Co-authors Stephan Klingebiel and Mario Negre, both of the German Development Institute (DIE), a renowned think tank that advises governments throughout the world on development policy, first described common challenges of fragmentation, including that developing countries often suffer from too little aid from too many donors on small projects, which contributes to added transaction costs and other problems.
For development to be effective, they said, certain donors should assume a leadership role to guide donors through separate priorities within a broader, more coherent development strategy. In other cases they should pool resources to harmonize with government aid objectives, a method that will lead to more transparency and less corruption.
There is no single best approach to curing fragmentation, the authors said, but rather a need for donors and policymakers who are willing to ask the right questions and apply best practices, which they describe in detail throughout their book.
Klingebiel, who leads Development Cooperation at DIE, and Negre, a senior researcher at DIE as well as a senior economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, took questions from the audience following the discussion moderated by McCourt Assistant Teaching Professor Andreas Kern.
To view or purchase “The Fragmentation of Aid: Concepts, Measurements and Implications for Development Cooperation,” please visit the Palgrave MacMillan website.