DGDC Annual report 2008 - Buitenlandse Zaken - Belgium

In any case, budgetary aid is more a political issue.
You are negotiating with a country about how it
dispenses scarce resources. So budgetary aid is a
huge lever. As a donor group, you can bring pressure
to bear when, for example, too much money
is being ploughed into defence, or spending is not
being evenly distributed across the regions. That
is work on the ground that the embassy team has
to take on – not just the attaché but also the ambassador,
and backed by the expertise of BTC. To
act effectively, that team needs to have sufficient
decision-making authority and to be sufficiently
trained. You need, together with technical experts,
to weigh up whether all policy and monitoring conditions
are being met, and the results anticipated
are being achieved, in order to channel another
tranche of 1 or more millions of euros into the
partner country’s budget. That is quite a different
sort of responsibility, and you have to want to
carry it.
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