Mokoro : Aid Effectiveness
Aid is being wasted because of problems in its relevance, coherence, effectiveness and efficiency. This limits the impact and sustainability of aid. In a world where more than 1.4 billion people are living in extreme poverty, where every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation and where every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday (ref: World Bank and UN Millennium Project), ensuring that aid money is spent effectively is a critical concern.
Aid is only one approach to tackle the world’s poverty problems (and needs to be complemented by appropriate military, security, trade and finance policies) and aid is not a replacement for countries’ own economic development. But experience has shown that effective aid has a role to play in supporting sustainable social and economic development and assisting poor and vulnerable people to enjoy improved well-being and opportunities.
The problems of aid ineffectiveness are well-known; the solutions are harder and implementing them harder still. The fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan in 2011 agreed a series of commitments. It remains to be seen how these commitments will translate into concrete actions that reform donors’ and partner governments’ structures, practices and incentives in order to deliver effective aid..
Mokoro experience
Mokoro’s consultants are established experts in aid effectiveness. We apply an evidence-based approach developed through years of experience working with partner governments, donors and NGOs in a wide range of developing countries, with donor headquarters and with partner government and donor networks (e.g. the OECD DAC working party on aid effectiveness).
Our approach to aid management has always emphasised the basic responsibility of the recipient government for aid coordination and the need to see aid as one aspect of overall resource management. Our recent work has focused on the interlocking commitments by donors and partner countries to move energetically towards improved aid predictability and the greater use of country systems in the delivery of aid.
Mokoro has worked on aid effectiveness at the policy level (e.g. revision of EC sector-wide approach guidance, DAC good practice on sector programming) and at the country level (e.g. Lesotho aid effectiveness study). We have particular expertise in undertaking large evaluations of aid effectiveness (e.g. evaluations of Danida country programmes to Mozambique and Uganda; reviews of Irish Aid development assistance modalities in Ethiopia, Uganda, Palestine and Lesotho; the OECD DAC multi-country Joint Evaluation of General Budget Support). Mokoro has provided support to preparations for the Busan, Paris and Rome High Level Forums. We have worked with a wide array of clients in this area, including: AfDB, Danida, DFID, the EC, Irish Aid, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway, Sida, and the World Bank.
Lead consultant:
Experts:
Martin Adams
Rebecca Carter
Catherine Dom
Anthea Gordon
Alta Fölscher
Elizabeth Hodson
Ray Purcell
Stephen Turner