Funding conditions for aid effectiveness: A mixed blessing for the sustainable development of host-country-national employees

Author(s):  
Sharon L. O'Sullivan
Author(s):  
Constantine Michalopoulos

Ending poverty is a noble goal, relevant today as much as it was two decades ago when four women rose to prominent positions in their government and decided to make it their central objective. As the world strives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we may find inspiration in the work of Eveline Herfkens from the Netherlands, Hilde F. Johnson from Norway, Clare Short from the United Kingdom, and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul from Germany who became ministers in charge of their governments’ international development policies in 1997–8. They believed that the best way to end global poverty was to join forces in changing the policies of the international institutions where decisions affecting the poor all over the world are made and to reform donor countries development programmes. They came to be known as the Utstein Four, after the Norwegian Utstein Abbey where they formalized their collaboration in 1999. They called their collaboration ‘a conspiracy of implementation’ to contrast their action-oriented approach with the lofty pronouncements leaders agree to in big global conferences only to forget them when they return home. This volume discusses Utstein’s many contributions ranging from helping relieve the poorest countries of their debt, using debt relief to actually lift individuals out of poverty, achieving primary education for all, especially girls, and putting developing country partners in charge of setting priorities and implementing programmes of assistance. It is a story of women’s empowerment which lasted for only about half a dozen years as the original Utstein Four moved on to other positions. But their influence continues to be felt because their approach to improve aid effectiveness was codified in international agreements and practices of global institutions. The last part of the book discusses the legacy of the Utstein group and the lessons that their experience offers to the continuing challenges of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osondu Ogbuoji ◽  
Gavin Yamey

Over just a six-year period from 2005-2011, five aid effectiveness initiatives were launched: the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005), the International Health Partnership plus (2007), the Accra Agenda for Action (2008), the Busan Partnership for Effective Cooperation (2011), and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) (2011). More recently, in 2015, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) was signed at the third international conference on financing for development and the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) 2030 Global Compact was signed in 2017. Both documents espouse principles of aid effectiveness and would most likely guide financing decisions in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era. This is therefore a good moment to assess whether the aid effectiveness agenda made a difference in development and its relevance in the SDG era.


2015 ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bobylev ◽  
N. Zubarevich ◽  
S. Solovyeva

The article emphasizes the fact that traditional socio-economic indicators do not reflect the challenges of sustainable development adequately, and this is particularly true for the widely-used GDP indicator. In this connection the elaboration of sustainable development indicators is needed, taking into account economic, social and environmental factors. For Russia, adaptation and use of concepts and basic principles of calculation methods for adjusted net savings index (World Bank) and human development index (UNDP) as integral indicators can be promising. The authors have developed the sustainable development index for Russia, which aggregates and allows taking into account balanced economic, social and environmental indicators.


Author(s):  
Aliya Kassymbek ◽  
Lazzat Zhazylbek ◽  
Zhanel Sailibayeva ◽  
Kairatbek Shadiyev ◽  
Yermek Buribayev

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
S. Karly Kehoe ◽  
Chris Dalglish

Evidence of how history and culture have been or should be harnessed to promote sustainability in remote and rural communities is mounting. To be sustainable, development must come from within, it must serve future generations as well as those in the present and it must attend to the vitality of culture, society, the economy and the environment. Historical research has an important contribution to make to sustainability, especially if undertaken collaboratively, by challenging and transcending the boundaries between disciplines and between the professional researchers, communities and organisations which serve and work with them. The Sustainable Development Goals’ motto is ‘leaving no one behind’, and for the 17 Goals to be met, there must be a dramatic reshaping of the ways in which we interact with each other and with the environment. Enquiry into the past is a crucial part of enabling communities, in all their shapes and sizes, to develop in sustainable ways. This article considers the rural world and posits that historical enquiry has the potential to deliver insights into the world in which we live in ways that allow us to overcome the negative legacies of the past and to inform the planning of more positive and progressive futures. It draws upon the work undertaken with the Landscapes and Lifescapes project, a large partnership exploring the historic links between the Scottish Highlands and the Caribbean, to demonstrate how better understandings of the character and consequences of previous development might inform future development in ways that seek to tackle injustices and change unsustainable ways of living. What we show is how taking charge of and reinterpreting the past is intrinsic to allowing the truth (or truths) of the present situation to be brought to the surface and understood, and of providing a more solid platform for overcoming persistent injustices.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document