According to the Paris Declaration and the 2030 Agenda, ownership is a prerequisite for effective development cooperation. How can the principle of ownership be promoted in today’s complex development cooperation, in which the numbers of actors have increased? This is examined in this EBA report.
The report contains two country case studies – Liberia and Rwanda – as well as interviews with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and studies on documents concerning ownership in a Swedish development cooperation context.
The report was presented during the seminar Ownership in a New Era of Development Cooperation.
Findings
- The authors note that ownership remains relevant as a guiding principle in international development cooperation.
- The trend from country-to-country cooperation to various forms of support through UN bodies and specialised global funds has created new conditions and competing interests for ownership.
- An understanding of ownership and how it can be promoted in the complex reality of today needs to be thoroughly re-examined.
Recommendations
- Starting a discussion within the OECD-DAC on effective development cooperation that has global ownership right up to the end of the process.
- Establishing an international code of conduct in accordance with agreed ownership principles concerning development cooperation funding to and via UN bodies and global funds.
- Sweden should formulate an explicit policy and approach for how to promote ownership in development cooperation that includes numerous partners.
Report authors
Niels Keijzer, Researcher at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany
Stephan Klingebiel, Co-Chair of the DIE’s Programme on Trans- and International Cooperation
Charlotte Örnemark, Independent Consultant based in Washington D.C., USA
Fabian Scholtes, Desk Officer, Evaluation and Quality Management vid Misereor, the German Catholic Bishops’ Organisation for Development Cooperation.