Comments on: Fickle donors and unpredictable aid http://www.owen.org/blog/34 Thoughts from Owen in Africa Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:09:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: AJ http://www.owen.org/blog/34#comment-62 AJ Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:19:39 +0000 http://www.owen.org/blog/34#comment-62 Unpredictability of flows is definitely a major problem, Owen. But I think you put too much emphasis on donor behaviour. Bad behaviour on the part of governments (not meeting promised conditions, fudging data or worse to "demonstrate" having met conditions) is also a serious problem. In fact the entire model of conditionality as currently practiced makes it very difficult for flows to be stable. The fundamental problem is that we predicate direct budgetary aid on the idea of 'government ownership' which assumes unified poverty-reducing motives on the part of disparate institutions that is often not reflected in the practice. That in my mind is what often drives unpredictability of flows. Unpredictability of flows is definitely a major problem, Owen. But I think you put too much emphasis on donor behaviour. Bad behaviour on the part of governments (not meeting promised conditions, fudging data or worse to “demonstrate” having met conditions) is also a serious problem. In fact the entire model of conditionality as currently practiced makes it very difficult for flows to be stable.

The fundamental problem is that we predicate direct budgetary aid on the idea of ‘government ownership’ which assumes unified poverty-reducing motives on the part of disparate institutions that is often not reflected in the practice. That in my mind is what often drives unpredictability of flows.

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