434 research outputs found
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Revenue Authorities and State Capacity in Anglophone Africa
Full text linkSince the early 1990s, many countries in Anglophone Africa have established (semi-) autonomous revenue authorities (ARAs), organisationally distinct from ministries of finance, with some real operational autonomy, and with staff paid at rates similar to those in comparable private sector jobs. The introduction of revenue agencies has been seen by some as a step on the road to privatisation of the revenue collection process. We demonstrate in the article that this is a misreading of the story of revenue authorities in Anglophone Africa. This conclusion is reached by examining two related sets of questions. The first set concerns the transnational transfer of institutions. Is it a problem that ARAs have spread so fast under the influence of aid and of international financial institutions? The second set of questions relates to the more specific issue of the autonomy of revenue agencies. Is the establishment of revenue agencies another way of fragmenting the authority of already weak central government institutions? Our answers are largely ‘no’ to both sets of concerns. Addressing these questions enables us to explain what ARAs actually imply for state capacity in Anglophone Africa
Evaluación:Cooperación del Fondo de Asistencia Internacional de los Estudiantes y Académicos Noruegos (SAIH) con las Unidades Académicas Campesinas (UACs), Bolivia
Full text linkRespondiendo a los términos de referencia elaborados por SAIH para este estudio, las preguntas principales incluidas es esta evaluación son: ¿En qué medida la cooperación de SAIH fortaleció las UACs como instituciones de educación superior con un enfoque particular en poblaciones indígenas? ¿Cómo se relacionan las UACs con la Estrategia de Educación para el Desarrollo 2008-2012 (Strategy for Education for Development 2008-2012) de SAIH? ¿Cuál es el rol que las UACs juegan en el nuevo contexto político de Bolivia?
Sobre la base de la investigación de campo y una serie de entrevistas llevadas a cabo en mayo del 2008, la evaluación muestra positivas respuestas a las dos primeras preguntas han sido positivas. La evaluación concluye que la cooperación con SAIH ha fortalecido las UACs como instituciones de educación superior enfocadas en la población indígena. Concluye que las UACs están trabajando de acuerdo a la estrategia de SAIH llamado “educación para el desarrollo”. Esta evaluación describe en detalle las bases de estos juicios cualitativos. Sin embargo, a pesar de tener respuestas positivas a estas dos preguntas, se subrayan una serie de mejoras que las UACs necesitan hacer para asegurar su sostenibilidad y para desarrollar y expandir su importancia como “agentes de cambio”. La evaluación concluye que como resultado de una pobre previsión y cooperación, junto con la confusa y dividida realidad de las políticas bolivianas, las UACs no juegan un papel importante en el nuevo contexto político de Bolivia. Es necesario trabajar para mejorar la cooperación y el perfil de la educación intercultural y bilingüe privada ofrecida por las UACs en una gama de áreas apropiadas para el desarrollo local
Gender policies and feminisation of poverty in Mozambique
Full text linkThis study is the first in a series of three on gender policies and feminisation of poverty in Mozambique, to be carried out in the period 2008-2010. The studies combine a critical assessment of current government and donor policies, with an assessment of the thesis of a feminisation of poverty in the country. Our main argument in this report is that the recent ‘streamlining’ or ‘essentialisation’ of gender policies, largely pushed by international agendas, implies the risk of designing policies that do not relate to national economic and socio-cultural realities. Gender relations are essentially socially constituted, and will be perceived differently and have different expressions in different socio-cultural settings. Moreover, while differences in material conditions of income and assets between men and women is an important part of the ongoing feminisation of poverty in Mozambique, it also involves questions around voicelessness and powerlessness in relation to institutions of society and the state, vulnerability to adverse shocks, and the ability to cope with these through social relationships and legal institutions
Donor Support to Political Parties: Status and Principles
Full text linkPolitical parties are indispensable for the functioning of liberal democracies. However, the political parties of many transitional and developing countries are not functioning well. This fact has led to increasing donor support to political parties. However, due to the political sensitivity of the issue, donors are not supporting political parties directly. There are two indirect methods for party support. One is support for broadening democracy, assuming that this will also strengthen political parties. The other is support to parties via donor country parties and/or party-based organisations. This party-to-party support takes the form either of unilateral support from one party in donor countries to its ‘sister parties’, or of bilateral support from several parties to several parties. This paper outlines the modalities, principles and practices of donor support to political parties
Budget, State and People. Budget Process, Civil Society and Transparency in Angola
Full text linkThis study discerns several deficiencies in the budget process in Angola. The government’s budget proposal is not publicly debated, no pre-budget paper is prepared, comparisons between budgeted expenditure and actual outcomes are not made, and audit reports are not prepared. Besides, budget execution is problematic because Angola has two parallel public finance systems, one conventional system under the Ministry of Finance; and a (mainly) Sonangol-operated unconventional system.
The Angolan state institutions involved in the budget process are all rather weak, but reforms, learning and improvements have taken place, in particular in the Ministry of Finance, in the Finance Committee of the Parliament and in the supreme audit institution (Tribunal de Contas). However, other institutions are still weak or non-existent. The 1996 law on an anti-corruption commission has not been put into practice. The National Statistical Institute is a weak institution, and thus the basic national statistics, on which budget allocations should be based, are unreliable or non-existent. The provincial and local administrations have severe deficiencies in legitimacy as well as in professional capacity to analyse and shape public service delivery.
During budget preparation in other countries, civil society organisations may debate budget reports and policies, for instance in a pre-budget conference and comment on tax proposals. CSOs can also be effective fighters against budget leakages, corruption, embezzlement and squander. However, civil society has historically been weak in Angola, and the political and societal space for civil society is limited. The Angolan authorities have not fully accepted the role of civil society’s voice, watchdog and control functions, and the legal framework is restrictive.
The report suggests how to increase insight and transparency of the budget processes in Angola, how civil society can be more involved in the processes for example through capacity building in “economic literacy”, and how donors can take measures to ensure more transparency and public involvement in budgetary processes
Corruption in Montenegro 2007: Overview over Main Problems and Status of Reforms
Full text linkThis report was commissioned by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to provide an analysis of corruption and the progress of anti-corruption activities in Montenegro, with the objective of identifying priority areas and opportunities for potential future reform efforts. As there is little existing research and analysis on this issue, Sida is supporting this study both as a part of its strategic learning, planning, and programming, as well as for use both by donors partners and relevant national stakeholders.
The aim is to provide a qualitative analysis, supported with data to the extent available, in order to describe not only the current status of governance but also elucidate the structural and political factors that have, and will continue, to impact and constrain future reform efforts. Key sectors are then treated individually in some detail, with a discussion of the government’s anti-corruption programme—which can be viewed as a roadmap for future support to the fight against corruption—rounding off the analysis. The paper ends with a summary of key observations and recommendations for future reform efforts
Security for Many or Surplus for the Few? Customary Tenure and Social Differentiation in Southern Malawi
Full text linkIt has been argued that the ambiguities in Malawian customary tenure may aggravate processes of social differentiation and class formation. The article investigates this viewpoint based on the situation in the rural areas in Malawi’s Southern Region. The political economy at national as well as local level does not indicate that accumulation of customary land has become important in understanding the increased economic differences between the elites and the great majority of smallholders. At the same time, the patterns of land distribution and commercialisation in smallholder agricultural production indicate the same. Customary land remains very equally distributed and the level of commercialisation of agricultural products is surprisingly low. An analysis of
45 court cases on land conflicts in the Thyolo and Mangochi Districts shows this to be intimately connected with the recurrent dilemmas produced by the inherent ambiguities in customary tenure and that it is mainly the smallholders who manage to secure their interests through this tenure. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the norms and regulations guiding customary tenure are continuously and successfully being utilised by the local population to re-appropriate land which government has allocated as leaseholds to estates outside the realm of customary tenure. The study thereby supports that customary tenure tends to increase rather than reduce land security for the poorer segments of the population
Will International Trade Reduce Poverty? A Background Note to Norad
Full text linkNORAD is currently developing a trade strategy towards developing countries. This background note presents a review of the current literature and empirical findings on the relationship between trade, growth and poverty reduction. There is also a review of the Aid for Trade debate.
Opening up an economy to international trade increases the income of that country.
Whether trade liberalisation increases long-term economic growth and more open countries achieve higher growth than other countries is more disputed in the literature.
The overall results seem to suggest that developing countries as a group will benefit from liberalisation but that those benefits will be uneven. Some countries will lose out. If poverty reduction is the main goal, trade policy cannot be a main vehicle for improving the situation of the poor.
Specific requirements for success in making trade and growth a tool for poverty reduction must be tailored to each country. Just as there are no blueprints for development, there are no blueprints for trade promotion and export-based growth.
Finally, market access is a core precondition for increasing exports from developing countries. Hence, Aid for Trade and many of the other efforts proposed will not be beneficial to poor countries if rich countries continue to apply trade restrictions (as
Norway does on agriculture)
Governance Assessments and the Paris Declaration. A CMI Issues Paper Prepared for the UNDP Bergen Seminar September 2007
Full text linkIs it possible to carry out governance assessments and develop diagnostic tools for enhancing governance while adhering to the principles of the Paris Declaration? Or, are the two processes largely contradictory? What measures can be taken to promote greater harmonisation and reduce transaction costs on recipient countries? This paper aims to highlight some issues and provoke a discussion on governance assessments in relation to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness’ expressed goal of national ownership, harmonisation and alignment
Rewarding Safe Motherhood. How can Performance-Based Funding Reduce Maternal and Newborn Mortality in Tanzania?
Full text linkPerformance-based funding has been proposed as one mechanism to speed up the implementation of interventions for reduced maternal and newborn mortality.
This report investigates the potential role of such funding mechanisms in increasing maternal and newborn survival in Tanzania. Less than 50% of deliveries in
Tanzania take place at a health facility. Some of the reasons are diffi cult transport, high costs (e.g., having to pay for delivery kits), and low quality of the services offered at health facilities. Performance-based funding can potentially address some of these challenges, but not all. Demand side issues, such as high costs, can be dealt with by conditional cash transfers to women who deliver at health facilities. Some of the quality issues at the health facilities may be addressed by rewarding health workers according to the number of deliveries, thus making it in their interest to improve the quality of the service.
Performance-based funding cannot, however, fully address the challenges related to poor transport infrastructure, delayed supplies of drugs and equipment from the central level, and the shortage of skilled health workers. In addition, there are challenges related to reliable reporting of performance and timely payment of performance rewards that may undermine the effectiveness of a performance-based funding system.
Our knowledge of the effect of performance-based funding in the health sector is very limited. Thorough impact research therefore needs to be part of new initiatives
of this kind