Lars Engberg-Pedersen

Bringing Aid Management Closer to Reality: The Experience of Danish Bilateral Development Cooperation

In 2003, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs undertook a decentralisation of the management of bilateral aid to the embassies in major partner countries. However, while decentralisation appears to live up to the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the specific delegation of responsibilities as well as the political context of aid management may jeopardise the intended contribution to effective development co�?operation. This article explores some factors potentially limiting the usefulness of decentralised aid management in the Danish case, and discusses certain intra�?organisational dynamics and extra�?organisational pressures influencing ‘donor effectiveness’.

Policy Making in Foreign Aid: Gender Equality and Danish Development Policy

Abstract Since the mid-1980s, gender equality has constituted a major priority in the provision of Danish foreign aid. Seeking to understand policy-making processes in the field of foreign aid, this article analyses three gender policies in relation to Denmark’s official foreign aid published respectively in 1987, 1993 and 2004, examining the degree to which they reflect domestic politics, organisational concerns within Danida and global gender norms. Challenging earlier research, the conclusion is that, while global norms, organisational concerns and the normative environment in Denmark all play important roles, Danish stakeholders have had a limited and decreasing influence over these policies.

Global norms and heterogeneous development organizations: Introduction to special issue on New Actors, Old Donors and Gender Equality Norms in International Development Cooperation

Contemporary development cooperation is characterized by an increasing tension between a growing diversity of actors and significant attempts at homogenizing development practices through global norms prescribing ‘good development’. This special issue shows empirically how diverse development organizations engage with global norms on gender equality. To understand this diversity of norm-engagement conceptually, this introductory article proposes four explanatory dimensions: (i) organizational history, culture and structures; (ii) actor strategies, emotions and relationships; (iii) organizational pressures and priorities; and (iv) the normativeenvironment and stakeholders. We argue that, while development organizations cannot avoid addressing global norms regarding gender equality, they do so in considerably divergent ways. However, the differences are explained less by whether these organizations constitute ‘new’ or ‘old’ donors than by the four identified dimensions.

Do norms travel? The case of gender in Danish development cooperation:

Questioning diffusion and translation as central concepts describing how norms influence policies, the article analyses the drafting process of a recent gender equality policy in Danish development cooperation. Three global norms (gender mainstreaming, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and women’s empowerment) and their influence on the policy are examined, and it is argued that the contingency of policymaking circumscribes the role of global norms. A variety of intra- and extra-organizational factors affect the drafting of the policy, and it is the interaction between these factors and the norms, rather than diffusion or translation of global norms, that best describes the normative influence on Danish gender equality policy.

Corporatism and the Development of Private Aid Organizations in Denmark

Private aid has long been an important element in the majority of countries’ development assistance. It has provided means by which to engage with populations in developing countries and assist their development without going directly to their governments; it also enables citizens in the more developed countries of the world to organize and support those they identify with in the developing world; a way by which ‘to do some good’. While the emergence and growth of private aid organizations in Denmark might on the surface appear not so different from that found in most other western European countries, there are some important differences that emerge on closer investigation. In particular the corporate nature of Denmark’s development has provided a strong organizational basis from which to organize private aid; it might also have provided for a stronger sense of solidarity with those facing social exclusion and economic marginalization elsewhere. One consequence is also found in the expectations placed upon the Danish government to support private aid initiatives. For its part, the Danish state has proved itself not to be adverse to using this close partnership to serve the government’s other policy agendas. Finally, the Danish economy performed quite strongly in the 1960s and onwards, providing a relatively broad wealth base from which private aid can be resourced, both from the state revenues generated and from private citizens.

Inside Poverty and Development in Africa: Critical Reflections on Pro-poor Policies (review)

The book presents case studies from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Malawi, where postcolonial land redistribution was and is still based on the market-based land reform of the willing seller-willing buyer framework supported by the World Bank. Yet in all these countries, we have witnessed land grabbing by an emergent black political elite class, and land reform has created further inequities. In some countries this has led to disillusionment and occupation by the previously dispossessed blacks (as in Zimbabwe). In West Africa, similar developments have taken place, albeit with some differences, in that white settlers were mainly involved in trade rather than in production. However, even in West Africa the land question is important for sustainable development because land was used to control labor. Here, as it turned out, the state became the major land owner and tenant. The process of land reform has led to further marginalization of the poor to the benefit of the elite, who have been able to secure their land rights through registration. The majority and the poor have been left with customary land tenure, which does not have secure rights. The chapter on Botswana discusses the land question in relation to minorities and ecotourism. However, the chapter fails to state clearly that land reform in the form of the Tribal Grazing Policy of 1975 and the fencing component of the National Policy on Agricultural Development, both of which promote commercial livestock farming, led to displacement of minorities and the poor from their grazing land. This has led many into destitution, and hence to unsustainable development. The book also mentions that in all the countries that were studied, civil society is very weak and therefore cannot spearhead land reforms that are pro-poor. The book argues that World Bank market-based land reforms have failed and suggests alternative approaches. These approaches should be based on social justice and go beyond communitarian approaches, as these do not fully address inequities in access to land and other natural resources. However, the book falls short of showing how these new approaches should be implemented. Thus, further work is required on the best ways of implementing alternative approaches to land redistribution in Africa that promotes sustainable development. Patrick Malope Botswana College of Agriculture Gaborone, Botswana