Aid Architecture and Financing

Aid Orphans: Whose Reponsibility? Development Brief (pdf)

The pattern of aid distribution across countries is insufficiently co-ordinated. Individual donors (public and private) decide separately which country programmes to assist and to what extent, based on their unique set of values, goals and criteria, shaped by specific contexts and historical relationships. The absence of timely information on other donors’ forward intentions impedes everyone’s ability to adjust their own plans accordingly. Furthermore, accountability to taxpayers or boards is seldom focused on correcting the actions of others, predictable or not: each donor has its own priorities and incentive framework.     

2009 DAC Report on Aid Predictability: Survey on Donors’ Forward Spending Plans 2009-2011 (pdf)

The Survey on Donors’ Forward Spending Plans is a unique instrument as it is the only regular process at the global level that brings together most bilateral and multilateral aid spending plans, one to three years ahead, with the aim of improving global predictability of future aid flows. The 2009 report presents the results of the second complete survey in the series. It identifies potential gaps, overlaps and opportunities for future aid allocations for all 153 DAC aid recipient countries. It is intended both for policy makers in recipient countries as a guide to overall planning of aid resources and for aid managers in donor countries and international agencies to inform their aid allocation decisions.

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     > Summary of the Report (pdf, 272 KB)
Multilateral aid accounts for over a third of total ODA. The scale at which the multilateral system is used reflects donors’ views of it as an important aid channel. However, a clearer picture of the multilateral system is needed to analyse this channel, and the first ever DAC report on multilateral aid aims to address this gap. The report provides a snapshot of the multilateral aid architecture, from the funding of multilateral organisations by DAC members to their own multilateral aid strategies and policies. The report also highlights issues such as fragmentation, multilateral effectiveness, reform processes and partner country views.

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Report of 2008 Survey of Aid Allocation Policies and Indicative Forward Spending Plans (pdf, 1.49 MB)
     > Summary of the report (pdf, 406 KB)
     > Download fragmentation data (xls,151 KB)
It is nearly three years since DAC members announced renewed commitments to increase ODA to coincide with the Millennium+5 Summit in New York. As part of monitoring the delivery of these commitments, the DAC conducted late 2007 and early 2008 its first full annual Survey on Aid Allocation Policies and Indicative Forward Spending Plans. The Survey report is a key stimulus to improving medium term predictability of aid. The Survey shows that most donors operate multi-year programming frameworks, allowing for predictability of aid.The analysis on existing fragmentation of aid provides essential background information to review global aid allocation decisions and to take forward action on improving division of labour between donors.

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