Frans and Ellen requested me to write about the WRR report, I readily accepted but, after reading the documents, I felt hesitant. I continue to do so for the simple reason that the entire report has yet to be translated; so whatever I have to...
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Gerald F. Hyman: Focus on the particular: yes and no
Gerald F. Hyman | 10 March 2025Two opposite spectres hang over the article Aid for development can be better by Peter van Lieshout, Monique Kremer and Robert Went (hereafter 'the article') and, to a lesser extent, over the WRR Report 84 Conclusion ('the conclusion'). These expl...
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Liesbeth Inberg & Nathalie Holvoet: What happened to the Dutch ambition for gender equality?
Nathalie Holvoet , Liesbeth Inberg | 09 March 2025The WRR is remarkably silent about the gender dimension in development cooperation. This is in sharp contrast to the relatively high commitment to gender equality of the (recently resigned) Minister of Development Cooperation. His commitment was c...
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L’aide publique au développement : la fuite en avant ?
Francois Bary | 08 March 2025Le constat que la plupart des pays d’Afrique n’ont pas atteint un niveau de développement qui puisse satisfaire leurs citoyens et positionner ces pays sur la scène internationale peut être partagé sans réserve. Ce constat est encore assombri par l...
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Chudi Ukpabi: Humility, building trust and respect and professionalism
04 March 2025I write firstly to thank Peter van Lieshout and Robert Went for the care and professionalism with which they produced this extraordinarily excellent study. And secondly, I am pleased to contribute to the interesting and wide discussion the report...
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Laurent Umans: aid and cooperation
Laurent Umans | 04 March 2025The WRR prefers the term 'aid' to 'cooperation'. Acknowledging the argument that the term cooperation would mask the inequity of the relationship, I argue that the nature and logic of aid and cooperation are different and that the WRR does not ack...
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Danielle Hirsch/Paul Wolvekamp: Lack of recommendations on coherence
Danielle Hirsch , Paul Wolvekamp | 04 March 2025Both ENDS mission and core competence is to strengthen civil society towards environmental sustainability and social equity. From that perspective, the WRR's strong recommendation to focus on general policy coherence as a pre-condition for success...
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