The success of building self-reliant states is directly tied to the effective management of complex development partnerships. ISE’s work on development and foreign aid focuses on how those partnerships can be maximized, taking into account lessons from past cases. ISE’s work draws on the experiences of practitioners in the field as well as policy experts to redefine development partnerships that build capacity, leverage existing assets, foster context-specific policies, and support country-led strategies. Additionally, our Development Practice Note series presents new and innovative practitioner-focused ideas across a variety of fields in development.
Over the past twenty years, the international community has agreed again and again that traditional aid effectiveness practices – which often drain local capacity, fragment projects, and spurn national strategies – are not working, but have made little progress at improvements. ISE’s Re-examining the Terms of Aid (RTOA) project is reviewing components to develop an operating model to more effectively implement these commitments. ISE is taking stock of its own experience and research, conducting interviews in Rwanda, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Somalia, along with engaging host governments, donor agencies, civil society, and the security sector to examine best practices, analyze incentive structures, and bridge the gap between country-level implementation and international frameworks. Read the full report here.
Consensus is emerging on the centrality of state-building to development. At an operational level, however, the differing mandates and priorities of different donors are resulting in fragmented approaches – increasing the strain on already fragile…
Stagnating agriculture and a declining textiles sector characterized the Gujarati economy on its 1960 creation. Poor quality infrastructure compounded the challenge. We look at the five major market-building strategies it adopted to combine investment focus…
How has Rwanda generated uniquely Rwandan solutions through leveraging its assets to national regeneration? What were the key elements of the Rwandan government’s reform program, and how did it balance robust economic growth with reconciling…
This paper reviews the progress of the African Union (AU) in promoting governance, democracy and economic growth across Africa. It welcomes the formation of the AU affiliate, New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). This paper…
Current approaches in the Guinea-Bissau reached an impasse as the government struggled to balance competing urgent needs, the population’s desire for tangible change, and longer term institutional reform. This paper suggests a new approach whose…