Features and
Performance of
Local Aid
Systems
Oliver S. Saasa
Professor of International Economic Relations
Premier Consult
26 July 2016
International Aid Systems-Saasa
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Main Challenges in local
Aid Systems

In the Recipient
Government Camp
 Generally
unsupportive policy
environment
 Institutional and structural
challenges
 Human resource challenges
 The Aid Relationship: Local
Ownership challenges
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
In the Donor Camp
Disjointed/uncoordinated effort
(disharmony)
 Unpredictability of aid flows
(volume & timing)
 Setting up of parallel structures
 Diversity of aid disbursement
mechanisms
 Diversity in, and unrealism of
monitoring and reporting systems
 Predetermined Technical
Assistance component

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Recipient
Government
Camp
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Generally unsupportive policy
environment
The fight against poverty should be at
the centre of development cooperation

Aid policies should, therefore, revolve
around countries’ determination to
reduce poverty and vulnerability.
 Interventions should be guided by the
comprehensive framework for propoor growth and poverty reduction in
the context of PRSP & MDGs

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
All external resources should be
integrated into the Government
budget




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align timing of donor pledges to the budget and
planning cycles
ensure that all aid is included in the country’s
financing framework (MTEF)
Donors are expected to provide
relevant and timely information on
commitments and disbursements
in order to ensure the
predictability of aid flows
Need for multi-year financial
commitments
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
Institutional and structural challenges

Capacity building as an integral part of
external Assistance
 Setting
up of an aid management
structure that harmonises the inputs
from donors and among the various
players within the recipient government
system
 Support the training of the requisite
personnel

Agreement on support towards the
development and operationalisation of
Poverty Monitoring and Analysis
 focusing
on the surveillance of
outcomes and impact
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 Strengthen
policy-relevant
management information
systems
 to
secure data integrity in
planning, budgeting and
financial reporting

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Strengthen information and data
generation capacity so that
accurate, reliable, timely, and
user-friendly data is readily
available.
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
The Aid Relationship: Local
Ownership challenges
 weak
involvement of
governments during donors’
preparation of their
respective country support
programmes
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Local ownership matters

Avoid the
inclination towards
project-by-project
approach in order
to fly the flag
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Good Financial
Governance


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Governments to support an effective
and well-supported auditing function to
ensure efficient & accountable
resource use
Donors’ procurements to be aligned to
the principles and procedures outlined
in recipient government procurement
systems
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Dialogue and
Coordination Framework

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Recipient governments
should be allowed to
facilitate effective multi-level
dialogue architecture under
their leadership
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Main Messages from this…



Dialogue presupposes equal
partners
There must be commonality
of purpose (Common
Agenda)
There must be commonality
of Voice when dealing with
third parties
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There is need to agree on
the process of dialogue…

Need to revisit the existing systems and
mechanisms of dialogue
 For donors, their involvement in the operations of
recipient governments should exclude direct
interventions in policy making but confined only
to financial resource injection; policy dialogue;
technical assistance/human resource
development; capacity strengthening in
monitoring and evaluation; and sharing
innovative experiences in implementation
modalities learnt elsewhere.
 Eliminate micro-managing
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Listen carefully to what seems to
annoy the government

Possible areas:
TAs
Dialogue attitude
Too many conditionalities
Jumping the gun: offering
solutions prematurely
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But remember: Simplicity does it
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Donor
Camp
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
Disjointed/uncoordinated effort
(disharmony)

Harmony required among donors but:
 HQ
rules and procedures are still restrictive
 Aid management structures are still very
much still in project-by-project mode
 Some major aid players are outside the
harmonisation mode
 Diversity of aid disbursement mechanisms
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
Diversity in, and unrealism
of monitoring and reporting
systems
 Project
and financial reporting and
monitoring systems are generally
not country owned and led with
respect to procedures, processes,
timing, and content of what is
reported and monitored
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donors
should assume
less leadership
responsibility regarding the
procedures, processes,
timing, and content of what
is reported and monitored.
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The
multiplicity of donor
financial and reporting and
accounting systems confusing
recipient governments’
accounting system, thus,
threatening the potential for
smooth MTEF functioning
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Donors should not attempt to monitor the system
beyond your capacity and competency


Avoid setting up highly
complex implementation
and monitoring/reporting
systems (simplicity does it)
Remember that there is
more value added in
monitoring impact than
financial systems of
accounting
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
Predetermined Technical
Assistance component

The Harmonisation Agenda should
more carefully redefine the TA
purpose and improve the design,
context, selection and mode of
provision so as to maximize the
benefit from it
TA should be used to complement,
rather than displace, local capacities

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 TA
should be integrated into
the national framework of
management & experts ought
to be accountable to local
institutions and integrated into
recipient country’s planning,
budgeting, and human
resource development
systems
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
Recipient governments should
work towards ensuring that TAs
are answerable to national
systems and integrated into
their planning and budgeting
system.
 deployed
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on-budget
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26 July 2016
Thank
you
International Aid Systems-Saasa
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