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Dialogue – the Concept, the Aid Modalities and the Risks
Bertil Odén 1
“No outsider should impose risk preferences on those who must live with
the consequences.”
Joe Stiglitz at the 1998 Annual World Bank
Conference on Development Economics.
Introduction
The concept of dialogue is as elusive as that of partnership. And as concepts
both have been introduced from the donor side, in spite of their allusion to
a relationship between two equal partners. The two concepts are also mutually
interconnected. In recent times, dialogue is considered the only politically
correct way to relate in a genuine partnership.
In this chapter I will discuss the following issues:
The dialogue concept and how it has developed in the international development
co-operation debate.
How the changing modalities of development co-operation have affected
the dialogue.
Recent improvements in and future challenges for the dialogue process.
The concept and its development
In the invitation to contribute to this volume the dialogue concept is defined
as “…the methodology of interaction between the donor and recipient.
At best, it is the instrument for formulating the parameters, which together
should make up the joint understanding and contract between the
parties on policy-, programme- or project level on how to interact”.
Taken in this sense dialogue is as old as the aid relationship itself, and
there was a dialogue before the term was introduced in the development
co-operation context. It has changed over time, following the shifting trends
among what nowadays often goes under the label ‘donor community’.
In recent years dialogue has often been defined as discussions taking place
1 Bertil Odén (Sweden) Ph. Lic. from the Göteborg University and a MA from the University of
Stockholm. He is currently Councellor at the Embassy of Sweden in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He
has been Secretary to the EGDI, researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, advisor to the Ministry
of Finance in Tanzania and to the Planning Commission in Mozambique. Odén has also had
different policy and programming positions at Sida.