Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future
Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future
Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future
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CHApTER SEvEn<br />
The SWAps<br />
involve donors<br />
deciding to<br />
support a sector<br />
<strong>an</strong>d providing<br />
ODA to help the<br />
recipient<br />
government to<br />
meet its own<br />
goals. In budget<br />
support, donors<br />
ch<strong>an</strong>nel funds<br />
directly to<br />
national budgets,<br />
leaving it to the<br />
government to set<br />
priorities <strong>an</strong>d<br />
allocate<br />
resources.<br />
118<br />
micro level, have helped to improve aid effectiveness.<br />
two approaches in particular, programme-based<br />
approaches (pbas) <strong>an</strong>d results-based approaches<br />
(rbas), illustrate ways to improve the contribution<br />
of oDa to development. pbas are currently the<br />
main approach to applying the principles of aid<br />
effectiveness, while rbas demonstrate ef<strong>for</strong>ts to<br />
document what oDa achieves in order to justify<br />
its continuation.<br />
Programme-based Approaches<br />
pbas are seen as a way to apply aid-effectiveness<br />
principles to improve the contribution of oDa to<br />
development, not least in terms of enh<strong>an</strong>cing policy<br />
space <strong>for</strong> aid-recipient governments. over the last<br />
decade, donors have shifted their focus from projects<br />
to pbas, which are defined as way of ‘engaging in<br />
development cooperation based on the principles of<br />
coordinated support <strong>for</strong> a locally owned programme of<br />
development, such as a national development strategy,<br />
a sector programme, a thematic programme or a<br />
programme of a specific org<strong>an</strong>isation’ (oEcD/Dac,<br />
2008: 148). the 2005 paris Declaration committed<br />
donors to providing 66% of oDa via pbas, but so<br />
far not one of the 78 countries that participated in<br />
the evaluation of progress has met this target <strong>an</strong>d<br />
only 45% of all oDa was provided via pba (oEcD,<br />
2012a). meeting or even approaching the pba target<br />
might signific<strong>an</strong>tly improve the contribution of oDa<br />
to development.<br />
there are various ways to pursue pbas, including<br />
pooled (or basket) funding <strong>for</strong> specific activities,<br />
joint support <strong>for</strong> sector-wide approaches (SWaps)<br />
<strong>an</strong>d sector or general budget support (leiderer,<br />
2012; H<strong>an</strong>dley, 2009; Koeberle et al., 2006). the<br />
latter two are particularly prominent. the SWaps<br />
involve donors – often working as a group –<br />
deciding to support a sector <strong>an</strong>d providing oDa to<br />
help the recipient government to meet its own goals.<br />
In budget support, donors ch<strong>an</strong>nel funds directly<br />
to national budgets, leaving it to the government to<br />
77 the Europe<strong>an</strong> commission usually refers to SWaps as Sector policy Support programmes.<br />
EuropE<strong>an</strong> rEport on DEvElopmEnt 2013<br />
set priorities <strong>an</strong>d allocate resources, usually on the<br />
basis of prior discussion.<br />
these two mech<strong>an</strong>isms give the recipient<br />
governments more ownership <strong>an</strong>d policy space in<br />
how they spend oDa, <strong>an</strong>d evaluations of budget<br />
support have indicated that it helps to improve<br />
aid effectiveness (caputo et al., 2011; De Kemp et<br />
al., 2011). aid-recipient governments benefit from<br />
the greater predictability of oDa <strong>for</strong> multi-year<br />
programmes. the Europe<strong>an</strong> commission has<br />
been one of the key promoters of budget support<br />
<strong>an</strong>d SWaps 77 (Faust et al., 2012a). In nepal, the<br />
share of SWaps as a proportion of total <strong>for</strong>eign<br />
aid increased from 12.9% in 2004 to 21.1% in<br />
2012 (nepal case study – p<strong>an</strong>dey et al., 2012).<br />
the SWaps were focused on health, education,<br />
local development, peace <strong>an</strong>d reconstruction<br />
as well as renewable energy. In rw<strong>an</strong>da, the<br />
government has signed seven SWap agreements in<br />
agriculture, education, energy, environment <strong>an</strong>d<br />
natural resources, health, justice <strong>an</strong>d tr<strong>an</strong>sport.<br />
the government pl<strong>an</strong>s to adopt a strategy <strong>an</strong>d<br />
spending programme <strong>for</strong> each sector. the<br />
governments of côte d’Ivoire, nepal <strong>an</strong>d rw<strong>an</strong>da<br />
have also expressed their strong preference <strong>for</strong><br />
budget support, delivered either as general budget<br />
support or focused on specific sectors (country<br />
case studies).<br />
there are several ways in which to improve SWaps<br />
<strong>an</strong>d budget support in order to make a more effective<br />
contribution to development. In nepal, <strong>for</strong> inst<strong>an</strong>ce,<br />
despite the SWaps, in 2011 there were 37 projects<br />
under the ministry of Education <strong>an</strong>d 81 under the<br />
ministry of Health <strong>an</strong>d population. Second, SWaps<br />
often apply to the area of responsibility of a single<br />
ministry rather th<strong>an</strong> the whole sector. For example,<br />
primary education may be covered by a SWap, but<br />
not secondary or tertiary education, which come<br />
under the purview of a different ministry, despite<br />
the crucial need to ensure coordination across all