Professor Tarp has four decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research and teaching. His field experience covers more than two decades of in-country work in 35 countries across Africa and the developing world more...
Since the late 1980s, governance has become a major concern for both donors and aid recipient countries. Good governance is seen as an important objective in and of itself, as well as a critical influence on economic development. The 2005 Paris Declaration’s commitment to national ownership of the aid agenda has further focused attention on the quality of domestic governance.
Fragile states—which have low state capacity and often high levels of poverty—are home to one-third of the world’s poor. In this animation we look at how foreign aid helps building stronger, more accountable states. The film is part of a series produced by UNU-WIDER on the project ‘ReCom–Research and Communication on Foreign Aid’. It can, for instance, be used when teaching students about what aid can achieve.
This is part of the 'ReCom – research and communication on foreign aid' project.
Team
Focal point: Finn Tarp, Rachel Gisselquist
Communications: Annett Victorero
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Journal Article
Transitional Justice, Gender Programming, and the UNSCR 1325Part of Journal Special Issue Aid for Gender Equality and Development
Journal Article
Innovative Delivery MechanismsPart of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development
Journal Article
Aid, social policy and developmentPart of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development
Journal Special Issue
Aid, Social Policy and DevelopmentThe UNU-WIDER Special Issue aims to address collectively the following questions: (1) What are the principles and facts that have underpinned the evolution of bilateral and multilateral social sector aid over the past 25 years? In particular, how pro...
Journal Article
The World Bank's Health Projects in Timor-LestePart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
Education from the Bottom UpPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
Impact Assessment of the Facilitadores Judiciales Programme in NicaraguaPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
Liberia's Gender-Sensitive Police ReformPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
‘Embedded’ AssistancePart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
Substantial but Uneven AchievementPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
The Yemen Social Fund for DevelopmentPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
The National Solidarity ProgrammePart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Article
Good Aid in Hard PlacesPart of Journal Special Issue Development Assistance for Peacebuilding
Journal Special Issue
Development Assistance for PeacebuildingDevelopment assistance to fragile states and conflict-affected areas can be a core component of peacebuilding, providing support for the restoration of government functions, delivery of basic services, the rule of law and economic revitalization...
Working Paper
‘Embedded’ AssistanceDonors face distinct challenges in operating in fragile states and supporting the building of state capacity. This paper explores one type of assistance – the ‘embedding’ of highly-skilled staff members within local government agencies – through a...
Journal Article
International Aid to Southern Europe in the Early Postwar PeriodPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile StatesPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Aid and Governance in Vulnerable StatesPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
U.S. Aid and Uneven Development in East AsiaPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Kosovo and Timor-LestePart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Consociational Settlements and ReconstructionPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Special Issue
Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile StatesWhy and how some states transition successfully from fragile to more robust—and some do not—are both topical and age-old questions. This volume of The ANNALS addresses these questions with particular attention to the role of foreign aid, offering new...
Journal Article
Foreign Aid, Resource Rents, and State Fragility in Mozambique and AngolaPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Intervention and State-BuildingPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
State Failure, State-Building, and Prospects for a “Functional Failed State” in SomaliaPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Journal Article
Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and LiberiaPart of Journal Special Issue Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile States
Working Paper
Local Agency, Development Assistance and the Legacies of Rebellion in Burundi and RwandaRwanda and Burundi have both emerged from civil wars over the past 20 years and foreign donors have provided significant contributions to post-conflict reconstruction and development in the two countries. Yet although Rwanda and Burundi share several...
Research Brief
Successes and Challenges of Public Financial Management in Sierra LeoneFragile and conflict-affected states, like Sierra Leone, can maintain a strong public financial management structure if they are able to find foreign support for administrative capacity and sufficient domestic political and executive support. PFM...
Journal Special Issue
Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing CountriesFor more than two decades, addressing constraints to better governance in developing countries has been a priority issue for the international donor community. Recent changes to aid modalities have further prioritized the need for improving...
Journal Article
Foreign Aid and DecentralizationPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
Designing Effective Civil Service Reform Lessons from Past ExperiencePart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
The Impact of Adult Civic Education Programmes in Developing DemocraciesPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
Styles of Policing and Economic Development in African StatesPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing CountriesPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Reform in Developing CountriesPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Journal Article
Tax and DevelopmentPart of Journal Special Issue Aiding Government Effectiveness in Developing Countries
Research Brief
The Impact of Civic Education Programmes on Political ParticipationCivic education programmes can have meaningful and relatively long-lasting effects in terms of increasing political information, feelings of empowerment, and mobilizing individuals to engage in political participation. Civic education programmes are...
Journal Article
Developing and Evaluating Governance IndexesRecent years have seen a proliferation of composite indicators or indexes of governance and their use in research and policy-making. This article proposes a framework of 10 questions to guide both the development and evaluation of such indexes. In...
Research Brief
Lessons from the National Solidarity Programme in AfghanistanThe National Solidarity Programme (NSP) serves as a success story that has improved many Afghan lives and laid the groundwork for potential longer-term development. The NSP had a positive effect on access to drinking water and electricity, acceptance...
Research Brief
Aid Failures in HaitiAid to Haiti has not been effective due to failure of the country’s political and economic elites to participate and assist in the development process. US foreign policy has in some cases reinforced the tendency for elites to personally profit from...
Journal Article
Paired Comparison and Theory DevelopmentDespite the widespread use of paired comparisons, we lack clear guidance about how to use this research strategy in practice, particularly in case selection. The literature tends to assume that cases are systematically selected from a known...
Working Paper
Success When Stars AlignSince the end of the civil war, the Government of Sierra Leone has made substantial progress in strengthening public financial management. Improvements have been achieved across all aspects of the budget cycle and are particularly notable with regard...
Position Paper
Aid, Governance and FragilityThis position paper on Aid, Governance, and Fragility was prepared by UNUWIDER under the ReCom programme of Research (Re) and Communication (Com) on foreign aid. It aims to provide an up-to-date overview and guide to two topics of central importance...
Working Paper
Aid and Policy Preference in Oil-Rich CountriesThis paper analyses the role of foreign aid to assist development in two oil-rich countries: Indonesia and Nigeria. This paper seeks to understand the way foreign aid provided assistance to transform Indonesia from a ‘fragile’ state in the 1960s into...
Working Paper
Foreign Aid Effectiveness in African EconomiesThe aid-growth literature has been explored using a wide range of econometric methodologies. The evidence of the effectiveness of aid to promote economic growth is mixed, suggesting that the link between aid and growth is complex and may not be well...
Working Paper
Transition Regimes and Security Sector Reforms in Sierra Leone and LiberiaWhy are some countries more successful at carrying out post-conflict reconstruction programmes than others? Why has Sierra Leone been more successful in the reform of its armed forces than Liberia has after the end of the Mano River Basin wars? This...
Working Paper
Aid and Institution-Building in Fragile StatesInstitution-building in Somalia has met with high levels of failure for two decades. But successes have occurred in other Somali-inhabited regions of the eastern Horn, and have been especially present at the local and municipal level. The most...
Blog
Goodbye and hello ReCom!The research programme ReCom – Research and communication on foreign aid – is ending this year. There is a large and unique collection of research...
Blog
Seven reasons why research doesn’t become policyOver the last decade there has been increasing demand to make research more useful and applicable for policy-making. And that is also very true within...
Working Paper
Education from the Bottom UpThe failure of the Somali state from 1993 to 2012 represents one of the world’s most profound and prolonged cases of state collapse. Initially, education and other government services came to a standstill. With the halt of fighting in some areas...
Working Paper
State-Building Through NeotrusteeshipWhy do some states, with foreign assistance, transition from ‘fragile’ to ‘robust?’ Scholars in state-building have argued that neotrusteeship is an effective strategy by which external organizations might build post-conflict states. This working...
Working Paper
Aid and Governance in Vulnerable StatesBangladesh and Pakistan had very divergent experiences with aid after 1971. Politics in Pakistan was less inclusive in terms of opportunities for intermediate class political entrepreneurs. In this context, the significant role of military aid to...
Working Paper
Aid and State Transition in Ghana and South KoreaThis paper examines the questions of why and how foreign assistance was utilized successfully in South Korea but less so in Ghana, with a focus on the role of aid in the process of state building and state transition in these two countries. Before...
Blog
Fragility is also an opportunityOne of the more difficult issues aid organizations are facing is how to plan and conduct interventions in fragile situations where armed conflict is...
Research Brief
Policing Reforms in African States – Exploring the Link to Economic DevelopmentA secure environment is an important component of successful economic development initiatives. Policing reforms in African states have been disappointing; the image of state policy and police–community relations remain poor. States that have enacted...
Research Brief
Lessons from US Interventions to Japan, Afghanistan and IraqJapan’s post-war liberalizing reforms were a success. This was partly due to the fact that US occupation preserved the strength of national institutions and made effective use of their capacity. Improvement in the scope of the state and the strength...
Blog
Getting into a State?30 October 2013 Roger Williamson The UNU-WIDER meeting held last week in New York on the topic of fragility and aid argued forcefully that you cannot...
Context
Main subject
This project is part of ReCom - research and communication on foreign aid
Theme: Past, 2010-11