Brazil's International Development Co‐operation: Old and New Motivations

Brazil has entered the world of development assistance, but with its own twist. This article argues that Brazil is taking a cross‐government policy approach to the provision of development assistance, and which includes recruitment of business interests. There is a genuine concern with global poverty alleviation in Brazil, but this does not preclude policy‐makers from using aid and development‐related activities to advance national interests. The added quirk that sets Brazil apart from Northern counterparts is that the provision of development assistance offers significant benefits in terms of building up international bureaucratic experience inside the country and helping national firms internationalise their market activities.     

Financing for Development: The Gap between Words and Deeds since Monterrey

The Monterrey Consensus agreed at the UN summit on Financing for Development in 2002 promised a breakthrough in terms of donor generosity, aid effectiveness and new means of financing. However, the development orientation of world leaders proved to be short‐lived. This is even though our evaluation reveals progress since Monterrey in some areas, notably debt relief and private (FDI) flows. Calls for substantially scaling‐up regular aid had less effect than envisaged, and financial innovations have contributed only marginally to overall development financing so far. Nor is there much progress from the perspective of critics focusing on the quality of aid. In particular, the targeting of aid according to need and merit leaves much to be desired. The gap between words and deeds continues to be wide with regard to aid proliferation and donor co‐ordination as well.     

Comparing Public Attitudes towards Aid to Developing Countries between ‘Traditional’ and ‘Emerging’ Donors: The Case of Japan and Korea

This article explores public attitudes towards aid to developing countries in ‘traditional’ donors and ‘emerging’ donors, taking Japan as an example of the former and Korea as one of the latter. Analyses of comparative social survey data show differences and similarities between the attitudes harboured by the respondents in the two countries. Although previous cross‐national studies included only traditional donors in their analyses, the results of this study reveal the need to focus on the attitude towards aid in emerging donors, especially given their increasing presence in the international aid community.     

Privatisation in Developing Countries: Performance and Ownership Effects

Over the last twenty years, privatisation, defined as the transfer of public assets (firms) from the government to private investors, has been on the reform agenda of more than 120 developing countries. The switch of ownership induces major changes in the corporate governance of firms, and in their incentives to restructure and improve efficiency and performance. This article evaluates this experience, focusing on its impact on corporate performance and governance, identifying several issues yet to be resolved.     

Responses to global challenges: trends in aid‐financed global public goods

Based on four decades (1973–2013) of OECD‐Development Assistance Committee aid to developing countries, this article aims to show aid‐financed global public goods trends, their changing composition and their main drivers. In particular, a constant increase in the share of aid‐financed global public goods and a shift towards weighted‐sum and weakest‐link global goods are observed. Economic conditions, imitation effects, global engagement and domestic spending result as the main drivers of donors’ demand for aid‐financed global public goods. Besides, a certain complementarity in the provision of global goods plays a role, especially in European countries and Japan, partially easing the prognosis for the collective action problems related to global goods     

Domestic institutions and foreign assistance in Haiti: Requisites for economic development

Considering institutional and geographic explanations for economic development, the institutional thesis is relevant to explain the historically weak governance structure, even as there have been robust foreign assistance efforts for development in recent years. Taken together, the weak role of the state and low levels of human development are evidence of the challenges. Reviewing the post‐colonial legacy of Haiti, and its impact on economic development, this article discusses the lack of an integral state resulting in weak institutions. Especially since the earthquake in early 2010, the international development community has been an essential partner for reform initiatives, which will require accountable and inclusive domestic institutions to be effective.     

Stroke in Developing Countries: Epidemiology,Impact and Policy Implications

The burden of stroke and other non‐communicable diseases has risen sharply in developing countries in recent years. This article provides a detailed review of this trend and its underlying causes, and discusses the social and economic effects of stroke and the scope for interventions to reduce incidence and mitigate impacts. It demonstrates that policy‐makers have been slow to recognise the growing scale of the challenge, and argues for large‐scale public health campaigns focused on primary and secondary prevention.     

Pathways of Technological Change in Developing Countries: Review and New Agenda

This article argues the need for strategic reorientation with regard to the technological advancement of developing countries. The continued relevance of incremental capability‐building strategies in manufacturing is questioned by: (i) the emergence of new knowledge areas, some of which require closer links with science; (ii) recognition that past strategies have not solved the poverty problem; and (iii) unprecedented environmental problems that cannot be solved by existing Western technologies alone. A more pluralist approach is recommended, with increased attention to creative innovation capabilities. Cases of innovations in information communication technology, health and energy show potentially large economic and social impacts, but also highlight systemic obstacles to their realisation.     

Donor withdrawal and local civil society organizations: An analysis of the HIV/AIDS sector in Vietnam

The impact of international donor arrival on local civil society organizations (CSOs) is well researched. Less well understood is how local CSOs react and adapt to donor withdrawal. This article explores this phenomenon in the context of the HIV/AIDS sector in Vietnam. Using data from government, donor and CSO sources in Vietnam, it examines how current and planned cuts in donor funding, including donor exit, impact local CSO agency and effectiveness. It finds that while donor withdrawal may reduce CSO capacity and independence, it can also prompt local innovations that—if successful—may improve CSOs’ responsiveness to local stakeholders.     

The real East Asian Aid model: Development assistance as an instrument of comprehensive security in Japan,South Korea and Taiwan

Discussion of East Asian aid modes has remained superficial. And one donor, Taiwan, has been overlooked. This article reconsiders East Asian donorship, and places Taiwan within this category. It argues that East Asian donors are insecure, and see aid as part of a wider security policy. Aid policy pursues two main goals: economic strength and international influence. The aid apparatus is insulated from legislative and public pressure. Due to the nature of the goals pursued, relations with recipient governments in general are good, and recipient publics bad, relative to other Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors. Relations with other donors are ambivalent; good relations are important, but can interfere with other goals. As such, Taiwan is a quintessential East Asian donor.     

Good Governance as Managerialism: Rationalisation and International Donors in Vietnam's Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector

Donors’ appreciation of their relationship with Vietnam as a ‘mature development partnership’ requires explanation. Drawing on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation policy, the article argues that the success of donor collaboration with Vietnam is based on Vietnamese political culture coincidentally aligning with a managerialist ‘world culture’, presently extant in the form of neoliberal ‘good governance’ development orthodoxy. The article shows that Vietnam ‘delivers’ rationalised development policy to international donors through its system of state administration and planning, the implementation of target‐oriented planning and the role of statistics in the policy process. The strength of the ‘darling’ partnership is explained in relation to this cultural dimension of legitimacy creation through the performance of rational development planning and administration.     

International Transfer of Policies and Practices of Gender Equality in Employment to and among Muslim Majority Countries

This article investigates the premise that it is possible to transpose organizational approaches to equal employment opportunity (EEO) from western countries to Muslim majority countries (MMCs). Drawing on policy interviews and documentary evidence from public sector organizations and international development agencies engaged in the promotion of gender equality in Turkey and Pakistan, we question the effectiveness of diffusion of gender equality policies and practices to and among these two MMCs. Our investigation reveals the primacy of context over essence in developing effective ways to construct EEO policies and practices which can be adopted in MMCs.     

Easy to Declare,Difficult to Implement: The Disconnect Between the Aspirations of the Paris Declaration and Donor Practice in Nigeria

The arguments in academia over the effectiveness of foreign aid fall into two broad categories: those grounded in political economy and those focused on donor conduct and aid effectiveness. There have been policy attempts within the donor community to reconcile them, including the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. This article examines the key features of foreign aid to Nigeria between 1999 and 2007. Using the Declaration as a framework, it looks for ways of making foreign aid in Nigeria more effective.     

Integrating Sexual Health Services Into Primary Care: An Overview of Health Systems Issues and Challenges in Developing Countries

ABSTRACT

Current attempts to address the high burden of sexual health morbidity and mortality in developing countries remain limited in scale due to a range of health system constraints. We conducted a literature review of the policy and programmatic issues that influence the integration of sexual health into primary care services in developing countries. Forty-seven reports were identified from a search of both peer-reviewed and gray literature. Key issues identified were intersectoral and intergovernmental coordination; management and organizational issues including decentralization, health sector reform, logistics, and referral systems; human resources, including training and support required to increase service scope; relationships between the public and private sectors; and scaling-up and financing issues.     

Newcomers to Like‐Minded Aid and Donor Darlings: The Strange Case of Spain in Vietnam

This article analyses the motives behind the relations between Spain as a donor and Vietnam as a recipient of international aid. The main hypothesis is that this relationship does not respond to the traditional causes for international aid, as identified by the academic literature. On the basis of qualitative data collected in interviews with elites, the article suggests instead that a ‘learning factor’ and an ‘image factor’ might be at play in the Spanish presence, as well as herd behaviour on the part of the donor community.