cox/healey/90517/crc 11/4/00 10:43 am Page 1 European Development Cooperation and the Poor cox/healey/90517/crc 11/4/00 10:43 am Page 2 Also by Aidan Cox BRITISH AID POLICIES FOR POVERTY REDUCTION HOW EUROPEAN AID WORKS (with John Healey and Antonique Koning) UNDERSTANDING EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AID: Aid Policies, Management and Distribution Explained (with Antonique Koning) Also by John Healey DEMOCRACY, GOVERNANCE AND ECONOMIC POLICY: Sub-Saharan Africa in Comparative Perspective (with Mark Robinson) HOW EUROPEAN AID WORKS (with Aidan Cox and Antonique Koning) VOTES AND BUDGETS: Comparative Studies in Accountable Governance in the South (editor with William Tordoff) Also by Timo Voipio EUROPEAN AID FOR POVERTY REDUCTION IN NEPAL (with Hans Gsaenger) FINNISH AID POLICIES FOR POVERTY REDUCTION TROPIIKIN LAHJAT (GIFTS FROM THE TROPICS) cox/healey/90517/crc 11/4/00 10:43 am Page 3 European Development Cooperation and the Poor Aidan Cox Evaluation Adviser UNDP New York John Healey Senior Research Associate Overseas Development Institute London with Paul Hoebink Senior Lecturer Third World Centre Catholic University Nijmegen and Timo Voipio Research Fellow IDS – Helsinki in association with OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE cox/healey/90517/crc 11/4/00 10:43 am Page 4 First published in Great Britain 2000 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0–333–74476–4 hardcover ISBN 0–333–74477–2 paperback First published in the United States of America 2000 by ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 0–312–23054–0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cox, Aidan. European development cooperation and the poor / Aidan Cox, John Healey ; with Paul Hoebink and Timo Voipio. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–312–23054–0 1. Economic assistance, European—Case studies. 2. Poverty—Developing countries—Case studies. 3. Economic development projects—Case studies. I. Healey, J. M. (John Michael) II. Title. HC60 .C667 2000 338.91'094—dc21 00–023939 ©Overseas Development Institute 2000 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire COX-FM.QXD 1/13/00 8:39 PM Page v Contents List of Tables, Figures and Boxes viii Acronyms ix Preface xi Foreword xiv 1 The Context of Poverty 1 Poverty situation 2 Attitudes and policies of the authorities towards the poor and poverty reduction 6 Politics and the poor 14 Decentralization and the poor 17 Conclusion 20 2 Poverty Reduction Goals and Strategies of the European Development Cooperation Agencies 23 Goals and strategies 23 Trends and conceptualization 27 Aims of the European Agencies: consensus and feasibility 30 Summary 37 3 Role and Modes of Intervention of the Development Cooperation Agencies for Poverty Reduction 40 Potential role of aid agencies in poverty reduction 40 Modes of intervention: some important choices 41 What is the record of donors playing these roles? 45 Summary 55 4 The Approach to Poverty Reduction in the Country Programmes 57 What donors actually do: starting questions 57 v COX-FM.QXD 1/13/00 8:39 PM Page vi vi Contents Country programming and strategies: PR orientation 58 Dialogue on PR – bilateral and collective 61 Ownership 67 Specific interventions: patterns of the European development agencies 69 Summary 76 5 Have the Poor Benefited? Evidence of Effectiveness and Impact 78 Method and approach 79 Participation, gender, sustainability and impact 83 Exploring factors behind impact 89 Summary 92 6 Good and Bad Approaches: Case Study Evidence 93 Targeting the poor 94 Gender sensitivity 101 Seeking the participation of the poor 104 The Holy Grail of sustainability 111 Replicating success? 117 Conclusions and suggestions 119 7 Options for Reaching the Poor More Effectively: Some New Thinking 122 The concept of a ‘partnership’ where the recipient is in the driving seat 122 Single-country strategies on poverty reduction 126 From ad hocprojects to sectoral approaches for poverty reduction 128 Sector or project approach to PR: some evidence 135 Linking debt relief and poverty reduction under HIPC II: emerging ideas 139 Summary and conclusions 140 8 Poverty Reduction: Organization and Management of the European Agencies 142 Transmission mechanisms: weaknesses 143 COX-FM.QXD 1/13/00 8:39 PM Page vii Contents vii Appropriate personnel 150 Decentralization of donor organizations 152 Coordination in-country on poverty reduction 160 Feedback and learning lessons 162 Summary 162 9 Conclusions and some Suggestions for Reform 165 The context of poverty 165 Poverty reduction goals and strategies of the European development cooperation agencies 166 Country operations and poverty reduction 168 The effectiveness and impact of poverty-oriented projects 169 Good and bad approaches 170 Poverty reduction: organization and management of the European agencies 173 How to strengthen agencies’ effectiveness in reaching the poor 175 Annex 1 Poverty: A Multi-dimensional Concept 179 Annex 2 Recommendations and Suggestions from Project Case Studies in India 184 Annex 3 The Key to Judgements on the Performance of Specific Interventions with PR Objectives 188 Annex 4 Some Effective Specific Interventions for Benefiting the Poor (Supported by the European Agencies) 191 Annex 5 Complete List of Countries, Projects and Donors Reviewed 220 Notes 222 References 225 Index 229 COX-FM.QXD 1/31/00 11:42 AM Page viii List of Tables, Figures and Boxes Table 1.1 Indicators of poverty in seven countries 4 Table 2.1 PR strategies of European donors 24 Table 2.2 Shares of bilateral official development aid (ODA) to least developed and low-income countries 1995–96 (%) 26 Table 3.1 Modes of intervention of European agencies 46 Table 4.1 EU donor country strategies and dialogue 58 Table 4.2 Patterns of specific interventions (% of donor’s bilateral portfolio) 1997 70 Table 5.1 Type of poverty orientation of selected interventions (% and number of projects) 81 Table 5.2 How well targeted were donor-supported interventions? (% and number of projects) 82 Table 5.3 How participatory were the donors? (% and number of projects) 84 Table 5.4 How well were gender relations integrated? (% and number of projects) 85 Table 5.5 How sustainable were projects? (% and number of projects) 86 Table 5.6 Estimated or potential impact on poverty (% and number of projects) 88 Figure 5.1 Relationship between poverty orientation and impact (direct, indirect and other interventions rated by degree of impact (%)) 90 Figure 5.2 Relationship between targeting and impact (highly, moderately and negligibly targeted interventions rated by impact (%)) 91 Figure 5.3 Relationship between participation and impact (participatory interventions rated by impact (%)) 91 Box 8.1 What donors can learn from each other in Tanzania 158 viii COX-FM.QXD 1/31/00 11:42 AM Page ix Acronyms ALA Asia and Latin America APC Africa, Pacific and Caribbean BMZ (Germany) Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation CCM (Tanzania) Chama Cha Mapuduzi (Party of Revolution) CSP Country Strategy Paper DAC/OECD Development Assistance Committee, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Danida Danish International Development Agency DFID (UK) Department for International Development DGIS (Netherlands) Directorate General for International Development DPEP (India) District Primary Education Programme DPSPE District Based Support to Primary Education EC European Commission ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme Finnida (Finland) Department of International Development Cooperation GARDP (Nepal) Gulmi Arghakhanchi Rural Development Project GTZ (Germany) Deutsche Gessellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit HIT Heifer in Trust Scheme HSD Human and Social Development IEC Information, Education and Communication IRDP Integrated Rural Development Programme JFMP Joint Forest Management and Planning KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau LRP (Zimbabwe) Land Resettlement Programme MMD (Zambia) Movement for Multiparty Democracy NGO Non-Governmental Organization PAAP (Zimbabwe) Poverty Alleviation Action Programme PR Poverty Reduction PRI (India) Panchayati Raj Institution ix