Aid dependence...

is a type of {risk factor, poverty, issue, long-term negative effect}

can be triggered by {environmental crisis, food insecurity, displacement...}

can cause {conflict, volatile aid, erratic spending...}

affects {people, world regions...}

is avoided/reduced by {training, work, collaboration, supply, programmes...}

is measured through {ratios...}

General documents and Activity reports are the text types mostly focusing on the causes of aid dependence, especially coming from Europe and both IGOs and NGOs.

Displacement is one of the causes most often mentioned (and also most recently), in General documents and Activity reports, from Europe, North America and Asia.

Aid distribution (mentioned by NGOs and Net in European General documents and North American and Asian Activitiy reports) is also regarded as a cause in itself, since it creates an aid dependence culture. The few Strategy documents dealing with aid dependence include taxation an military related issues.

Only General European texts seem to be concerned about the effects of aid dependence, mostly coming from IGOs (only IGO_Other), although NGOs (only NGO_Nat) and RE are also represented.

Effects of aid dependence are only mentioned once in Activity reports and Strategy texts. Most effects are related to political accountability and the opposing interests of donors and citizens as well as to the risk of influencing conflict dynamics. A vicious cycle is also observed regarding aid distribution and the weakness of local structures, regarded as both the cause and effect of aid dependence.

Synonymic controversy:

Fragility is not equivalent to high levels of aid dependence.

Again, these debates are of particular relevance in fragile contexts because fragility is often synonymous with low capacity and high aid dependency.

Contexts

For millions of persons displaced within their own countries, not being left behind means the ability to return to their homes, to be better integrated into their host communities or to be settled elsewhere if needed. It means the difference between a continued life of aid dependency and the chance of a better life in dignity and self-reliance.

It can mean the difference between life and death, or between selfsufficiency and dependence on aid.

In the long term, ACTED intends to build the capacity of counterparts and stakeholders, and the economic viability of communities to transition from aid dependence to selfsustainability.

• The vicious cycle of aid dependence

• Aid volatility

• Corruption

• Diversion or misuse of budget resources

• Critical public debate on development cooperation

• Impact of 2008 economic crisis

• Distorsion of political accountability

  1. The role of donors regarding decision-making

  2. Strategic interests vs. humanitarian principles

  3. The role of partner governments' accountability to their citizens

  4. Donor-recipient asymmetry of power

• Impact of climate change in poor countries

• Small country bias

• Inefficient aid delivery

• Costly ineffective unsustainable aid with unfavourable side effects

  1. Penalisation of productive sector

  2. Weakening of the fiscal contract

  3. Large inflows of aid weaken incentives for governments to mobilize domestic taxes

• State withdrawal in health issues

• Free distribution and aid dependence culture

• Lack of planning in the long term

• Overemphasis on cash resources

• Does development cooperation have an impact?

• Has aid been useful?

• Regarding LIFS:

  1. Is aid put to strategic use?

  2. Can it lead to structural change as much as in low-income contexts?

  3. How can it best support transitions out of fragility?

• About a cap on aid:

  1. How should aid and taxes be defined for the purposes of calculating this percentage?

  2. Who would monitor and validate the data?

  3. Who would determine whether taxes were non-coercive?

  4. And can donors collectively agree on a cap on aid?

• Will poverty increasingly become a matter of within-country inequality?

• Provide collective self-discipline

• Fresh look at how ODA is defined

• General budget support

• Predictability of disbursements

• Joint evaluation of budget support

• More action against corruption

  1. Minimise the risks of corruption associated with development assistance

  2. Scrutiny over the use of public funds

  3. Better communication of anti-corruption measures

  4. Close monitoring of corruption trends and impact of anti-corruption measures

  5. Improved management of risk in the use of donor funds withough undermining aid effectiveness

• More effective aid delivery

  1. Give greater effect to "ownership" by recipient countries

  2. Align external aid to local priorities and systems

• Cap aid at 50 percent of the amount of tax revenue that the aid-receiving government raises from its own citizens

• More sustainable approaches

  1. Shaping the 21st Century

  2. Comprehensive Development Framework

• Develop IDPs' coping mechanisms

• Pay adequate attention to long-run institutional factors – particularly the capacity, political base, and fiscal attitudes of government and citizens alike

• Donor support on tax matters as a high-return investment

• Document instances of aid catalysing non-aid flows and behaviours

• Proposals by Monique Pariat, Director-General, European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO)

  1. A reform is needed on the use of the right language and narrative

  2. Develop innovative approaches to aid dependence

  3. Additional support to local communities and countries

  4. Create suitable conditions for self-reliance and self-generating activities

  5. Cash-based assistance help self-sufficiency and the empowerment of individuals

  6. Humanitarian-development genuine global partnership