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.
Some limited forms of debt forgiveness and assistance have been given to families, including through moratoriums on interest payments and arrangements for no or low-consequence on default. It has also been argued that government can…
The modern medium-term and policy-based budgeting system was invented in the 1970s in Australia. It started with the use of internal medium-term fiscal forecasts of revenues and costs of existing policies. Political events then allowed…
A general view appears to be that development and fiduciary risks are “two sides of the same coin and cannot be usefully be separated”. This Development Practice Note argues that they are different, and that…
Donor-induced fragmentation of public financial management systems reduces reputation risk, but it unambiguously increases development risk – the longer-term risk of not achieving development objectives. This Development Practice Note proposes a four-part solution for dealing…
Why do some ministries of finance around the world consistently deliver good results, while others cannot make much progress? This Development Practice Note looks at the three most common answers to that question, and explains…