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This is the World Bank's blog on governance and anti-corruption. It aims at providing a space for debate and knowledge sharing on this critical field of development. | Learn more...

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On “Aid Effectiveness and Governance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”

Submitted by Kaufmann on Tue, 2009-03-24 10:57

‘Aid Effectiveness’ gone astray?  Imagine official multilateral and bilateral donor aid agencies holding high level meetings for years to agree on ‘harmonized’ aid strategies for recipient developing countries whose governments are expected to fully 'own' them.

Don't look in this space for formal definitions of donor aid ‘harmonization’.  They are in official reports from aid organizations; there you can also read about efforts to 'harmonize' the timetable and frequency of official visits by donors to recipient countries.

Instead, in this blog space let me spur debate, as I just did in a panel on ‘Aid Effectiveness’.  Let me start by echoing a panel member in advancing an unorthodox interpretation for donor ‘harmonization’:  lowest common denominator agreement among donors regarding their strategy towards a recipient country.  Spineless strategies, devoid of innovation, and skating over the toughest challenges for development.

Daniel Kaufmann's Farewell Lecture - Governance, Crisis, and the Longer View: Unorthodox Reflections on the New Reality

Submitted by Alfredo on Fri, 2008-12-05 16:16

As many of you already know, Dani Kaufmann is moving on to the Brookings Institution, where he will continue his valuable work in the field of governance and anti-corruption. Fortunately, we will still hear a lot from him -inside and outside the Bank- in the coming future.  In the meantime, please join him this coming Tuesday, December 9th, for a special farewell lecture, in which he will share his reflections, experiences and thoughts on current governance and corruption challenges.  Please find the official invitation and details of the event in the rest of the entry.  If you cannot attend in person, you can follow the lecture virtually through webstreaming and participate by posting comments and questions.

A message from Kaufmann

Submitted by Kaufmann on Thu, 2008-12-04 16:48

Some of you may know that I am in the process of moving on from the World Bank to the Brookings Institution.  Let me also share with you the email I have just sent out to many outside friends, colleagues and partners. 

 

Dear friends, partners,

As some of you may already know, I announced internally over a month ago that I was moving on from the World Bank. I wanted to write to you directly to give you my new coordinates, to briefly share a thought, and to thank you for your continued collaboration.

Corruption warning signs: is your project at risk?

Submitted by Edouard on Wed, 2008-09-03 13:51


What factors conspire to cause a development project to fail? Poor project design and management of course. Also lack of client ownership. And capacity constraints. And corruption. 
 
Corruption puts assistance projects at risk at every step of the project’s life, and even before that projects exist on paper.  "Corruption warning signs: is your project at risk?" is a toolkit recently developed by the Latin America and Caribbean unit of the World Bank that lists these pitfalls phase by phase throughout the project's life.  The toolkit is addressed to Bank project managers and teams.  Here's a quick synthesis of these warning signs.