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International division of labour: towards a criteria-led process?
30/11/2009 By Sven Grimm, Nils-Sjard Schulz
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Based on the mandate of the Accra Agenda for Action, international division of labour has been elevated to a global issue to be discussed and agreed upon by both donor and partner countries. However, this process encounters several obstacles. Most donors decide unilaterally on a concentration of their aid on less developing countries. Partner country governments are in general reluctant in engaging in this debate, fearing the loss of funding as the result of donors’ exit. With a view to the pending dialogue between donors and partner countries, this discussion paper explores criteria for international division of labour.
Both perspectives of the development partnership are analyzed. In sum, donors tend to concentrate their aid portfolio on the basis of formal criteria (such as need and aid effectiveness), leaving though a considerable room for political considerations. On the other side, criteria emerging from partner countries pay more attention to quality than to quantity of aid, looking into donors’ commitment and capacities to advance with the aid effectiveness agenda and softer criteria such as political dialogue capacities, trust and risk-taking.
Drafted by Sven Grimm and Nils-Sjard Schulz in collaboration with Ondoej Horky, the discussion paper concludes that partner countries need to engage in peer learning on division of labour and donors should communicate and coordinate their concentration processes. Furthermore, synergies between division of labour and international mutual accountability should be fostered in a donor-partner dialogue which also needs to take into consideration a good balance between the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and the UN Development Cooperation Forum (DCF).
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Keywords
Aid effectiveness Development Division of labour European UnionRelated publications
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Bio author: Sven Grimm
Sven Grimm is research fellow at the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) since April 2005. He has studied in Hamburg, Accra and Dakar and has worked on the European Union's relations to developing countries since 1999
Bio author: Nils-Sjard Schulz
Global governance of aid. Aid policy and effectiveness. Donor harmonisation. International division of labour. South-South cooperation.
