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The SDGs have brought a surge of hope that is being translated into policies and procedures for ‘doing’, it is important that this hope does not disappear in the practices of politics and administration or post-development critiques.

Political economy analysis lays bare the flaws in technocratic, aid centric approaches to development that have long characterised mainstream practice.

2014 will be an important milestone year for adapting the policy field of development cooperation to a post-2015 context.

When rethinking public aid as a catalyst for development-oriented private investment, several elements need to be taken into account.

In spite of the ongoing euro crisis, which does not leave much space for an ambitious global agenda, the EU remains a major global development actor.

Although the EU has great potential  to push a more sustainable and inclusive development agenda,  it suffers from a lack of ambition and prevalence of individual member states’ interests.

There is nothing really new about Britain often finding itself in a special position in international relations, and in that position it is deriving added strength from the current anti-Europe debate in the UK. The past few months have provided so…

As the 1000-day count-down to the end of the Millennium age begins, it is expedient to unearth the hurdles encountered during the 15-year development journey. Though remarkable progress is made on the MDGs, regional imbalances exist.

There is nothing really new about Britain often finding itself in a special position in international relations, and in that position it is deriving added strength from the current anti-Europe debate in the UK. The past few months have provided so…

The right approach to solve food insecurity is a holistic approach, because otherwise you are likely to end up with large quantities of food lying around and rotting in the villages. 

In November 2011, Action for Global Health participated in the Busan Aid Effectiveness Civil Society Forum and the High Level Forum together with health advocates from the Busan Health Working group convened by the network. Our goal in the run up…

I think the questions that are asked and discussed are based on tacit assumptions about the role of development INGOs – irrespective of whether their work is ‘thick’ or ‘thin’ in its scope – that I have difficulty saying I share.

At the end of November, 2,000 representatives of governments, international organisations and NGOs convened in Busan as the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. Just before the meeting we proposed four criteria by which to judge its outco…

Normally I avoid discussions about the future of NGOs like the plague – they either involve a bunch of academics with only the vaguest idea of what we actually do all day, or a lot of senior managers emitting sonorous pronouncements on how we need…

The Busan Summit (29. November to 1. December), which was nearly shipwrecked by China’s interim refusal to sign the final declaration, had to resolve a basic dilemma.

While I never trusted a direct link between economic growth and human development, questioning the automatism of the link a few years ago was often brushed aside as quite ridiculous. 

The ‘development world’, which may be referred to as a world in it’s own right, has witnessed yet another high level gathering at a ‘critical juncture’ in global development. 

I have some good and some not so good news about aid. First, the good news. The aid landscape has seen three important changes during the last decade that have had a transformative, positive effect onthe very nature of aid.

While Busan is hosting a high level discussion on aid effectiveness, doubts are mounting on the very concept of development aid itself.

Today, the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness has opened in Busan, Korea. The HLF4 is an opportunity for the global development community to come together and showcase the results that our partner countries have been producing, and to sh…

The Busan Conference can be a make it or break it conference for the future of worldwide development cooperation. It can turn the page by being self-critical and encompassing many more players and actors.

Donors keeping their promises is the key to good aid effectiveness. The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan needs to respond to donors who fail to implement aid effectiveness principles.

Even skeptics admit it: effective aid works. In the last 25 years, the share of poor people in developing countries has been cut by half, and the last decade has witnessed impressive development successes in countries once thought beyond help.

Busan provides decision-makers with the key opportunity to make decisions that could make a huge difference to development and global health programmes. However, are developed countries and emerging economies really as committed as they say they a…

In the run-up to the Fourth High Level Forum in Busan, Palestinian civil society organizations are speaking out on the much needed reform of international aid. 

This morning I took part in a very interesting session that reignited my enthusiasm for the Bellagio Initiative. People, power, politics was the title of our get-together.

The wording of the Outcomes Document from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid is largely agreed, and reflects much of the new thinking on aid: statebuilding and peacebuilding; human security; transparency and results. 

My worries, phrased in yesterday’s post, have been taken away today. I was afraid that the concept of wellbeing might create more confusion, instead of serving as a unifier that creates a broad and common target to work towards. 

Today was the start of the final two weeks of the Bellagio Initiative. Forty people from across the world have been invited to the beautiful Lake Como in northern Italy to talk about how we can act more strategically towards achieving hu…

Laat ik ter wille van de discussie maar eens een knuppel in het hoenderhok gooien. Ik zie, in alle eerlijkheid, niet in wat de vier, of vijf, voorgestelde kennisplatforms kunnen gaan opleveren.

It was said that there was a fisherman who caught a lot of fish with his rod, which caused the other fishermen to envy him.

There is currently too little understanding of how context matters for development effectiveness.

Aid effectiveness has come to be seen as an empty concept without national ownership being placed at its heart.  Yet, in too many aspects of the development field, the notion of national ownership runs up against notions of a set of "int…

Cooperation between emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil and other developing countries is one of the main items for discussion on the Busan agenda. Investment, trade and development assistance provided by emerging economies for othe…

Establishing the roles of young people in developing economies

Put national development plans at the center with clear exit strategies for external funding

“We’ll always have Paris” says one of the most famous lines from the movie Casablanca. In the international donor community, “always [having] Paris” would refer to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness launched back in 2005. Six years and two…

Strengthening Democratic Institutions for development effectiveness

Effective aid work means enabling NGOs to bring about real, lasting change for poor people.

Ensuring effective development in backward economies is urgent

Aid effectiveness can not be dealt with in isolation

Dit is de blog over het voorgenomen kennisbeleid van BuZa. Laat je mening horen!

Read the Draft Busan Outcome Document and related comments

How have the principles of aid effectiveness been put into practice?

Should the ‘aid effectiveness’ agenda be replaced by ‘development effectiveness’ principles

Talk is cheap. Results are what matter. That is the apparent consensus ahead of next month’s aid effectiveness summit in Busan, whose organizers promise “a clear focus on development results,” while sceptics worry about a lot of rhetoric and littl…

Are we overlooking the capacity of local NGOs? Jennifer Lentfer of how-matters.org argues that rather than being the lowest common denominator of international assistance, local indigenous organizations should be regarded as the fundamental unit o…

Peacebuilding has to be centre stage at the high-level debate on aid effectiveness in Busan.

There is little chance that traditional and new donors will reach an agreement on the best way to deliver aid.

The future of development aid transparency – the case for including other public flows for development

The IOB (de Inspectie Ontwikkelingssamenwerking en Beleidsevaluatie) convened a meeting on the Evaluation of the Paris Declaration on September 5th 2011 at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague.

The challenges of the coming HLF4 in Busan are increasingly discussed in various media. See here for a selection of leading views and opinions. 

The development aid universe has, over the past several years, been disrupted by the emergence of countries such as Brazil, China and India – that both receive substantial ODA and are building their own foreign aid programs. As these new programs…

How can the development agenda be expanded to be more effective and is Busan the right place to do it?International aid as we know it has been evolving for sixty years now. Until recently, effective aid was seen as an effort to reduce poverty and…

The 4th High Level Forum on aid effectiveness takes place in Busan, Korea in November. What is the meeting about and how did we get here?

It is about time to start paying systematic attention to the resource transfers that are flowing from the world’s poor to the world’s rich, says David Sogge.  

The Broker, in cooperation with the OECD, invites you to contribute to this blog about the challenges of the coming HLF on aid effectivess at Busan. 

A South-North Dialogue on Knowledge on Water-related climate change adaptation was organized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Let’s discuss the conclusions.

The Broker will publish interesting publications and current affairs in de field of global development.

Transparency and accountability initiatives aim to combat corruption and inefficiency, and improve how aid is channelled. How effective are these initiatives, and how can their impact be measured? 

There is an urgent need to develop new ways of using local knowledge and ideas, and bring them to a higher, politically relevant level.

Defining ‘fragile states’ is difficult – something well documented by Lars Engberg-Pedersen in his article ‘Context and caution’ – and yet there is a way of navigating these murky waters.

Andy Sumner’s research on the new bottom billion has been on the lips of almost every development professional I know for the last few months. The revelation that 75% of poor people might actually live in middle-income, rather than low-income coun…

Increasingly, multi-stakeholder processes are being used in response to ‘tough’ problems such as responding to climate change, fighting poverty, and creation of sustainable business models.

The Millennium Development Goals claim our attention as today’s pro-poor aid agenda. Yet going by who gets what and from whom, the world’s real agenda looks distinctly pro-rich.The MDGs have been a singular success as a vehicle for many in the aid…

The UN Secretary-General’s report speaks firmly on keeping international commitments and this week’s Summit will no doubt produce some strengthening of global commitment towards the MDGs. This is good and important for welfare in poor countries. B…

On 18 January 2025 the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) presented its report long-awaiting report that promotes substantial changes in the organisation of Dutch aid as well as more structural attention for global public goods.

This blog discusses the new turn in Germany after the latest elections in September 2009.

The Development Studies Association , which works to connect and promote the development research community in UK and Ireland, will hold it’s annual conference at the University of Ulster in Belfast from 2 – 4th September.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide clear objectives and a timeline for the world to achieve greater equality and a higher quality of life. The 2015 deadline for the MDGs is fast approaching and debates are beginning to flare up about…

On 23 June 2009, the Residence Palace in Brussels hosted the High Level Policy Forum ‘After 2015: promoting pro-poor growth after the MDGs’. The forum was a joint initiative of IDS, DSA, EADI, DFID and ActionAid.