This thesis explores how Danish aid policies have been implemented to support poverty alleviation through participatory approaches in bilateral aid. I have chosen to look at bilateral aid, in particular Danish bilateral development assistance to India during a specific period: the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. The reasons for this are threefold: firstly, I was posted to the Danish Embassy in New Delhi during that time and had direct and detailed experience of the projects I have used as my case studies. Secondly, the period represents a time when the Danish aid agency, Danida, posted advisers who could potentially influence the participatory approaches used in the projects. Finally, although aid policies have changed over the years, many of the principles guiding the policies, and in particular the mechanisms driving the delivery of aid, remain the same – bilateral (and multilateral) aid is delivered through bureaucracies with the purpose of improving conditions for people in recipient countries. The thesis looks at the purpose and character of the ideal bureaucracy, as perceived by Max Weber, as a benchmark for the development and variations in Danish and Indian bureaucracies during the decade in question. I show that differences between the bureaucracies are influenced by the differences in the history and cultural traditions of Denmark and India. This influences the relationship in the implementation of bilateral development aid in this period, as in any other. I consider the functions of the bureaucracy with respect to policy, planning, and implementation of development aid, and how these functions differ in Denmark and India. Participation is at the centre of this thesis; therefore the thesis looks at the history of participation and the aspiration to participate in development aid. I have chosen to work with two main interpretations of participation: empowering participation and instrumental participation. I find that the Danish aid policy leans toward empowering participation, while in practice instrumental participation is used in the implementation of the aid. Despite a vast literature on participation, I find that participation as a concept is ambiguous. In considering the relationship between participation and bureaucracy, I find that it is not an easy one. I show that there are fundamental and paradigmatic incompatibilities if participation is meant to empower the groups targeted for aid. The theories of bureaucracy and participation are tested against the actual progress of four Danish-supported water and sanitation projects in four different Indian states. While describing events in the projects as they unfolded, I bear in mind a number of questions relating to interpretation of policies and variations in the same; how the Danish and Indian bureaucracies influenced and controlled the implementation of aid; relationships with local power structures; and finally, about the accomplishments of the projects. The questions are further analysed and answered in the concluding chapter of the thesis.

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In the midst of the international development agenda, two concepts have recently emerged, transparency and accountability. These concepts represent ideas, which have shaped the current direction in which development has been managed. Recent international agreements and partnerships, including the Paris Declaration for Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, have mentioned transparency and accountability as principles that may create greater aid effectiveness. In a time of austerity, development aid has come under pressure to create results. Transparency and accountability are concepts that may allow for an efficient use of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). Large donors of ODA shape the development agenda. Yet, many developed nations face questions from citizens regarding finances. The European Union (EU) has provided an example of integration and coherence within development policies. EU Member States and the EU are large donors of ODA. However, the austerity measures have caused a need to re-examine the way in which development aid is spent. Transparent and accountable policies may create effectiveness and efficiency within the deliverance of ODA. By examining the EU and EU Member States, the relevance of transparency and accountability may be understood. This thesis attempts to divulge the complex relationships between transparency, accountability, co-operation and the EU. Furthermore, primary data has been collected on the levels of transparency and accountability within the EU and EU Member States. The role of co-operation and partnership for these actors provides a greater understanding of the perspectives towards development aid. Transparency and accountability may allow for responsibility and trust to occur within co-operative efforts in implementing development aid. The relevance, purpose, and operationalisation of the concepts are central to this research.

This dissertation focuses on the experiences of Haitians living in France who are active in organizations seeking to benefit Haiti. Focusing on “hometown associations”—collectives formed by members of the diaspora who are generally from the same town, that engage in activities and projects for the benefit of their home country—my main question is how do a group of Haitians, committed to transnational engagement between France and Haiti, manage the challenges, pressures, and expectations in being a “diaspora” in light of the category’s increasing institutionalization? Previous research has examined the impact of hometown associations in nations such as Mexico, but I sought to understand their importance in the context of personal, national, and international agendas, agendas that often neutralize or undermine the purpose of hometown associations. Despite increasing attention by national and international policy makers citing diasporas as integral to the survival and growth of struggling nations, my research shows that there is little support given to such collectivities, especially in the case of the Haitian diaspora. I argue that diaspora as a category has become more institutionalized, and as a result is inhibiting progressive, grassroots change more that it empowers. My research hopes to highlight this trend so that policy makers and humanitarians can take a step back to better identify the future of diaspora as a geopolitical force for change in countries like Haiti, and gauge whether it can still function under the weight of its signification. / text

The first essay considers the relative effectiveness of government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as channels to allocate resources. I use a catastrophic climate-related shock--Hurricane Mitch--to examine the political economy of these channels of aid distribution at the micro level. I combine extensive data on aid received by Nicaraguan households with data on municipal election outcomes and an exogenous, precipitation-based measure of hurricane impact. I find that the hurricane had long-lasting effects on the aid received by households from both NGOs and the government. In the short term, however, the government did not provide aid according to the objective measure of hurricane damage but instead provided aid along political lines. The second essay presents estimates of a relationship between extreme hot temperatures during gestation and a child's subsequent physical well-being in a sample of children in Peru, thus extending existing evidence constructed from U.S. data. Estimates are constructed using high-resolution gridded climate data and geo-coded household surveys. The results suggest that a period of extreme heat (a month whose average temperature is more than 2 standard deviations above the local average) in the period 1 to 3 months before birth is associated with lower weight at birth and a reduction in height (measured 1 to 59 months after birth) that cannot be fully explained by birth weight. There is no evidence of differential maternal investment, as measured by duration of breastfeeding, according to a child's exposure to extreme heat during gestation. The third essay asks whether improved treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa can be achieved simply by paying health workers to do more. I present estimates of the impact of financial incentives paid to individual workers at public health facilities in Mozambique. The results suggest that piece-rate incentives increased the delivery of five out of fourteen health services for which treatment effects can be identified, with estimated increases ranging from 34 to 157 percent, depending on the particular service. I find no evidence of a corresponding decrease in the delivery of services that are not financially incentivized, suggesting that there is no "crowding out" of intrinsic motivation.

Development aid has long been a major policy tool of the discourse and policy practiceof bilateral and multilateral donors alike. Originally used for servicing the reconstructionof post-war economies and the wider geo-political aspirations of the period, moderndevelopment aid was quickly transformed to an ever-growing industry which hasexpanded to the most remote locations of the globe. Large countries and internationalorganisations swiftly set up a variety of specialised agencies, institutes and researchcentres in order to promote their aid programmes and projects to the poor countries ofthe South. The persistent failure of the development industry to achieve substantialresults in the poorest regions of the world has meant that discourse and priority areashave been redirected multiple times according to the trends of every period. However, itis not clear how far development practice actually alters in correspondence with changesin aid discourse. This dissertation provides an empirical study of the relationshipbetween the two in the context of the move to bottom-up 'partnership' discourse andJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) development practise in Ghana. During the last ten years Ghana has geared its development policies towards achievingthe Millennium Development Goals and entering the group of countries classified ashaving (lower) middle-income status. Major donor agencies like JICA have gathered inthe country to provide their 'expertise' and to 'assist' Ghana in reaching the targets ofthe Millennium Declaration. Drawing from two JICA case studies of TechnicalCooperation for Capacity Development in Ghana in health and education this thesissheds light on the differences between JICA's aid rhetoric and practice. This studyargues that despite JICA's aid discourse for a 'demand-driven', 'relevant' and'participatory' aid understanding, its implementation practice contradicts the substantivenormative meanings of these terms and is instead reticent of the past orthodox and 'topdown'aid practices of big donor countries and organisations.

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<p>In international development cooperation of today there is a great multitude of NGOs in Developing countries that are financed by Western donors. Facing criticism of imperialism and lack of local anchorage the concept of partnership has been introduced which is based on mutual cooperation where the local partner is the one responsible to define problems and implement the work. The Swedish International Development Agency - Sida has practised partnership for over ten years. This study looks at the perception and function of this policy from Swedish organizations point of view by interviewing representatives from four organisations working under Sida cooperating with foreign partners. Findings reveals a great difference between aim and reality where the equality partnership refers to is absent. The main obstacles were to create an open dialogue and that Sida turn down applications based on local needs as they don’t fit their current trends. Power-inequalities created by economic resources cannot be ignored and the traditional roles of donor and receiver with a paternalistic undertone persists. The partnership approach needs to be reconsidered in terms of definition and extent if it is to be realistic and beneficial for both parts.</p>

In international development cooperation of today there is a great multitude of NGOs in Developing countries that are financed by Western donors. Facing criticism of imperialism and lack of local anchorage the concept of partnership has been introduced which is based on mutual cooperation where the local partner is the one responsible to define problems and implement the work. The Swedish International Development Agency - Sida has practised partnership for over ten years. This study looks at the perception and function of this policy from Swedish organizations point of view by interviewing representatives from four organisations working under Sida cooperating with foreign partners. Findings reveals a great difference between aim and reality where the equality partnership refers to is absent. The main obstacles were to create an open dialogue and that Sida turn down applications based on local needs as they don’t fit their current trends. Power-inequalities created by economic resources cannot be ignored and the traditional roles of donor and receiver with a paternalistic undertone persists. The partnership approach needs to be reconsidered in terms of definition and extent if it is to be realistic and beneficial for both parts.

No description available.