Adopting a Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) approach to official bilateral development assistance could result in more effective development planning that yields lasting results in developing countries. A Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development Assistance (FSSDA) based on SSD and customised to the needs of a development agency offers guidance in planning for development towards sustainability. This it does by directing donor and recipient planners in generating holistic perspectives, setting the goal of development as an attractive and sustainable society, and providing a flexible decision-making framework to guide strategic planning. Development assistance donor agencies face several difficulties in ensuring aid effectiveness. The FSSDA offers support in addressing these challenges by: positioning the creation of sustainable societies as the fundamental goal of development; allowing progress against imminent sustainability threats while minimizing the risk of unforeseen negative impacts; balancing economic, environmental and social considerations; and providing a fairer basis for aid conditionality.

Determining whether great crises in donor countries, such as the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic, alter foreign aid allotment represents an urgent research problem. This thesis aims to disentangle if and how aid is increased, reduced or remained the same during crises. The work conducted is a case study of three donor countries: Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom. Their aid is scrutinized in relation to three crises, the Nordic crisis, the global crisis of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. An identified disagreement in the previous research helps create the theoretical framework guiding this study. A hypothesis is drawn from said framework, that aid allotment is to decrease during crises in donor countries. The findings of this thesis can neither confirm nor reject the hypothesis. Case-specific patterns emerge, implying a relationship between crises and alterations of aid. Seemingly, crises affect foreign aid allotment both positively and negatively, opening up for further research to verify the relationship.

Notre recherche combine deux approches dans l’analyse de la politique étrangère saoudienne relative à l’octroi de l’aide au développement: i) une approche interne (analyse des politique générales : l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre des programmes d’aide publique au développement ; l’identification des principaux acteurs de l’APD et l’analyse des résultats de l’APD ? ii) et une approche internationale (en se basant sur la théorie des relations internationales, nous identifions les mécanismes qui sous-Tendent la politique d’aide saoudienne ainsi que le rôle du Fonds Saoudien de Développement dans l’efficacité et l’efficience de l’Aide Publique au Développement. Nous cherchons, tout au long de ce travail, à apporter des éléments de réponse quant à l’ambivalence qui plane sur le visé de l’APD saoudienne. Nous traitons la question des aides internationales et les programmes du développement présentés par le gouvernement saoudien. L’objectif de ce travail sera donc l’étude et l’analyse du rôle de l’APD saoudienne dans la lutte contre la pauvreté essentiellement dans les pays en développement. / Our research combines two approaches in the analysis of Saudi foreign policy on the granting of development assistance: i) an internal approach (general policy analysis: the development and implementation of assistance programs official development identifying the main actors of ODA and analysis of the results of ODA? ii) and an international approach (based on the theory of international relations, we identify the mechanisms that underlie Saudi aid policy and the role of the Saudi Development Fund in the efficiency and effectiveness of ODA. We seek, throughout this work, to provide some answers about the ambivalence that hovers over the target of ODA Saudi Arabia. We treat the issue of international aid and development programs presented by the Saudi government. objective of this work will be the study and analysis of the role of ODA Saudi in the fight against poverty mainly in developing countries.

This doctoral thesis focuses on the evaluation of the World Bank (WB) performance in delivering development aid to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). For this purpose, an extensive research was performed to analyze a set of 790 Implementation Completion and Results reports for key economic and financial indicators. Results of this research provide various insights for the appraisal and the results stage of project delivery of the LDCs in different continents. In the final part of the economic and financial analysis the minimum Social Return on Investment (SROI) of the LDCs including all project costs was calculated. This SROI ratio outcome of 1 and 1.06 in the weighted and 1.3 and 1.72 in the unweighted case indicate that projects delivered by the WB have a positive effect on the poor countries. In the second part of this research project the data set of the ICR reports was qualitatively researched for negative ratings according to 3 core assessment categories for the overall project performance: Sustainability, bank performance and borrower performance. As a result the most critical categories respectively risks were outlined. In conclusion, the research analyses and findings support the general demand to provide even more development assistance to poor countries.:Table of Tables and Figures List of Equations List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to the Topic 1.2 Assessing Poverty Problems and Achieving Economic Growth 1.3 Millennium Development Goals 1.4 Development Aid 2 Research Approach 2.1 Objective 2.2 Structure 2.3 Least Developed Countries 2.4 World Bank 2.5 Data Access and Relevance 2.5.1 Data Basis 2.5.2 Implementation Completion and Results Reports 2.5.3 Project Types 2.6 Term “Performance” 2.7 Study and Research Questions 2.8 Challenges of this Doctoral Thesis 2.9 Contribution of this Thesis 3 Economic and Financial Analysis 3.1 SROI Concept 3.1.1 SROI Definition 3.1.2 SROI Process and Impact Map 3.1.3 Cost-Benefit-Analysis 3.1.4 SROI Calculation 3.2 SROI of World Bank Projects 3.2.1 Purpose of the Cost-Benefit-Analysis 3.2.2 Indicators of the SROI Calculation 3.2.2.1 Net Present Value 3.2.2.2 Capital and Recurring Costs 3.2.2.3 Project Dates and Duration 3.2.2.4 NPV-horizon 3.2.2.5 Discount Rate 3.2.3 Types of NPV-Cost-Ratios 3.2.3.1 Pro-Rata-Capital-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.2 Total-Capital-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.3 Pro-Rata-Capital plus Recurring-Costs Ratio 3.2.3.4 Total-Capital plus Recurring-Costs Ratio 3.2.4 Calculation of the proper SROI Ratio 3.2.5 Portfolio Analysis 3.2.6 Sensitivity Analysis 3.3 Additional Economic and Financial Indicators 3.3.1 Economic Rate of Return 3.3.2 Benefit-Cost-Ratio 3.3.3 Net Benefit 3.3.4 Financial Net Present Value 3.3.5 Financial Rate of Return 4 Results of the Economic and Financial Analysis 4.1 Analysis Approach and Setup 4.2 NPV Outcomes at the Appraisal Stage 4.2.1 Appraisal NPVs of the LDCs 4.2.2 Appraisal NPV Continent Comparison 4.3 NPV Outcomes of the Result Stage 4.3.1 Result NPVs of the LDCs 4.3.2 Result NPV Continent Comparison 4.4 Appraisal vs. Result NPVs 4.4.1 Results of the LDCs 4.4.2 Continent Comparison 4.5 Economic Rate of Return Result Values 4.5.1 Results of the LDCs 4.5.2 Continent Comparison 4.6 Additional Economic and Financial Indicator Result Values 4.6.1 Benefit-Cost-Ratio and Net Benefit 4.6.2 Financial Net Present Value and Financial Rate of Return 4.7 Overall Project Performance 4.7.1 Definition 4.7.2 Overall Project Performance Ratings 4.7.3 Outcome Calculation for Non-Financial Indicator Projects 4.7.4 Verification of Outcomes and Conclusion 4.8 NPV-Cost-Ratios and SROI Calculation 4.8.1 NPV-Cost-Ratios of the ICR Reports 4.8.1.1 Overall Results 4.8.1.2 Continent Comparison 4.8.2 Standardized NPV-Cost-Ratios 4.8.2.1 Overall Results 4.8.2.2 Continent Comparison 4.8.3 Calculating the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.3.1 Overall Results of the Capital SROI Ratio 4.8.3.2 Continental Comparison of the Capital SROI Ratio 4.8.3.3 Overall Results of the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.3.4 Continental Comparison of the Minimum SROI Ratio 4.8.4 Making Meaning of the Results 4.9 Summary and Conclusion 5 Qualitative Data Analysis 5.1 Content Analysis 5.2 Sustainability 5.2.1 Sustainability Rating Definition 5.2.2 Sustainability Rating Categories 5.3 Bank Performance 5.3.1 Bank Performance Definition 5.3.2 Bank Performance Categories 5.4 Borrower Performance 5.4.1 Borrower Performance Definition 5.4.2 Borrower Performance Categories 6 Results of the Qualitative Data Analysis 6.1 Sustainability 6.1.1 Quantitative Assessment of Sustainability Ratings 6.1.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.1.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.1.2.2 Overall Results 6.1.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.1.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.1.3 Excursus: Positive NPV Projects 6.1.4 Summary and Conclusion 6.2 Bank Performance 6.2.1 Quantitative Assessment of Bank Performance Ratings 6.2.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.2.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.2.2.2 Overall Results 6.2.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.2.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.2.3 Summary and Conclusion 6.3 Borrower Performance 6.3.1 Quantitative Assessment of Borrower Performance Ratings 6.3.2 Outcome of the Content Analysis 6.3.2.1 Types of Reasons 6.3.2.2 Overall Results 6.3.2.3 Results in Haiti 6.3.2.4 Continent Comparison 6.3.3 Summary and Conclusion 7 Overall Summary and Conclusion 8 Critical Acclaim and Recommendations 9 Outlook and Future Research List of Appendices Appendix References