Send Print Share

Archive / Other publications

Corporate responsibility in post-war reconstruction contexts

15/06/2009 By Javier Mier Sainz

Danka/Flickr

When a business is hired by official aid agencies, should it limit itself to handing over goods and lending its services in exchange for an agreed price? Or should it collaborate more widely with the general aims of aid? In Bosnia and Herzegovina and other post-war reconstruction contexts, where donors’ conferences have mobilised significant amounts of aid towards rebuilding physical infrastructures, should contractor companies not be recognised as agents of development, with the huge potential that this entails?

A FRIDE study, supported by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID, by its acronym in Spanish), has analysed these questions in the context of the post-war reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out between 1995-2005, in relation to two cases in particular: the rebuilding of the Mostar Bridge, with the support of the World Bank and UNESCO, and the rebuilding of electrical infrastructures, with the support of Spanish cooperation.

The results of this study suggest that businesses contracted by an aid agency are sometimes granted additional responsibility beyond their terms of reference. Therefore, their actions in terms of management, human resources, subcontracting and public relations have a positive or negative effect on rebuilding the country in question in socioeconomic terms and, ultimately, on peace building.

Download the full version of this publication, available in Spanish (80 kB)

To read or listen to the comments of our experts in the media about this and other topics, please visit our Press section.

Keywords

Bosnia-Herzegovina Development aid Development cooperation rscd Spanish Aid

Related publications

• Bosnia and Herzegovina's integration challenge
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: the international mission at a turning point
• Business strategies and developing countries
• Cross-sector peacebuilding capacities
• CSR, cooperation and the internationalisation of Spanish business
• Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Leaving Dayton behind: constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• The business sector in post-conflict reconstruction

Bio author: Javier Mier Sainz

Javier Mier Sainz holds a BA degree in Law from the Complutense University in Madrid and a diploma in Administration from FTC Kaplan Business School in the UK. His professional career has involved over 14 years of experience in international organisations such as the EU or the UN, working in the fields of international conflict resolution and the promotion of human rights.