Donor harmonisation and government ownership: multi-donor budget support in Ghana

Bettina Woll

The European Journal of Development Research, 2008, vol. 20, issue 1, 74-87

Abstract: Multi-donor budget support mechanisms are currently the predominant tool in development cooperation. They are heralded for granting greater autonomy to the recipient government and for increasing its discretion to spend the public budget. To this end, a multi-donor budget support mechanism was established in Ghana in 2003. In order to assure proper management of the public budget, donors pressured for inclusion of a list of reform elements that the government had to implement in order to receive the full funding. To understand whether this type of conditionality can be successful, this article explores the underlying concept of ownership and analyses the power relationships between donors and the recipient. The article illustrates that the Ghanaian government formulated development strategies with a view of pleasing the donors but with little intention to alter conventional patterns of everyday politics. L'aide budgétaire multilatérale est actuellement l'outil le plus utilisé dans la coopération au développement. Il est annoncé comme offrant une plus grande autonomie au Gouvernement bénéficiaire, lui facilitant également l'affectation des montants alloués. Dans cette optique, un système multilatéral d'aide budgétaire a été établi au Ghana en 2003. Afin d'assurer une bonne gestion des fonds publics, les donateurs ont fait pression pour faire inclure une liste d'éléments de réforme que le Gouvernement devait mettre en oeuvre pour recevoir la totalité des fonds. Pour comprendre si ce type de conditionnalité peut porter ses fruits, cet article considère le concept sous-jacent de participation (ownership) et analyse les relations de pouvoir entre les donateurs et les bénéficiaires. Cet article montre que le gouvernement Ghanéen a formulé ses stratégies de façon à faire plaisir aux donateurs sans pour autant avoir la moindre intention de changer le mode de fonctionnement de sa politique au quotidien.

Keywords: Ghana, ownership, harmonisation, multi-donor budget support; poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP), (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurjdr:v:20:y:2008:i:1:p:74-87

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DOI: 10.1080/09578810701853215

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