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Rachel M. Gisselquist is Professor in Governance and Development, and Director of the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC), at the University of Birmingham (UoB), UK.Prior to joining UoB in September 2024, she was a Senior...
Foreign aid is a complex and multi-faceted issue, involving many countries, institutions, and people—researchers, aid officials, policy makers, NGOs and civil society. To better understand and improve its effectiveness requires a multi-disciplinary approach—bringing together the best from social science, in particular economics and political science, as well as other relevant disciplines. Better understanding can only come from mobilizing a global network of development researchers and practitioners to share their knowledge of what works or could work. No single actor can grasp all of the dimensions of aid, not least in the ways that aid now interacts with global public goods—for example, within the climate change and peace and security spheres. It is the power of the network that gives ReCom its credibility as a source of knowledge on aid.
The new knowledge generated by research must be shared if it is to be of use. This can only be done by effective communication with national policy makers, aid officials, parliamentarians, and other practitioners in NGOs and social movements. Communication is as important to ReCom’s success as research.
A knowledge-sharing process therefore exchanges information and views. Knowledge creation and sharing interact—discussion of the research results bring about new questions for further investigation. Discussion also captures the insights of policy makers and practitioners, which then feed back into further rounds of knowledge creation and sharing. That is the core of ReCom.
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Blog
Afghanistan 2021: A quickly made long tragedy
The tragedy for the Afghan people of the Taliban re-taking control of the country in August 2021 is the denouement of a process 20 years in the making...
Journal Article
Improving Financial Inclusion through the Delivery of Cash Transfer ProgrammesThis paper follows a quasi-experimental research design to assess the impact of the electronic payment system of Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera (POP) programme. The switch from cash payments to electronic payments delivered via savings...
Policy Brief
Aid effectivenessThe questions of whether aid has impact and is effective have been the subject of considerable attention. This thematic issue brings together nine studies that speak to the diverse ways in which aid affects development outcomes including, but not...
Journal Article
What Does the Evidence Tell Us about ‘Thinking and Working Politically’ in Development Assistance?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Do Countries Use Foreign Aid to Buy Geopolitical Influence?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen?Part of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Aid Targeting to Fragile and Conflict-Affected States and Implications for Aid EffectivenessPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Foreign Aid and Climate Change PolicyPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
The Impact of Foreign Aid on Maternal MortalityPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Effects of Foreign Aid on Income through International TradePart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
A Meta-Analysis of Aid EffectivenessPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Journal Article
Aid Impact and EffectivenessPart of Journal Special Issue Aid Impact and Effectiveness
Blog
The vital role of aid in developmentThe UNU-WIDER research programme on foreign aid (ReCom) began in 2010, in a period of strong aid scepticism. Dambisa Moyo’s well-known book, Dead Aid...
Working Paper
Institutional bypass and aid effectiveness in AfricaMany practical and action-oriented international roadmaps to improve the quality of aid and its delivery and impact on development—including the Paris Declaration, Accra Agenda for Action, and Busan Partnership—emphasize a more active involvement of...
Working Paper
Foreign aid and climate change policyClimate-related foreign aid is on the rise, with signatories to the Paris Climate agreement pledging US$100 billion annually to promote mitigation and adaptation in recipient countries. While this seems like a welcome development, we have little...
Working Paper
What does the evidence tell us about ‘thinking and working politically’ in development assistance?This paper critically reviews evidence on ‘thinking and working politically’ in development. Scholars and practitioners have increasingly recognised that development is fundamentally political, and efforts are underway to develop more politically...
Working Paper
The impact of foreign aid on maternal mortalityIn 2010, the G8 placed renewed focus on maternal health via the Muskoka Initiative by committing to spend an additional US$5 billion on maternal, newborn, and child health before 2015. Following the end of the Millennium Development Goals and the...
Working Paper
Aid targeting to fragile and conflict-affected states and implications for aid effectivenessWhile significant amounts of foreign aid have been allocated to the group of so-called fragile and conflict-affected states in recent years, it is not clear whether that aid is targeted to where it is most needed. This paper extends recent work by...
Working Paper
Too many cooks in the kitchen?The total funding envelope for World Bank projects is often divided among various state and non-state actors, each of which can have competing ideas about or interests in the project. How does the division of financing relate to overall project...
Working Paper
Effects of foreign aid on income through international tradeThis paper presents a review of recent studies that estimate the trade effects of foreign aid. It also provides new results obtained using panel data techniques to estimate the direct effects of aid on international trade, accounting for countries’...
Working Paper
Do countries use foreign aid to buy geopolitical influence?In recent years, donor countries have increasingly used different aid allocation channels to boost aid effectiveness. One delivery channel that has grown tremendously is ‘multi-bi aid’—contributions to multilateral organizations earmarked for...
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Theme: Past, 2010-11