Danish aid policies for Poverty Reduction:
From non-committal statements to a more strategic approach
Lars Udsholt
Danish aid policies for Poverty Reduction:
From non-committal statements to a more strategic approach
Lars Udsholt
This paper should be cited as:
Udsholt, L. 1996. Danish aid policies for Poverty Reduction: From non-committal statements to a more strategic approach. (CDR Working Paper No. 96.7). Copenhagen: Centre for Development Research.
E-mail: cdr@cdr.dk
The paper provides an analysis of Danida policies in the poverty reduction area. Current Danish aid efforts to address poverty issues are based on a prolonged understanding among policy makers and aid bureaucrats that a basic premise of Danish aid has been its focus on alleviating poverty. The paper argues that the lack of a more explicit and operational poverty focus throughout the last two decades has implied important constraints on the effectiveness on past poverty reduction efforts. Thus, Danish aid displays both specific results at the level of individual interventions and 'missed opportunities' in terms of failing to address a number of institutional and structural constraints for poverty reduction. Acknowledgements are made of recent important advancements in Danida's approach to poverty reduction. Still, the paper also points to a number of critical challenges and constraints related to further operationalising the new policy framework. These include institutional constraints in Danida's organisation, constraints on rooting poverty reduction efforts in recipient strategies, and the critical importance of interaction between Danida and the wider Danish aid policy community.
2. Introduction
The current paper forms part of a comparative study of approaches to poverty reduction among nine official donors in the European Union (the other donors being Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, and DG VIII of the European Commission). The paper is structured on the basis of a joint approach paper, drafted by Overseas Development Institute, London. Studies similar to this paper will be published by ODI during the course of 1997. A second phase of the comparative study aims at assessing donor performance at the level of recipient countries with case studies from a.o. India, Nepal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
Current Danish efforts to address poverty issues take place on the background of a prolonged understanding among policy makers and aid bureaucrats that a basic premise of Danish aid was indeed its focus on alleviating poverty. Furthermore, it has been argued that Denmark has enjoyed a strong position in this field compared to several other bilateral donors. On this background it is notable that prior to the very recent analytical and policy work neither the Danish aid administration nor others have tried to define more specifically how Danida's activities can and/or have contribute(d) to poverty alleviation (Sano 1993) [Note 1].
However, the presentation of the most recent strategy for Danish aid (Danida 1994) gave rise to both public and internal Danida debates on the future role of poverty reduction in Danish development assistance. While the strategy statements on this issue were the most elaborate seen in Danida policy documents so far, it was still contested whether the paper dealt sufficiently with this area of central concern to many actors on the aid policy scene [Cf. Svendsen (1995:52): ‘This strategy may be seen as a milestone in the journey, over several decades towards a more explicit and action-oriented formulation of poverty alleviation as the central objective of Danish development assistance’]. Thus, NGOs demanded the drafting of a plan of action for poverty reduction - a call initially rejected by Government. Instead it was proposed to place poverty reduction at the centre of individual country strategies for Danish aid to the 20 programme countries.
Subsequently, and in continuation of this debate Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee requested Government to 'ensure the operationalisation of the overriding objective of poverty reduction' and to report back to the Committee. In response, Danida prepared a policy paper in 1995-96 and presented it to Parliament in June 1996 (Danida 1996a). Finally, also in the course of 1994 Danida initiated a major 'Evaluation of Poverty Reduction' to be carried out by private consultants. Completion of this effort is expected by end of 1996 [Note 2].
Thus, during 1995-1996 a number of recent documents have provided new perspectives on the relationship between aid and poverty plus a fresh impetus to see poverty reduction as 'the prime goal of Danish development cooperation policy' (Danida 1996a:5). Accordingly, an examination of the current state of Danish aid policies for poverty reduction is both assisted by the availability of new documents and hampered by the fact that so far most of the new policy statements have yet to be implemented by means of strategies, programme design, implementation etc. Yet other materials are only in the process of being drafted.
This paper attempts to provide a snapshot of the prevailing situation in mid-1996, based on an analysis of current documents and assisted by brief references to past Danida policies, practices and experience in the poverty reduction area [A more general introduction to the evolution of Danish aid policies and the composition and role of the ‘aid policy community’ during recent years can be found in Olsen and Udsholt (1995). Cf. also the recent DAC review of Danish aid (OECD 1995a)]. Following this introduction the subsequent section provides a brief historical overview of how poverty issues have been approached in Danish aid policies since the early 1970s [Note 3]. On this background, the remainder of the paper provides an account of the most recent approach to poverty reduction as presented in Danida policy papers emerging during the last two-three years. Acknowledgements are made in the paper of recent important advancements in Danida's approach to poverty reduction. Still, the paper also points to a number of critical challenges and constraints related to further operationalising the new policy framework.
3. A brief overview of changing approaches to poverty
reduction, 1971-94 [Note 4]
Danish aid policy may be conceived as a separate field characterised by the existence of strong norms and morally based attitudes. The emphasis in Danish aid policy on normative elements is well in line with outcomes of more general studies of foreign policy behaviour among smaller Western states. Here norm-based behaviour features as a central determinant for foreign policy performance. Analysing North-South policies of four Western 'middle powers' (Canada, Norway, Netherlands, and Sweden) Pratt has characterised attempts to link key domestic policy concerns with international norm-setting as 'humane internationalism'.
In more general terms the concept embodies 'an acceptance by the citizens of the industrialized states that they have ethical obligations towards those beyond their borders and that these in turn impose obligations upon their governments'. This includes support for efforts 'to alleviate global poverty and to assist the development of the less developed countries' as the core policy component (Pratt 1989:13, 16). In this perspective aid policy may be perceived to represent a 'natural and uncomplicated extension' of domestic social welfare policy (Pratt 1989:15; cf. Svendsen 1995, Stokke 1989). [Note 5]
3.1 General aid objectives
The underlying poverty reduction rationale for Danish aid has only been vaguely reflected in the stated policy objectives as mentioned above. When the Act on Danish development cooperation was first passed in 1971 reference was made to 'social progress' but poverty as such was not addressed [Note 6]. On several occasions during the 1970s debates touched upon the balance between 'economic growth' and 'social progress' prompting the Government to emphasize the interwoven nature of the two concepts (Danida 1982a:70-71).
During the second half of the 1970s, though, a more explicit concern with living conditions of poor people was gradually introduced. Thus, the international aid debate on basic needs was also influencing Danish aid policy statements. This paved the way for a predominantly project-based focus on achieving poverty reduction through individual aid interventions in support of social sector investments and rural development (Danida 1982a:68-69,113).
The question of whether these trends would in turn necessitate a revision of general Danish aid objectives did in fact create severe tensions in the Danish aid policy community in the early 1980s. In 1982 a Government appointed committee was split on the question of the need to make explicit the poverty reduction focus of Danish aid. A majority found that the existing statement of objectives was too elastic. Therefore, it was proposed to amend the Act on development cooperation to specify that the objective of Danish aid would be to aim at lasting improvements in the economic, social and political conditions of poor people. Furthermore, it was suggested that Danish aid should primarily be extended to poor (i.e. low-income) countries.
The committee further recommended that Danish aid projects should increasingly focus on activities in support of employment and production among poor people. It was added that there would still be a need for support for social sectors in rural areas, but concern was expressed with problems relating to increasing recurrent costs associated with such donor-led investments (Danida 1982a:116).
Debating the committee recommendations, a parliamentary majority in 1983 agreed to maintain the wording of the 1971 Act, thus supporting the committee minority. It was argued that there was a need to keep the aid objective at a general level to allow for a continuous and flexible accommodation of aid policies to experiences gained during implementation (Danida 1982a:73). While maintaining aid objectives as stated in the 1971 Act, Parliament majority still agreed to a resolution that the objective of Danish development assistance 'as in the past shall be to create a lasting improvement in the economic and social conditions of the poorest population groups of the world' (Svendsen 1989:97).
Neither the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made any follow-up to this statement in terms of more precisely worded aid strategies, operational guidelines etc. Furthermore, no assessments exist on the extent to which the proposals to focus more on employment and production were actually addressed in project design and country programming during the 1980s.
The basic human needs philosophy and the emphasis on project rather than programme assistance remained important features of the untied part of Danish bilateral aid during most of the 1980s. This happened within the context of increasing emphasis being put on economic conditionalities and policy-based assistance by influential actors in the international donor community. However, during the second half of the decade some attention was paid to the social impact of adjustment policies. Efforts made by Danida in this regard were stronger in multilateral organisations and at the level of Danida headquarters in Copenhagen compared to what appears to be only limited changes in design and implementation of Danida supported interventions in recipient countries.
It should furthermore be emphasised that prior to 1987 Danida country programming was essentially reactive and based on project proposals emerging from field staff and others. Danida management would promote ideas thought to be in line with current aid policies while discouraging others. During annual negotiations with recipient authorities, focus would mainly be on project specific issues, while a proactive approach to country programming was virtually absent from Danida (Administrationsdepartementet 1986:14-15). In essence therefore the poverty focus of Danish bilateral aid combined a GDP/capita-based criteria for country allocations with a project-focused approach to reaching poor target groups, while the potentially 'bridging element' of country programming processes, including country strategies and policy dialogue, was absent.
3.2 Tied aid
Much of Danish aid debates during the 1970s and 1980s mirrored the fifty-fifty division of the bilateral aid budget between untied grant assistance primarily extended to the four main recipient countries on the one hand and on the other hand tied credits on concessional terms provided in support of Danish industry to a multitude of purposes and countries. Thus, discussions on the poverty focus of Danish aid tended to present a dichotomy between the above-mentioned profile of the poverty-oriented untied grant assistance and the tied aid programme without explicit concerns for the wider developmental impact of this part of Danish aid. Provision of basic services in low-income countries (Africa, South Asia) has often been contrasted with tied aid programmes in support of productive enterprises in the 'modern sectors' of middle-income countries (East and South East Asia).
Representatives of Danish companies repeatedly expressed concern that a narrow interpretation of the poverty reduction objective would imply less flexibility in terms of meeting a broader range of needs in developing countries. Furthermore, it has been argued that Denmark lacked preconditions for 'solving problems related to basic needs in primitive village societies' while 'Denmark commands considerable knowledge and experience in fields such as infrastructure development and industrial manufacturing' [The quotation stems from comments forwarded from the interest organisation Danish Industry to the Government Committee on aid policy in 1981 (Danida 1982b:117-18); similar positions have been presented at a number of other occasions].
During the period in question scepticism in the aid policy community with regard to the limited impact of tied aid on poverty reduction appears to be based on two different assessments. First, criticism has been expressed in Danida evaluations and elsewhere that technology has been too sophisticated, needs have been overestimated resulting in too large plants being delivered, and cultural and socio-economic issues not being sufficiently considered (Svendsen 1990:105). Accordingly, the basic quality of this aid modality has left a lot to be desired. Secondly, tied aid has primarily been extended to the 'modern sector' in developing countries. The growing general concern with the limits of 'trickle-down' in aid debates during the 1970s unavoidably also brought about a more critical perspective on this part of the Danish aid programme (cf. Danida 1982a:68-69).
3.3 The Danida Plan of Action
With the presentation in 1988 of the Danida Plan of Action (Danida 1988) a new basis for addressing poverty reduction in Danish aid policy was established. Compared to the Act on development cooperation, the paper presented a somewhat more outspoken poverty orientation of Danish aid. Adopting the wording from the 1983 Parliament resolution the paper introduced the objective 'to create lasting improvements in the economic and social conditions for the world's poorest population groups through long-term, continuous, goaloriented and effective efforts seeking to assist the respective countries in mobilizing human and natural resources'. This was, however, not identified as the main objective but appeared alongside five other objectives, including issues such as human rights, women, sustainability, and dialogue with recipient authorities (Danida 1988:2-3).
Elements of the Action Plan proposing new modalities for involving Danish industry caused concern among NGOs that Danish aid policy was moving away from poverty reduction as an overriding objective. Parliament was requested to ensure the reinforcement of this principle and it was felt that an action plan for poverty reduction would be a natural next step as a follow-up to the Action Plan (Svendsen 1990:100). This demand was not carried forward in the subsequent work as most attention centred around the criteria for selection of programme countries.
Subsequent poverty reduction efforts in Danida came to be affected by the introduction of strategic planning as a key management tool in connection with future aid programming. Of importance in the context of this paper was the introduction of the 'programme country' concept implying that 20-25 low-income countries would receive a major part of Danish bilateral assistance on the basis on country strategies being prepared for each recipient [Note 7]. In the following years a range of policy papers on sectors and thematic areas began to emerge. Still, project support remained the main mode of intervention.
Strong demands on Danida's capacity caused by the introduction of strategic planning combined with more acutely felt concerns for issues such as women in development, human rights, and environmental dimensions tended to preoccupy decision makers. Consequently, not much attention was paid to operationalising the implications of a focus on 'the world's poorest population groups'. Commenting on the Action Plan Svendsen points to 'great confusion' with regard to what should be read into the poverty reduction objective. The result was that average GDP/capita measures mistakenly came to be seen as a proxy for actual intervention impact (1990:104). Finally, the many demands placed on Danida during the administrative reorganisation carried out in 1991 (cf. Olsen and Udsholt 1995) also had the indirect effect of constraining available capacity to address poverty concerns.
3.4 Lack of reporting on poverty reduction
The lack of attention paid to operationalising poverty reduction in general policy papers is repeated at the level of intervention design, implementation and evaluation. One example is that while the Board of Danida reported regularly on issues such as human rights, women, and environment as part of Danida's annual reports, it did not address poverty issues (Ravnborg and Sano 1994) [Note 8]. Similarly, no assessment - neither from within Danida nor from outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - has been made of the treatment of poverty issues in project appraisal and review documents.
Similar conclusions are reached when studying past evaluation efforts. In an overview of the first decade of more systematic Danida evaluation efforts (Vilby 1993) poverty does not feature in any prominent position. While some reference is made to successful targeting of intended beneficiaries, the report primarily discusses issues of long-term sustainability, evaluation management, organisational learning and involvement of recipient authorities. Seeking to further assess the apparent deficiency in terms of reporting on the poverty reduction objective, Sano and Ravnborg in 1994 prepared a survey of how Danida evaluation reports within the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector dealt with poverty perspectives [Note 9]. In addition, existing Danida guidelines for project preparation, project progress reporting and evaluation were also studied.
In general Danida's poverty reduction objective is found to be hovering 'somewhere in the background and at the general level in Danida's overall work. The concept is not given status in the day-to-day work in Danida projects and programmes, with the result that little is said and can be said concerning progress on poverty in Danida's evaluations'. As a concept poverty is therefore only 'arbitrarily integrated into Danida activities' (Ravnborg and Sano 1994:53-55).
With specific regard to Danida's evaluation studies it is concluded that in terms of an explicit concept, 'poverty' only appears in relation to three of the reports. The terms of reference for one report prompt the evaluation mission to consider the 'socio-economic standards of the rural poor', while two other reports make brief reference to poverty issues as part of overall findings. Still, several reports address poverty relevant issues by means of debating target groups characteristics. Ravnborg and Sano point out that this has implied a focus on marginal groups, women, and small farmers. This is found to be a poor substitute for a more elaborate concern with poverty, though. 'A more loosely defined concern for the weak, the marginal, the small and women' has reduced the ability to tackle specific poverty relevant issues in individual interventions.
In the past some Danida project documents and more general policy papers may have based their justification on addressing poverty reduction objectives as a development objective (as understood within the LFA-approach). However, interventions are rarely designed so that immediate objectives are specified with an explicit poverty reduction objective in mind (cf. Development Associates 1994a:98). The lack of attention to poverty implies that there are no or only few available data on poor people, their problems and priorities, and considerable variations with regard to how poverty is addressed in the various reports (Ravnborg and Sano 1994:43-50) [Note 10]. Obviously, this has important methodological implications for attempts to assess ex post the position of poverty concerns on Danida's agenda. On the basis of stated project/programme objectives inferences may in a number of cases be made on intervention relevance in light of the poverty reduction objective. Still, the extent to which such individual interventions in the past have been able to reduce poverty, let alone achieved more long-term sustainability is bound to be extremely difficult to judge (cf. Development Associates 1995c).
3.5 Conclusion: general commitment but scant evidence
From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s Danish aid displays a general commitment to poverty reduction as a basic policy objective. The issue was repeatedly debated, but little was achieved in terms of clarifying and operationalising its strategic implications for aid management and intervention design. Often discussions tended to reinforce a simple dichotomy between general measures to promote economic growth on the one hand and on the other hand project-based interventions to support delivery of basic services. This distinction was not solely a question of different conceptual approaches among the actors in the aid policy community. To a large extent it reflected the carve-up of the aid budget in untied grant assistance versus the tied aid programme involving major Danish commercial interests. Government policy statements would emphasize the necessity to reconcile both approaches without seeking to further elucidate implications for future policy and implementation procedures.
Despite the absence of transparent policy statements to elaborate and substantiate the poverty reduction objective it seems clear that for Danish aid management poverty orientation in this period implied a focus on least developed and low-income countries as main recipients of Danish aid. This was combined with support for provision of basic services plus a certain emphasis on identifying deprived local areas in relation to district development programmes and integrated rural development projects (cf. Madsen 1994). The absence of clear and operational policy statements on poverty reduction was also mirrored in lack of information on the treatment of poverty issues in documents stemming from design, approval, implementation and evaluation of Danida supported interventions. Very little is therefore known on the extent to which Danish aid in the past has sought to address poverty by means of targeting groups of poor people, regions etc. or through prioritizing intervention modalities according to perceived effectiveness in poverty reduction. Even less evidence is available in terms of assessing aid programme effectiveness in reducing poverty [Note 11].
Meanwhile, the 1994 aid strategy has implied renewed attention to this policy objective. The subsequent paragraphs will seek to briefly summarise the main thrust of the strategy and the more recent policy paper on poverty reduction by means of the inherent conceptualisation of poverty and the stated objectives for poverty reduction.
4.Recent conceptualisation of poverty in Danish
aid policy
Similarly to a range of other donor organisations poverty resurfaced in Danish aid policy in the beginning of the 1990s. Probably, three international trends (all closely intertwined) served to reinforce a fourth trend with a more specific Danish origin. First, declining standards of living during the 1980s in many low-income countries - particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa - proved to be of a much more enduring nature than was first assumed in the early 1980s. Secondly - and closely related to this - the adjustment agenda widened in the second half of the 1980s to encompass growing concerns with social dimensions. Finally, a 'new poverty agenda' among international aid agencies emerged at the unset of the 1990s prompting broad consensus among aid practioners on a 'new conventional wisdom' (Lipton and Maxwell 1992) [Note 12].
In the Danish setting the introduction of strategic planning, and more specifically the strong emphasis in Danish aid debates on the selection of the future 20 programme countries prompted a renewed focus on basic aid objectives. Debating the virtues of a range of different developing countries as potential recipients of Danish aid induced members of the aid policy community to restate their commitments to different parts of the overall policy framework for Danish aid. In the immediate follow-up to the Action Plan no specific attempts were made to address the poverty issue in a more elaborate manner. Still, the international trends referred to above and more specifically recent international reports - notably by the World Bank and UNDP (World Bank 1990; UNDP 1990) - provided proponents of a poverty-focused aid policy with new arguments and enhanced legitimacy. Questions could be posed as to why a progressive donor like Danida would linger at the level of blanket statements devoid of operational implications when even conservative institutions like the World Bank were seen as capable of drafting explicit strategies for poverty reduction [Note 13].
The significance of these trends for Danish aid policy became evident at the presentation of the new Danish aid strategy document (Danida 1994) providing a much more substantiated and detailed approach to poverty reduction. The paper identifies a range of different but interconnected features related to poverty: lack of access to land, lack of education, poor health conditions, limited coping capacity in situations of crisis, women being especially exposed to poverty (Danida 1994:55). This is further elaborated in the 1996 policy paper containing an elaborate presentation of poverty characteristics and the causes of poverty. Here, there is a deliberate emphasis on moving away from perceiving poverty as primarily related to lack of income focusing instead on inability to cater for basic needs, lack of opportunities to exploit human resources, isolation, lack of status and power, and a high degree of vulnerability due to a very limited economic base (Danida 1996a:6).
In line with international assessments the policy paper argues that poverty is most serious in Sub-Saharan Africa, while somewhat more positive expectations for future trends are expressed for Latin-America and South Asia. It is emphasised, though, that in absolute terms the largest number of poor people will still live in South Asia. The paper refers to data emphasizing the gender dimension of poverty and stresses the rural dimensions of poverty. The paper refrains from analysing poverty in terms of occupational status.
A rather long list of 'closely related causes of poverty' is presented in the policy paper emphasizing i.a. lack of political will, lack of economic infrastructure, lack of access to social services, degradation of natural resources, population growth, and adverse international conditions. The paper does not attain any priority to the different causes - let alone identify one more 'fundamental cause' - but emphasizes how the many complex causes of poverty hamper efforts to break out of poverty (Danida 1996a:8-9).
5. Poverty reduction objectives
The aid strategy states that 'poverty orientation constitutes a fundamental principle of Danish development assistance'. More recent policy documents have identified poverty reduction as 'the' fundamental principle/prime goal of Danish development assistance (Danida 1996a, Danida 1996b). Prior to 1994 no explicit strategy or guidelines existed on how to approach poverty reduction in aid interventions.
The 1994/96 documents identify three main elements in the current Danida approach to poverty reduction:
The first two points resemble the current mainstream international donor approach (cf e.g. World Bank 1990), while the last leg replaces the World Bank emphasis on social safety nets. Danida officials refer to the mixed experience with such programmes, particularly in low-income countries in Africa, as a major reason for this difference. More generally reference is made to the inherent problems of designing and targeting safety nets in countries where close to half of the population falls below the poverty line. Finally, it is argued that the explicit emphasis on participation by the poor serves to put current donor orientations towards good governance and democracy in a more focused and progressive perspective.
Perceived from the perspective of poor people the current Danida strategy for poverty reduction embodies - in principle - a three-dimensional emphasis on, respectively, enhancing economic capacities and productivity of poor people, providing access to social services, and strengthening the participation of poor people in the political life of the country.
5.1 The three pillars of the strategy
Conceptually, the growth part of the poverty reduction strategy can be seen as partly comprising a set of general efforts to stimulate economic growth, partly relating to specific measures aimed at directly enhancing the position of poor people in economic development. In the poverty policy paper this distinction is not made in very elaborate terms, although more emphasis seems to be attached to the former. Thus, the paper puts much emphasis on the virtues of creating general economic growth and thereby making more resources available in poor societies where redistribution in itself is unlikely to yield substantial results (Danida 1996a:10-11). It is notable, though, that while 'distribution policy' was introduced as an important element in the 1994 approach to poverty reduction, the 1996 poverty policy paper does not dwell long on this subject.
With regard to directly enhancing poor people's participation
in economic development, the poverty policy paper is primarily
concerned with underscoring the key role of agricultural sector
growth. This is argued to be the most directly relevant in a poverty
reduction perspective, and several specific measures are suggested
to receive Danida support, including: training, advisory services
and research; adapting technology; access to credit; access to
land through land reform; and support for popular organisations
rooted in the rural population (Danida 1996a:15).
Social sector development
In comparison with the rather general approach to promoting pro-poor economic growth the paper addresses social sector development in more precise terms. Four areas of intervention are suggested: setting national budget priorities to increase capacity and improve quality of social services, including redistributing public expenditure to the benefit of basic education and primary health care. Secondly, emphasis is put on enhancing the quality of national programmes within primary education, basic health care and access to drinking water. Third, Danida will strengthen decentralisation measures to achieve greater user involvement, while a fourth area concerns support for targeted interventions to assist marginalised groups. While user charges are not generally resisted, emphasis is placed on not denying access by poor people to basic social services (Danida 1996a:19-20).
Participation and governance
The third part of the strategy focusing on the virtues of participation and good governance resembles the growth component in that it tends to remain at rather general levels. The emphasis is on more universal measures to ensure the overall preconditions for popular participation in the development process. It is argued that 'an essential element of the Danish poverty reduction strategy is [...] to contribute to creating the preconditions for popular participation in the development process' (Danida 1996a:20). Such measures include promotion of the rule of law to avoid discrimination against the poor; free elections at both national and district levels; the development of a strong and pluralistic civil society; promotion of good governance to ensure openness, transparency in the decision-making process and the effective deployment of resources.
Some more specific and targeted interventions are also included as among areas for potential Danida support. These include support for organisations of poor farmers and women, [Note 14] and emphasis that policies and development strategies are in accordance with the needs and priorities of poor people. Only in one area do concerns with potential trade-offs between general governance measures and poverty reduction objectives appear. It is underscored that decentralisation programmes must be designed so that 'the poor are in fact given an opportunity to influence the process and that decentralisation does not merely result in cementing existing local power structures and the continued marginalisation of the poor' (Danida 1996a:21) [Note 15].
5.2 Poverty reduction and the cross-cutting objectives
In 1994 the aid strategy rephrased previous policy commitments into three cross-cutting objectives: women in development, environmental conservation and sustainable development, and promoting respect for human rights and democratisation. The 1996 policy paper elaborates on the close relationship between these elements and the overall poverty reduction objective.
In this context relatively more emphasis is put on the importance of approaching poverty reduction from a gender perspective, while the two other objectives get somewhat less attention. To some extent the difference is probably explained by the stronger institutional standing of Women in Development (WID) perspectives on the Danida agenda compared to environmental and participation/human rights concerns respectively [Note 16]. More important, though, is the fact that the gender dimensions of poverty have become more established among aid organisations and in development research. In this context the move from a 'women in development' perspective to a 'gender and development' approach has been particularly significant. In contrast, the interaction between environmental sustainability/degradation and poverty appears much more ambiguous and both practical and conceptual efforts to reconcile environment concerns with poverty reduction objectives are of a much more recent nature.
With regard to environment the poverty policy paper argues that potential conflicts exist between poverty reduction by means of production increases and economic growth on the one hand and natural resources conservation on the other hand. However, 'in many cases this conflict is of short-term duration only and it is much more expedient to address the problem in a manner that maintains or improves the natural resource base' (Danida 1996a:22).
The paper deals only very briefly with human rights and democratisation as a cross-cutting issue and its relation to poverty reduction. Probably this is due to the fact that a number of related questions have already been addressed in relation to the participation/good governance component of the poverty reduction strategy (cf. above). In this context it may be worthwhile to briefly consider the 1993 policy paper on 'human rights and democracy' (Danida 1993). The paper pays considerable attention to a number of vulnerable groups such as women, torture victims, minorities etc. Accordingly, this policy area is certainly not devoid of poverty-relevant perspectives. However, in terms of operationalising and - not the least - prioritizing Danida efforts in this field there is a risk that support for general measures to promote democracy and human rights might lead to a relative neglect of initiatives that specifically addresses the political participation of poor people in society.
In the poverty policy paper Danida underscores the need to accommodate the various considerations but points to the heavy demands on Danida's analytical capacity and on 'the ability to operate on an interdisciplinary basis' implied by such an approach. To the extent that conflicts between poverty reduction and the three cross-cutting objectives do occur, Danida argues that it must be left to the recipient country to decide which one will get precedence (Danida 1996a:23)
By making explicit the linkages between the overall poverty reduction objective and the three cross-cutting objectives the Danida poverty policy paper obviously seeks to address a prevailing shortcoming in Danish aid policy: so far substantial attention - both policy-wise and in terms of practical operationalisation - has been paid to each of the three cross-cutting themes. Often this has been assisted by pressures from interest groups external to Danida: the 'WID-lobby', the 'environment lobby', and the 'human rights lobby' have all been active and influential throughout the last decade at the least. Accordingly, existing Danida policies in these areas have gained a considerable momentum without having poverty concerns as an overall principle. In addition to accommodating the three cross-cutting objectives with general poverty concerns as mentioned above, there may therefore be a need for reconsidering Danida's approach to each of the objectives in light of the renewed attention being paid to poverty reduction.
5.3 Conclusion
In terms of intervention levels the strategy presents a mixture of support for efforts at the macro-level (policy reform, budget restructuring etc.) and complementary interventions aimed at more focused interventions (organisations of poor farmers and women, targeted social sector interventions in support of marginalised groups etc.). Each of the three pillars in the strategy contains both general measures and examples of more targeted interventions, though it appears from the textual presentation that growth and participation/governance elements base themselves more on bringing about changes at the macro-level. In contrast, support for social sector development contains a more balanced view on complementary measures.
The policy paper argues in favour of 'broad-based sustainable growth', comprising policies to increase employment (i.e. labour-intensive growth in the World Bank terminology) as well as raising agricultural productivity (i.e. increasing returns to labour). The distinction, complementarity, interaction and potential trade-offs between these two approaches are not dealt with in further details. Furthermore, the paper does not touch upon the debate on whether different growth patterns may have significantly different distributional impact (Lipton and Maxwell 1992; Ravnborg and Sano 1994:30f).
More generally one can argue that the specific balancing of general measures against targeted interventions cannot be resolved at the level of a general policy paper as such concerns need often be addressed at the level of country and sector strategies. It should be emphasized, though, that the parallel move in Danish aid policy towards sector programme support (cf. below) may serve to reinforce the inherent emphasis on policy and macro-related efforts embodied in the poverty policy paper.
6. Country distribution, programming and policy dialogue
This section first presents an overview of country allocation patterns of bilateral aid during the last decade, including a short introduction of current criteria for the selection of bilateral programme countries [Note 17]. Thereafter, Danida's approach to country programming is briefly summarised with an emphasis on the potentials of country strategies in the context of the poverty reduction objective. Finally, Danish aid experience with regard to policy dialogue and public expenditure restructuring is presented.
6.1 Country allocation of bilateral aid: past trends and current criteria
Country allocations of bilateral aid have traditionally focused on least developed and other low-income countries as illustrated by table 1 [Note 18]. By Danish authorities these patterns have generally been employed to demonstrate the poverty focus of the aid programme, and the Danida poverty policy paper identifies the continued concentration of Danish aid on low-income countries as one of the criteria to determine future compliance with the poverty reduction objective (Danida 1996a:34).
Least Developed | 42.7 | 37.5 | 49.9 | 47.0 | 40.3 | 42.7 | 41.7 |
Other Low Income | 44.7 | 38.2 | 34.2 | 31.9 | 24.7 | 27.1 | 23.5 |
Other Developing | 8.1 | 18.8 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 8.4 | 7.2 | 10.3 |
Non-country | 4.5 | 5.5 | 11.5 | 16.0 | 10.9 | 12.0 | 15.2 |
Asylum seekers | 7.9 | 15.7 | 11.0 | 9.3 | |||
Memo: Total bilateral aid DKKm |
Calculated in % of total bilateral aid (gross disbursements).
'Non-country' includes support for regional and international
projects as well as projects in Denmark. Source: Danida
Annual Reports.
Since 1989 Danish aid policies have emphasised that bilateral assistance would be focused on app. 20 programme countries. This year Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee identified seven criteria which still constitute the basis for the selection of programme countries:
2) the supply of aid from other bilateral and multilateral donors and the capability of the country of utilizing and benefitting from aid;
3) the possibility of promoting sustainable development, i.e. a development which also in the long run will be economical and ecological warrantable, and which aims at bringing about lasting improvements for the poorest population groups;
4) the possibility of promoting the advance of and respect for human rights;
5) the possibility of ensuring women's issues a central and fully integrated position in the development process;
6) Danida's experiences from previous bilateral assistance;
7) Provided that the above-mentioned points have been considered, the possibilities for promoting participation of the Danish business sector in development cooperation - and in doing so Danish employment - should be taken into consideration.
The Parliament's Committee restated that bilateral
assistance would be provided only to countries with a GDP/capita
of two thirds of the World Bank limit for long-term credits (currently
USD 1,930). In practice, though, the vast majority of programme
countries for Danish bilateral assistance remain low-income economies
- in the current portfolio only Bolivia falls on the borderline
between middle- and low-income countries (cf. table 2).
Country | Country | ||||
Bangladesh | 185 | Kenya | 270 | 130 | |
Benin | 65 | Mozambique | 80 | 140 | |
Bhutan | 50 | Nepal | 200 | 100 | |
Bolivia | 60 | Nicaragua | 330 | 120 | |
Burkina Faso | 115 | Niger | 230 | 30 | |
Egypt | 200 | Tanzania | 90 | 300 | |
Eritrea | 30 | Uganda | 200 | 250 | |
Ghana | 170 | Vietnam | 190 | 130 | |
India | 185 | Zambia | 350 | 100 | |
Malawi | 40 | Zimbabwe | 490 | 120 | |
Total | 2,520m. |
||||
Note:1996 figures for Danish aid are reported according to the current five-year plan and do not include i.a. technical assistance and funds channelled through Danish NGOs. Source: Danida 1995a.
Obviously, the criteria provide a relevant starting point for addressing poverty concerns not only in selection of countries but also for efforts related to poverty focused policy dialogue and country programming of bilateral assistance. However, in the 1989-94 period it appears that GDP/capita criteria have been given prominence over more detailed assessments of the nature of poverty in individual countries and the preparedness of recipient authorities to promote development strategies that would reduce poverty. Nor are there examples that ex ante assessments of the potential of Danish aid programmes in reducing poverty have been instrumental in the choice of individual programme countries.
Thus, it seems to imply a departure from existing practice for the recent poverty policy paper to state explicitly that - in addition to quantitatively oriented GDP/capita criteria - 'in the selection of programme countries, increasing emphasis is placed on good and constructive dialogue with the recipient country on policies and strategies to reduce poverty', quoting the 1995 choice of Malawi as a future Danish programme country as an example (Danida 1996a:27).
6.2 Country programming approaches and poverty reduction
Since 1987 Danida has been introducing various elements of strategic planning in aid management. In continuation of the 1988 Plan of Action considerably more work was initiated with regard to preparation of country analyses and strategies. However, only by 1992 did Danida management initiate the preparation of actual country strategies aimed at pro-active country programming (Fenger et al. 1993:9-10).
The emphasis on country strategies was reinforced with the 1994 aid strategy envisaging that for each of the 20 programme countries, a country strategy will be drawn on the basis of an overall assessment of the national economic and political situation. The country strategies are required to set out guidelines for the overall allocation of bilateral assistance, the allocation of bilateral assistance to 2-4 priority sectors in each country. Finally the papers will address issues related to the three cross-cutting themes (Danida 1994:12-13). It is expected that all 20 countries will be covered by a country strategy by the end of 1996. Upon completion all strategies are publicly available and translated into the main language of the respective programme country.
While poverty issues did not figure in any prominent position when the drafting of country strategies was first initiated in 1992, they soon gained substantially more attention. Thus, in response to debates surrounding the preparation of the 1994 aid strategy, it was agreed that country strategies would address the implementation of Danida's poverty reduction objective as a key issue. Country strategies are now required to contain not only data on poverty in the respective countries but also assessments of likely poverty-reducing impacts of the proposed areas for future Danish interventions.
Considering the fact that the country strategy paper is a very recent innovation in Danish aid management, it is not surprising that the process has been rather uneven with regard to the content and approach of individual papers concerning treatment of the poverty reduction objective. Thus, not all papers provide for a clear linkage between the poverty profile of the country and the subsequent rationale for the envisaged focus of future Danish assistance. Furthermore, none of the papers finalised so far has attempted to identify indicators to be used in monitoring performance of the Danish aid programme in terms of the poverty reduction objective [Note 19]. It is yet too early to tell if the preparation of country strategies has significantly affected the profile and performance of individual interventions and country programmes - or whether the momentum of the established project portfolio could in effect not be changed [Note 20].
6.3 Policy dialogue and public expenditures as aid channels at the country level
Despite a long record of substantial financing for multilateral development organisations (app. half of total Danish aid is allocated to UN-agencies, Multilateral Development Banks, emergency assistance and the European Union), Danish aid policy has had no strong tradition of influencing general policy dialogue between e.g. the World Bank and recipient authorities. Until the early 1990s it seems hard to identify deliberate Danish positions on adjustment and poverty concerns in the policy dialogue at recipient country level [Note 21]. It further appears that Danish attempts to influence the course of adjustment have then primarily taken place during the implementation rather than the appraisal and design phases, although options have existed for such initiatives. Meetings of the respective Consultative Groups have often formed an occasion to raise adjustment related issues (T&B Consult 1994:67ff).
In the period 1987-93 Danish balance of payment support was equivalent to app. 7% of the bilateral aid budget, a smaller share than for most other like-minded countries [Note 22]. Thus, while Danida acknowledges that co-financing or parallel financing of World Bank adjustment operations can be viewed as an 'admission ticket' to a position in the policy dialogue on macro-economic issues, this option was not used very often (T&B Consult 1994:8,70; Tarp & Kragh 1996:16).
While budget allocations remain low, Danish aid policies are currently more concerned with adjustment policies. Emphasis is placed on the social aspects and impact of adjustment and on increasing local capacity and on ensuring ownership during programme design and implementation (Danida 1994:44ff; Nielson 1995). Since 1992 Danida has participated more actively in the Special Programme of Assistance for Africa (SPA) managed by the World Bank. Efforts have focused on restructuring of public expenditures, e.g. in relation to World Bank initiated public expenditure reviews. On the basis of a Danish initiative a sub-group of the SPA working group on poverty and social policy was set up in 1995 to establish a consensus among official donors on guiding principles for donor approaches to poverty reduction.
The growing concern about more general policy measures has also been reflected in the Danida poverty policy paper. This paper has a list of issues to be included in the evaluation of 'to what extent the [recipient] government has the political will and a sense of necessary ownership to implement policies and strategies aimed at reducing poverty'. The issues included: the existence of relevant policy statements; government willingness to take responsibility for policy and strategy formulation, for poverty analysis and statistics; budget performance (including adherence to the 20/20 agreement); willingness to consult with civil society; willingness to implement legislation to promote the poor's participation in development. The paper points to the necessity to distinguish between 'lack of political will' and 'insufficient institutional capacity' and points to the need to alleviate problems related to the latter aspect (Danida 1996a:29).
6.4 Conclusion
During the last decade Danish bilateral aid has maintained an allocation pattern focusing on least developed and other low-income countries above the general DAC average (OECD 1995b:table 34). In recent years the rising allocations to asylum seekers have tended to crowd-out resources available for the poorest developing countries, though. However, moving beyond the level of country allocation performance very little emphasis has been given so far to explicitly assessing the relevance of recipient governments' policy framework in light of Danish poverty reduction objectives.
Within Danida the drafting of country strategy papers to provide a focus for bilateral assistance in the programme countries is still a recent phenomenon, and therefore its potential is yet to be fully exploited. The novelty of this planning instrument further implies that very little can be said about the effectiveness of country strategies in terms of affecting intervention design and implementation modalities. Similar conclusions are reached concerning the uncertainty related to whether policy dialogue may provide Danida with an appropriate vehicle to affect recipient government priorities to become more poverty focused.
Two observations can be made, though, on critical areas that may influence Danida's future poverty reduction efforts at the level of country programming and policy dialogue. First, the move to address more general poverty issues as outlined in the poverty policy paper may place heavy demands on capacity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Here both poverty-focused and more general experience with strategic planning and policy dialogue is limited and of a recent origin. In addition, it is likely that the relative roles of Danida Headquarters versus Danish embassies in the programme countries may have to be reconsidered to achieve a more effective division of labour, e.g. by means of decentralising competence on these issues to the embassy staff.
Second, using policy dialogue to promote poverty reduction will require a careful institutional mapping of relevant actors in the programme countries. While close working relations to key government authorities such as Ministry of Finance will be vital, it is essential to move beyond such fora. This relates to the role of various key government institutions in recipient countries (which often may have very different and not necessarily consistent commitments and approaches to poverty reduction) as well as various non-state actors such as NGOs and private enterprises. But it also concerns the role of other donors and the implications of different donor approaches to poverty reduction for the effectiveness of Danish aid [Note 23].
7. Sectoral allocation patterns and policies
It is only very recently that Danish aid has begun to explicitly address aid interventions by means of their role as elements in a larger sector policy framework. Still, sectoral allocation patterns - the outcome of a range of individual project-related decisions - have received considerable attention in public debates during most of the Danish aid history. It is only in the 1990s, though, that more regular information has been made available on this issue (in the Danida annual reports) [Note 24]. Thus, the role of sector specific targets (e.g. in relation to poverty reduction objectives) and the possibility to monitor performance is a new phenomenon.
During recent years the sectoral distribution of Denmark's bilateral aid has seen a decline in aid to 'productive sectors' and 'economic infrastructure' while 'social infrastructure' has increased its high share of total bilateral aid, as portrayed in table 3. Health, water supply & sanitation, agriculture, transport, and education stand out as major sectors in the 1990s, each with a share of 7-10% on average and jointly accounting for 46% of bilateral assistance during 1990-95.
7.1 Recent sector allocation objectives
The declining allocations to especially the productive sectors prompted the announcement in the 1994 aid strategy that increased shares would be allocated for productive sectors (especially agriculture for which a target of 20% has been cited) and for economic infrastructure. According to the paper future Danish aid for social infrastructure should lie in the range of 30% of bilateral assistance, a relative reduction of app. 15% compared to the 1990-95 average (Danida 1994:22). In the 1996 poverty policy paper attention paid to productive sectors is reinforced. In addition to agriculture there is furthermore emphasis on promoting the informal sector outside of agriculture as well as support for small- and medium-sized companies, and on provision of economic infrastructure (Danida 1996a:12-17).
1985/86 | 1987/88 |
1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1995 | |
Social infrastructure | 25.8 | 14.2 | 34.4 | 32.1 | 38.9 | 37.4 |
education | 3.0 | 3.6 | 5.6 | 6.7 | 9.2 | 9.3 |
health | 5.9 | 3.7 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 10.8 | 11.2 |
water and sanitationa) | (16.6) |
(6.9) | 9.7 | 10.5 | 10.6 | 8.3 |
Economic infrastructure | 27.1 | 19.8 | 22.4 | 15.6 | 16.4 | 18.3 |
transport | 6.8 | 13.4 | 6.5 | 8.9 | 7.3 | 9.3 |
Productive sectors | 32.7 | 26.8 | 26.5 | 18.7 | 14.9 | 15.3 |
agriculture and other primary products | 16.1 | 19.2 | 16.5 | 8.8 | 9.8 | 8.1 |
Multi-sector | 0.3 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 4.3 |
Programme aid (incl. debt relief) | - | 10.6 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 4.3 | 5.9 |
Asylum seekers | - | - | 7.9 | 15.7 | 11.0 | 9.3 |
Unspecified | 14.2 | 24.7 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 11.4 | 9.5 |
Memo: Total bilateral aid in DKK m. | 3,416 | 4,040 | 4,544 |
4,309 |
Sources: Danida Annual Reports and DAC Annual reports. Data on sectoral allocations prior to 1990 are based on DAC Annual reports since Danida reports included only project specific information. Note that DAC sectoral data are commitment amounts while data for the 1990s refer to disbursements. Thus, the data cannot be directly compared between the two periods but still the table provides information on overall trends. DAC data have been adjusted to exclude the weight of administrative expenses in tables for sectoral allocation. 1985/86 and 1987/88 columns indicate average annual commitments for the two-year periods.
a) DAC reports for the 1985-1989 period contain only general data for 'other social and administrative infrastructure' including water supply without identifying sub-sector trends.
Danida has supported the 20/20 principle adopted at the World Summit on Social Development in 1995. The poverty policy paper identifies the future allocation of 20% of Danish aid to primary social services as one of the evaluation criteria for fulfilment of the overall poverty reduction objective (Danida 1996a:34). Neither Danida annual reports nor the poverty policy paper is very informative on this issue, though, as no data are provided on how Danida has performed so far in terms of the 20/20 concept. Furthermore, no suggestions have yet been given concerning the construction of future reporting systems in this respect. Data in table 3 may support a tentative conclusion that the share is exceeding the target from the World Summit of Social Development. This is particularly so if one considers the percentages for health, and water & sanitation, while education sector support has comprised only limited allocations for primary education.
It appears that a more cautious position has been taken on the 20/20 proposal regarding the direct applicability of the concept to monitor poverty reduction performance of donors and recipient governments. Such reservations have not been included in the poverty policy paper. In light of the immediate positive response to the 20/20 concept in the Danish public it might be important to further qualify this notion by means of raising concerns on the need to consider also issues such as general availability of resources at the level of recipient countries. There are widely different capacities in terms of internal revenue generation across different countries and between different sectors and regions within individual countries. Furthermore, international official and private financial flows display significant diversity. Thus, a preconceived level of 20% donor allocations for basic services may be inadequate in some countries while excessive in yet other circumstances.
In more general terms one might argue that the quest for quantifiable sector-based indicators may carry a risk that such budgetary perspectives supplant other critical factors. These include issues such as assessments of consistency and relevance of the existing policy framework for basic service delivery, and analyses of institutional capacity to efficiently employ budgetary resources in a manner conducive for poverty reduction. The poverty policy paper abounds with statements emphasizing the need for this more qualitative approach since preconceived allocation targets are not considered sufficiently pertinent [Note 25]. Still, demands from senior management as well as from the aid policy community at large for uncomplicated measures to assess Danida's fulfilment of its poverty reduction objective may compromise more complex approaches.
7.2 Sector policies and poverty reduction objectives
Since 1992 a number of 'Danida Sector Policies' have been prepared covering the following sectors: energy, fisheries, health, forestry & agroforestry, private sector development programme, vocational education & training, water supply & sanitation, and agriculture. The individual papers differ considerably in their approach to poverty issues, and most contain no identification of the characteristics of poor population groups. Thus, while several papers may refer to poverty reduction as an overall objective there is most often no further exploration of how to meet this objective by means of specific sector relevant policies or project interventions. In some areas, though, cross-subsidisation across income groups to the benefit of poor people is envisaged although concern is often expressed concerning the potential trade-off between donor-financed subsidies and financial sustainability. Probably in acknowledgement of the record so far, the poverty policy paper seeks to make good the deficiency by stating that 'from now on sector policies will lay particular emphasis on analysing the sector's importance to poverty reduction' (Danida 1996a:31).
A recent draft Danida policy paper on agriculture (Danida 1996c) provides an interesting illustration of current virtues and constraints related to approaching sector policies from a poverty reduction perspective. The paper places poverty reduction as the primary objective for agricultural sector support and moves on to identify smallholder agriculture as the most important focus area with needs to be addressed through direct and indirect means. Obviously, this framework provides a relevant starting point for designing pro-poor aid interventions by means of sector programming as well as more specific interventions.
Two areas would appear to deserve more attention in the draft policy paper to make the poverty reduction focus more convincing [The following points are based on Centre for Development Research, 1996]. First, while the paper pays substantial attention to smallholders it does not offer much in terms of differentiating this very broad category. Depending on the definition employed smallholder agriculture may comprise 75% or more of the farming population in many Danida programme countries. Within the general smallholder category there will often be a need to identify in more details subgroups of particular relevance as perceived from a poverty reduction perspective [Note 26]. Thus, 'poor producers' would appear to be a more precise and relevant concept. The role of women who are often excluded from holding land would also require special attention in this context. It is notable that the paper does not devote much attention to the position of landless and land-poor as small agricultural producers and agricultural labourers.
Second, it appears from the paper that main emphasis is put on support for pro-poor sector policies rather than targeted interventions in order to achieve the poverty reduction objective [Note 27]. Thus, the policy paper does not address in much detail the potential option to combine support for overall pro-poor policies with efforts to strengthen relevant government support services (such as extension and research) and support to specific sub-sectors of high relevance for poor smallholders. Finally, one should add that the paper appears to argue for further commercialization of agricultural development with making clear the poverty impact of this approach.
7.3 Sector programme support as a new aid channel for poverty reduction
The adoption of the 1994 aid strategy has implied a major reorientation of Danish bilateral assistance. Thus, the bulk of the Danida portfolio in the 20 programme countries will be in the form of a limited number of sector support programmes, typically 2-4 in each country. The sector programme support (SPS) concept aims at providing a more long-term framework for Danish assistance to national sector-based policies and programmes in recipient countries. It is argued that this will imply 'a significant shift of emphasis in Danida's strategy compared to the traditional way of defining projects, where focus has been on results, paying less attention to institutional, organisational and financial management aspects (process aspects)' (Danida 1996b:12).
Three points are of particular importance in this context: first, compared to previous Danida guidelines for project preparation (Danida 1992) the new SPS guidelines embody a much stronger emphasis on integrating concerns for poverty reduction. Thus, considerable attention is given to analysing relevant policies in a poverty reduction perspective and to ensuring the provision of gender-specific poverty indicators for programme monitoring and evaluation. In fact, the guidelines are explicitly stating that 'the main objective of the SPS strategy is to promote effective and sustainable reduction of poverty by emphasising national ownership of development efforts (...)' (Danida 1996b:9).
Second, the guidelines are of very recent origin (April 1996) and their practicability is therefore yet to be tested. Third, in abandoning the familiar project concept it may be that the balance between specific intervention results and broader process aspects has tipped to another extreme. Within a poverty reduction perspective it would still appear important to provide concrete evidence on achievements in terms of improving the livelihoods of poor people [Note 28].
Bearing in mind these reservations it is therefore appropriate to consider previous Danida project-based experience with poverty reduction as debated in the first part of this paper. There is a current tendency in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to argue that the SPS approach constitutes a decisive break with the past, but it seems obvious that the past record of approaching poverty at the level of individual interventions is unlikely to disappear overnight. On the contrary, it may be important to pay explicit attention to how poverty has hitherto been approached within a project-based framework to be able more directly to assess strengths and weaknesses of the SPS concept.
Moving from stand-alone projects to a set of activities combined in a sector programme also effects the monitoring and evaluation of poverty reduction objectives. It is hardly possible to monitor and evaluate sector programmes at the level of policies and programmes only. Such assessments will also have to address the implementation of specific activities, i.e. 'projects'.
7.4 Conclusion
The recent move towards sector programme support appears to be a significant initiative in the quest for more effective Danish aid efforts for poverty reduction. A number of important yet unresolved issues remain, though. The introduction of the SPS concept is likely to require adjustments and revisions of existing sector policy papers, which have often been prepared with project-based interventions in mind. Furthermore, Danida sector policies would benefit from explicitly debating the relationship to each of the three elements in Danida's poverty reduction strategy: broad-based growth, social sector development and participation/good governance.
In addition, the Danida policy paper is correct in arguing that the sector programme support framework will often imply complex trade-offs between targeted interventions in support of particular vulnerable groups on the one hand and on the other hand the emphasis on long-term capacity building at the level of central ministries etc. (Danida 1996a:26-27).
While the choice of programme countries has received considerable attention in Danish aid debates during the recent 7-8 years, the selection of 2-4 priority sectors in each of the 20 programme countries has not been subject to the same degree of scrutiny. Accordingly, there has been less possibility to test the justification of the sectors actually selected as perceived from a poverty reduction perspective. This is in contrast to the 1994 aid strategy which explicitly invites representatives from the Danish resource base to participate in discussions on draft country strategies where the choice of sectors is first presented. Partly, the reason to this is rather pragmatic: the sheer magnitude of the exercise (app. 60 sector programmes, three in each programme country) and the related host of very specific interests at stake make it difficult to take the multitude of often very diverse interests into consideration. Partly, the explanation is also political as public debates on sector choice may serve to expose contrasting positions in the Danish aid policy community; disagreements that Danida may want to keep away from specific decisions on future Danish aid interventions.
The choice of sectors may also be significantly affected by the aid policy objective to secure delivery of Danish supplies. Sub-sectors such as electrification, dairy production, telecommunication, and road construction may often open for 'hardware' projects with a large share of equipment supplies from Denmark. Furthermore, such interventions are 'fast-disbursing' and thus often seen as putting less demands on Danida staff compared to 'software' projects in the social sectors (Development Associates 1995c:57,66f).
Finally, one should pay attention to the demands placed on Danida organisational capacity in relation to the implementation of the sector programme support concept. While this approach obviously has many virtues in terms of addressing poverty concerns, more 'bureaucratic aspects' (such as designing new tools for appraisals, reviews, and evaluations; acquainting Danida staff and the external resource base with the basic concepts; ensuring sufficient disbursements to reach budget targets etc.) may command considerable attention within Danida management as well as among technical specialists, staff in regional departments and at the embassies. Despite the attempts to make the poverty reduction principle more explicit and operational, it is still somewhat loosely defined compared to the more pressing administrative demands stemming from the SPS concept.
8. Concluding perspectives: the effectiveness of
Danish aid policies for poverty reduction
During approximately two decades, the poverty orientation of Danish bilateral aid has implied a focus on least developed and low-income countries. This was combined with support for provision of basic services plus a certain emphasis on identifying deprived local areas in relation to district development programmes and integrated rural development projects. Since the mid-1970s reference has repeatedly been made to the basic poverty orientation of Danish aid policies, but it is only very recently that poverty reduction has been explicitly presented as the fundamental principle of the aid programme. The absence of clear policy statements and the lack of spelling out the operational consequences for country programming and project design of the poverty orientation have implied less attention to poverty relevant issues compared to other pressing concerns on the Danish aid agenda: women in development, tied aid, environmental concerns, support for Danish NGOs etc.
In this respect the Danish experience parallels that of other 'like-minded' donors, although this would not imply that poverty issues have been absent from Danish aid debates and aid policy. Concerns on the poverty orientation of Danish aid have been expressed throughout the period under review in this paper, but often at the level of rather general statements: untied aid, support for least-developed countries, focus on the social sectors, directing assistance to NGOs and local communities etc. The poverty reduction objective was not translated into operational, agency-wide policies and procedures until very recently. Partly, this reflects the complexity of the poverty issue as such. Only limited efforts in Danida, among NGOs and researchers have been devoted to exploring poverty issues and the potentials of Danish bilateral aid in reducing poverty; partly, this mirrors the carve-up of Danish bilateral aid in separate budgets for untied grants and the tied aid programme.
While the tied aid programme was - rightly - seen as primarily accommodating Danish business interests, untied project assistance came to be perceived as poverty oriented per se. This unsound dichotomy appears to have blocked attempts at understanding under which conditions different forms of aid interventions might lead to poverty reduction. Prior to the changes being implemented since the late 1980s, most investments financed by tied aid were probably the least poverty-oriented form of Danish bilateral aid. It may be argued that one important reason for not spelling out the poverty reduction objective at an earlier stage has been the fear among key decision-makers in Danida that this might alienate support from Danish business interests of the aid budget.
The conspicuous absence of an explicit poverty focus in much of the untied portion of the aid programme has also had serious effects, though. These deficiencies have hampered drawing out lessons from previous Danida assistance to guide future efforts to reduce poverty by means of Danish aid interventions. Thus, as poverty reduction has seldom been spelled out, e.g. as an immediate objective for policy papers and project interventions, it is extremely difficult to employ what often only amounts to anecdotal evidence in a systematic effort to assess the overall effectiveness of Danish aid for poverty reduction. Only rarely have poverty relevant indicators been established from the outset of the interventions
Still, despite the lack of clear data it can be argued that perceived from within the contemporary approach of international donors to poverty reduction, Danish aid has been effective in reducing poverty. The focus of bilateral allocations on least developed and other low-income countries, and emphasis in inter-sectoral allocations on social sectors (education and health), and water supply are important features of an aid programme aimed at poverty reduction. These characteristics of Danish bilateral aid have not happened primarily by default; it is the result of individual and joint attempts by many actors inside and outside Danida to focus important elements of the aid programme on meeting the needs of poor people in developing countries.
On the other hand: to use the phrase 'by design' to portray Danida's poverty reduction profile in the 20 programme countries would be considerably stronger than what the actual experience can account for. The scant evidence provided in this paper points to the conclusion that the lack of a more explicit and operational poverty focus throughout the two decades or so of the acclaimed Danish 'poverty orientation' has implied important constraints on the efficient use of the often substantial resources devoted to the above-mentioned purposes.
It appears that only in a few cases has Danida attempted to combine interventions at various levels (linking project support with policy dialogue; combining country-based experience with efforts to influence multilaterals, selective use of technical assistance etc.). The resulting picture is that of a donor 'punching below its weight' [Note 29] by not combining available resources and experience to address issues of strategic concern. Donor support for poverty reduction will often require simultaneous and complementary interventions at different levels and using various aid modalities. In effect Danish aid for poverty reduction displays both specific results at the level of individual interventions and 'missed opportunities' in terms of failing to address a number of institutional and structural constraints for poverty reduction.
8.1 The reach of recent initiatives
Throughout this paper it has been argued that the 1994 aid strategy, the policy paper on poverty reduction and the new guidelines for sector programme support all go a long way not only in making the poverty reduction objective more explicit, but also in stating its relation to other policy concerns. Furthermore, the emphasis on assessing the potential poverty reduction relevance and impact of the policy framework in the respective programme countries can lead to more substance, focus and direction of Danish aid for poverty reduction. Finally, the attention paid to providing individual interventions with poverty focused, verifiable indicators will be important for future Danida monitoring and evaluation efforts
Still, recent initiatives will not overnight alleviate
more systemic constraints affecting the effectiveness of Danish
aid for poverty reduction. To conclude this paper I shall therefore
point to three critical areas with a potentially strong bearing
on the envisaged implementation of the new policy framework.
Institutional constraints in Danida's organisation
Recent Danida initiated evaluations on women in development and on environment and development underscore the difficulties of the Ministry in handling issues cutting across conventional sector definitions. These tend to put heavy demands on multi-disciplinary analysis in a setting dominated by 'generalist' staff (Cowiconsult & Development Associates 1994; Rambøll & Water and Power Planners 1996). Furthermore, the institutional segregation of 'policy' and 'technical' issues (between the Danida policy office, S.1, and the Technical Advisory Service, TSA, respectively) may cause difficulties in identifying ministerial entities unambiguously charged with integrating the more general principles in Danish aid policy. In addition, rapid staff rotation may not be supportive of attempts to enhance corporate memory and experience in the poverty field (cf. Administrationsdepartementet 1986; Bruszt, Hedberg and Wallroth 1990).
It seems a general feature that Danish aid administration is characterised by continuously balancing aid policy issues against aid operational concerns, with primary attention often attached to the latter (Olsen and Udsholt 1995). This tendency may be reinforced by the importance attached to strategic planning (including country strategies) and the move towards sector programme support, a trend also putting heavy strains on Danida capacity. The introduction of new and demanding administrative procedures for aid management may create a skewed balance between project preparation and implementation, leaving little attention to the latter [Note 30].
Proper intervention preparation is of course essential for successful poverty reduction efforts. It is important, though, to explicitly address the risk that during implementation the attention paid to complex and demanding poverty related objectives may taper off. This may take place in the face of more urgent day-to-day administrative problems or as a result of attempts by powerful elites to siphon project resources to their own benefit.
The recent nature of explicit poverty reduction policies, the complexities involved with dealing with poverty, and the continued pressure on Danida to take up new issues point to the need for further attention to poverty reduction policies. The poverty policy paper i.a. identifies the need for further training efforts aimed at both Danida staff and the external resource base (Danida 1996a:31). In addition, a more precise location of institutional responsibility for poverty reduction efforts may be considered. Possibly this could entail that an existing organisational unit be charged with this mandate or it might involve establishing a specific poverty unit within the South Group.
Rooting poverty reduction efforts in recipient strategies
The renewed focus on poverty reduction in Danida policies and among other donors comes at a time when the current donor vocabulary abounds with references to the concept of 'recipient ownership'. This issue is addressed in the poverty policy paper pointing to sector programme support as a particular feature that will bring ownership concerns to the fore (Danida 1996a:25). Still, so far only limited importance has been attached to explicitly assessing the relevance of recipient governments' policy framework in light of Danish poverty reduction objectives.
Accordingly, the poverty policy paper is right in reinforcing the important role of policy dialogue. Hitherto, in the Danida vocabulary this 'aid modality' has been related primarily to the general policy framework, but it is important to move beyond this level to include a larger group of actors on the basis of a careful institutional mapping in the programme countries.
Such efforts also relate to assessing carefully the national action plans for poverty reduction currently being drafted in a number of Danida programme countries. While the preparation of such a poverty-focused policy framework is clearly a major advance, the limited capacity in the programme countries for formulation and implementation of poverty reduction activities stands out as a major constraint in need of attention.
Rooting Danida poverty reduction efforts in recipient policies and institutions also concerns choosing appropriate levels of intervention. The poverty policy paper correctly argues for a mixture of efforts at the macro-level and complementary interventions aimed at more focused interventions. It is emphasised that the sector programme support framework will often imply complex trade-offs between targeted interventions in support of particular vulnerable groups on the one hand and on the other hand the emphasis on long-term capacity building at the level of central ministries etc. (Danida 1996a:26-27).
It is argued that the specific balancing of general measures against targeted interventions is not easily resolved and needs explicit attention at the level of country and sector strategies. Still, the move towards sector programme support may serve to reinforce the inherent emphasis on policy and macro-related efforts embodied in the poverty policy paper. Targeted interventions may still be of great significance, though, in relation to pilot projects to test new approaches to poverty reduction. In addition, in a number of individual sector programmes and with regard to particular geographical regions, targeting will be necessary to reduce the risk that vested interests block efforts to support and empower poor and vulnerable groups.
Poverty reduction and the Danish aid policy community
In Denmark recent poverty-related policy initiatives mirrored similar efforts within the international donor community. Whether these measures can be seen as a general return to 'humane internationalism' positions for Danish aid is highly doubtful, though. The scope for promoting such an approach in the international arena is radically different in the 1990s compared to the 1970s. The multilateral institutional framework has changed significantly and - more importantly - so has the global framework with its emphasis on a liberalised trade regime and the enormous expansion of global financial flows.
At the domestic scene, though, values relating to maintaining and developing the welfare society still serve as an important ideological underpinning for the aid programme. With the arrival of a new Social Democratic-led government coalition in 1993, it is probable that this factor may even have increased its significance in recent years. Combined with favourable international trends this situation proved to be supportive of efforts among the aid policy community to make Danida prepare a more elaborate poverty reduction policy than what was contained in the 1994 aid strategy. The course of future interaction between Danida and the aid policy community with regard to poverty reduction policies will depend on several different, though interrelated, aspects.
The future course of Danida's poverty reduction policies may be affected by certain trends in international aid. Thus, the poverty policy paper argues that in implementing the poverty reduction objective two conflicting tendencies will be manifest (Danida 1996a:27). During recent years one has witnessed the emergence of strong demands in donor countries to demonstrate results and outcomes of aid supported interventions. On the other hand, substantial experience points to the long-term nature of assistance aimed at addressing poverty reduction, especially with regard to capacity building at local and central levels. The current move to sector programme support will further reinforce this development.
Evidently, this dilemma is not easily resolved. It is bound to lead to demands for increased monitoring and evaluation efforts to substantiate Danida's claim that the poverty reduction objective is being met in Danish bilateral assistance. Danida has recently initiated efforts in this field as reflected in the Danida guidelines for sector programme support as well as in the fact that two major Danida evaluations have been designed to address such issues [Cf. Development Associates 1994b].
General Danida policy statements imply that the poverty reduction objective encompasses the full aid programme, including multilateral contributions, support for Danish NGOs, the private sector programme and support for mixed credits. In practice, though, primary attention is attached to the Danida portfolio proper in the 20 programme countries, as also reflected in this paper. It is to be expected that Danish NGOs will maintain their emphasis on poverty reduction as the overarching Danida objective with emphasis on social sectors and low-income countries. Likewise, support for modern sector investments will be advanced by Danish business interests as the preferred approach to poverty reduction. Concern may also be expressed that Denmark is not sufficiently involved with what is perceived to be a more dynamic development in middle-income countries. It is yet to be seen if actors in the aid policy community will take up debates on the general policy environment and its conduciveness for poverty reduction with respect to individual countries or sectors.
External actors placing demands on Danida with regard
to poverty reduction policies for bilateral aid is only one element
in the interaction between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
the aid policy community. Thus, Danida might also demand that
Danish NGOs and private enterprises tackle such concerns in order
for them to receive support from the bilateral aid budget. However,
neither the Danida NGO-strategy, nor the various policy documents
related to private sector development have so far dealt in any
substantive manner with how NGOs or Danish companies may contribute
to poverty reduction.
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Note 2: The reports listed as Development Associates (1995a-d) are output from the first two phases of the study. The third phase is expected to result in three major reports: a) a country study on Uganda; b) a country study on Zimbabwe; and c) a synthesis report. In addition material providing a historical and statistical overview and a review of current Danida policy papers may be obtained from Danida. As part of the evaluation process, Danida furthermore hosted a seminar for the DAC Expert Group on Aid Evaluation, cf. Danida 1995b. [Return to text]
Note 3: During the period under review Danish aid policy terminology has changed in line with general trends in the international donor vocabulary. Thus, during recent years ‘poverty reduction’ has come to replace ‘poverty alleviation’. In Danish language reference is often made to ‘poverty orientation’ as a basic aid objective. Throughout this text the term ‘poverty reduction’ is employed, as it appears that no significant conceptual or strategic distinctions for Danish aid have been embodied in the changing terminology. [Return to text]
Note 4: The period prior to 1971 has not been included in the analysis. In the 1960s the Danish bilateral aid programme was in its very initial stages without much attention paid to general aid objectives. [Return to text]
Note 5: Obviously, ‘humane internationalism’ has been based on much more than global ethics. Thus, ‘as middle powers in danger of being overshadowed by their much more powerful neighbours, each wanted to demonstrate its capacity to conduct an independent foreign policy. Each was searching for foreign policy initiatives that were congruent with its political culture. The North-South arena offered greater scope for the articulation of distinctive and appropriate contributions to the international scene than they could hope to achieve in regard to national security or to East-West relations’ (Pratt 1990:15). In a historical perspective Stokke argues that among the above-mentioned countries plus Denmark there has been a general trend since the mid-1970s away from ‘humane internationalism’ towards ‘liberal internationalism’ (Stokke 1989:307). [Return to text]
Note 6: The Act presented the objective as supporting ‘the efforts of developing countries to achieve economic growth, through cooperation with these countries’ governments and authorities, as a contribution to social progress and political independence’. This wording has remained unchanged for the last quarter of a century. Elsewhere I have argued that the general continuity in terms of the basic aid policy framework i.a. relates to the fact that ‘the explicit objective to seek the broadest possible public support for the aid programme has led to an incremental approach to policy making with a strong emphasis on consensus and broad compromises’ (Olsen and Udsholt 1995:45). [Return to text]
Note 7: The ‘programme country’ concept was originally launched as a means to concentrate Danish bilateral aid. In effect, though, it also implied the abandonment of the previous ‘main recipient’ status accorded to four countries since the early 1970s: India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Tanzania. Furthermore, it has taken considerably longer than initially anticipated to reduce assistance to bilateral recipients other than the 20 programme countries. The impact of the Action Plan in terms of concentration was very limited. Currently, Danish bilateral assistance remains dispersed on a number of different purposes, implying that out of the total budget for bilateral aid only 55% is allocated for official bilateral assistance in the 20 programme countries (DKK 2,765m. out of 4,995m. in 1996). The remaining part of the bilateral budget (DKK 2,230m. in 1996) is mainly spent on bilateral assistance to other countries, different technical assistance programmes, support for Danish NGOs, external consultants, the mixed credit programme, and asylum seekers in Denmark. [Return to text]
Note 8: Danida’s Board consists of nine members appointed by the Minister for Development Cooperation, recruited from outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, e.g. among key organisational actors in the aid policy community. The Board considers all project applications above DKK 5m. whereafter they are submitted to the Minister for Development Cooperation. Projects with a budget above DKK 20m. are presented to the Parliament’s Finance Committee. The Board’s annual report on its deliberations (usually app. 10 pages) is included in Danida’s Annual Report (cf. Olsen and Udsholt 1995). [Return to text]
Note 9: According to Ravnborg and Sano other sectors than agriculture ‘could have been selected for examination, but rural areas contain some of the major poverty problems in the developing countries. Therefore, donor efforts in poverty alleviation must be expected to find expression in activities within these areas and within this sector’. The survey comprised 13 Danida evaluation reports published in the period 1989-93 (Ravnborg and Sano 1994:42-43). It should be added that in August 1994 Danida published a major agricultural sector evaluation with one (out of 12) overall evaluation objective being ‘to provide evidence on the extent to which the development assistance to the agricultural sector has contributed to poverty alleviation’ (cf. Development Associates 1994a). [Return to text]
Note 10: Assessing the poverty alleviation of the Danida programme in Nepal a recent evaluation report notes that concerning the largest projects in the portfolio, ‘the term poverty alleviation is not used for any of the projects. Indirect references to poverty reduction are at best found in the formulations referring to increased rural income and equity. Otherwise, the relationships between the individual development objectives and the overall Danida poverty alleviation objective are at best assumed but these assumptions are not specified at any length. (...) The absence of the poverty alleviation objective for the individual interventions constitute a barrier to raising the issue in relation to the implementation at various levels, and provides no incentive to develop indicators for poverty alleviating effects’ (Development Associates 1995c:61). [Return to text]
Note 11: This conclusion parallels those of other studies on like-minded donors. Commenting on the poverty orientation of the aid policies of Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, Stokke notes that least developed and other low-income countries have been targeted to an extent that surpasses the general DAC average. Concerning performance on other poverty-relevant aspects of bilateral aid programmes, the conclusions are more cautious. Despite general policy statements on the need to target aid to poor social groups, ‘the follow-up seems feeble if not neglected. As far as the actual effects are concerned, very little can be concluded with certainty’. Finally, ‘very little has been done to operationalize’ the demand expressed by some donors in this group ‘that the recipient government pursues a social justice policy’ (Stokke 1989:291-92). [Return to text]
Note 12: Cf. Sano (1993) for a succinct presentation and debate of the new poverty agenda perceived from a Danish aid policy perspective. [Return to text]
Note 13: It has not been possible, within the context of this paper, to consider in more detail the extent to which the change of government in Denmark in January 1993 (from a conservative/liberal to a Social-Democratic-led coalition) provided proponents of poverty reduction with enhanced opportunities to favour their case. It seems likely that the scope for influencing Government positions in this direction was indeed improved, i.a. due to the new Government’s more positive approach not only to general welfare society values but also to the aid programme. Furthermore, during the drafting of the 1994 aid strategy the aid policy community was actively invited to participate in the process (cf. Olsen and Udsholt 1995:12). [Return to text]
Note 14: In this regard there is a certain discrepancy between the consideration that ‘the poor are not a homogenous group with common interests and views’ and the subsequent insistence that ‘the poor must be organised so that they can make their input in the political process’ (Danida 1996a:6,20). [Return to text]
Note 15: In a recent Danida evaluation report on the Nepal country programme Development Associates have provided a lucid illustration of the inherent difficulties related to achieving poverty reduction objectives in a project primarily aimed at strengthening local government authorities (Development Associates 1995c:99ff) [Return to text]
Note 16: Evidently, this does not imply that ‘all is well’ with regard to the position of the WID dimension on Danida’s crowded policy agenda. A 1994 Danida evaluation report observes that ‘in the midst of heavy work loads, policy reforms and organizational restructuring in Danida, the risk of WID and gender fatigue is paramount and already discernable in some circles. Momentum can quickly be lost, as experienced in other donor organisations’ (Cowi-consult & Development Associates 1994a:vi). [Return to text]
Note 17: In this section as well as more generally in the paper attention is devoted to the application of the poverty reduction objective in relation to the 20 programme countries. The current distribution of Danish bilateral aid implies that features such as policy dialogue with recipient authorities, country programming and sector programme support only apply to app. half of bilateral assistance. The position of the poverty reduction objective in relation to the other half, which includes features such as bilateral aid to Danish NGOs, the mixed credit programme, and support for regional projects, is not dealt with in this context. [Return to text]
Note 18: While the share of least developed countries has remained fairly stable table 1 also illustrates how the category ‘other low-income countries’ has been affected during the 1990s by increased spending for non-country allocations and the use of bilateral aid budgets to cover expenditures related to asylum seekers in Denmark. In 1993 it was agreed to place a ceiling of DKK 500m on asylum related expenditures to be reimbursed by the aid budget. It was furthermore agreed that aid budget financing of asylum seekers would be phased out during the rest of the decade parallel to the growth of the new budget framework for environmental and emergency assistance which is targeted to reach 0.5% of GDP in 2002 - in addition to the 1% of GDP for ODA. [Return to text]
Note 19: The recent Guidelines for sector programme support (Danida 1996b - cf. below) are very explicit on this aspect, though. [Return to text]
Note 20: Currently, only one such assessment has been made: a study of the Nepal strategy which belongs to the first generation of Danida country strategies. Accordingly, the findings from the consultants’ report deserve a lengthy quote: ‘A country strategy paper was prepared by Danida in 1993 identifying poverty alleviation, economic development and democratisation as programme objectives. The strategy paper has not had any significant operational impact on the programme, which has gradually evolved out of an initial assistance over the last two decades based on tied loans and grants. The poverty alleviation objective is at best only vaguely reflected in the development objectives of the individual interventions. The casual linkages between project activities and reduction of poverty are not specified in any of the project documentation. This has caused uncertainty in the country programme with respect to how the poverty alleviation effects are working and can be supported. Monitoring of impact and qualitative aspects is very weak. This is caused both by lack of baseline information and weak monitoring and evaluation systems’ (Development Associates 1995c:118). [Return to text]
Note 21: At the headquarters’ level initiatives were taken from 1986 in the World Bank by the Nordic constituency requesting the Bank to address the social impact of adjustment programmes (Bodelsen 1989). These concerns were voiced in parallel to analyses emerging from UNICEF studies aimed at promoting the ‘adjustment with a human face’ approach. [Return to text]
Note 22: Five countries, Nicaragua, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Bangladesh received more than 80% of Danish balance of payment support during this period. [Return to text]
Note 23: Cf. the evaluation of the Danida country programme in Nepal: ‘Seen from a poverty alleviation perspective, the policy dialogue tends to be somewhat narrow. (...) The strongest dialogue impact is undoubtedly made through the current contacts with the departments responsible for implementation of the Danida supported projects. (...) Much of the dialogue concerns technical and administrative implementation issues, and it is more difficult to find examples where the dialogue focuses on the poverty alleviation effects.’ Regarding donor collaboration the report argues that ‘(a)t the programme level there is little indication of donor cooperation strengthening the poverty alleviating aspects of the [Danida] programme (Development Associates 1995c:65,67). [Return to text]
Note 24: In the past Danida sectoral reporting to the DAC (as e.g. reproduced in table 3) has not received much attention, neither within Danida nor among the aid policy community. [Return to text]
Note 25: Cf. e.g. statements such as: ‘In terms of sector distribution it cannot be determined in advance which sector concentration has the greatest effect on poverty reduction. Equally it is impossible to draw up objectives in advance for the correct distribution of development assistance between target-directed poverty relief efforts and the promotion of broad-based growth and the development of human resources. Sector distribution and distribution between target-directed and broad-based efforts must be based on an evaluation of the concrete situation in each recipient country’ (Danida 1996a:34). [Return to text]
Note 26: Lipton and Maxwell argues that ‘the ‘small farmer’ model of the 1970s is decreasingly relevant as, where the incidence of poverty increases, it is principally among rural and urban employees’ (1992:3). Furthermore, in its emphasis on small rather than poor farmers the Danida policy paper resembles the approach adopted in the 1990 World Development Report (cf. Ravnborg and Sano 1994:30). [Return to text]
Note 27: Having presented a number of arguments against targeting the paper states that ‘in stead of seeking refined targeting on the poorest agricultural households, Danida will emphasize that the recipient government follows a pro-poor macroeconomic and agricultural development strategy aiming at broadly based economic and social development’ (Danida 1996c:15). [Return to text]
Note 28: This may imply that future monitoring efforts will primarily address the potential poverty reduction impact of Danish aid interventions. In contrast, a more challenging and demanding - but also a more promising - approach would be to place major emphasis on designing monitoring tools to assess more broadly the role of recipient institutions and policies in poverty reduction. [Return to text]
Note 29: The phrase has been borrowed from IDS (1996) where it is employed to characterise certain aspects of the EU Commission programme in Ethiopia. [Return to text]
Note 30: Cf. Development Associates (1994a:90): ‘It is a major finding of this evaluation that planning procedures have in recent years been strengthened to such an extent, that the balance of attention to planning vis-a-vis implementation has become inappropriate, and it is necessary to redress this imbalance’. [Return to text]