Foreign Aid Strategies

This research examines the gap between the socio-political and economic reality of Palestine, under Israeli Occupation, and the perceptions, assumptions and limitations of small aid donors like Switzerland in a colonial context. It looks at how global and Swiss aid is formulated and dispensed to fragile ‘non-states’ like Palestine. My thesis found that aid in general is ineffective, with Swiss aid in particular being modest, lacking robustness and failing to respond to the colonial context that prevents Palestine from profiting the most from international aid. In addition, Swiss aid is afflicted by many shortcomings that have been identified by contemporary research: a large part of aid is tied; consultations with local partners are limited, excluding, by and large, civil society; and time constraints are such that current programs are generally designed on a relatively short-term basis.

Has development aid shaped the nature and growth of non-government organizations,( NGOs), in India?  Pushpa Sundar addresses this question and explores what difference, if any, it has made to the size, complexity, style of functioning, values
and future direction of the voluntary sector and the impact it has had on its relationship with government and business.

Part II of my foreign aid research. The first document "A Hurting Hand" explains why Foreign Aid creates dependency, while this document follows-up with alternative strategies that are more effective.

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This book explores the nexus between foreign aid and corruption in post-conflict settings. It particularly focuses on the experiences of some of the countries that have received foreign aid in order to initiate or accelerate their economic  reconstruction and state building efforts after experiencing a violent conflict during the post-Cold War period.

Hydrokinetic energy is an unrecognized, low-cost renewable technology that can be deployed in Pakistan through a robust national energy strategy and international investment schemes to tackle the country’s acute energy crisis. This Article will be the first to show how national and local laws can be amended to favor progress in the sustainable energy sector and achieve hydrokinetic energy production in Pakistan, which if actualized, would be nothing short of a game changer – strategically and, even more so, environmentally. Despite current legal regimes that disfavor small scale hydroelectric power production, Pakistan and other less developed countries can adapt and deploy hydrokinetic technology through revamped investment laws, regulatory rules, and renewable energy tax reform.

Comunidad de Madrid, Somosaguas, mayo, 2005 2 3 ...no se puede esperar a que las naciones africanas sean un modelo de gobernación y democracia para ayudar a los que sufren. La comunidad internacional no esperó a que España, Corea del Sur, Indonesia, Singapur, Turquía, y últimamente China y Vietnam fueran democracias para distinguirlas con su ayuda y sus inversiones. Esperar a que las naciones africanas sean democracias perfectas para otorgarles más ayuda sólo perpetuaría el círculo vicioso de la pobreza y de la fragilidad de la democracia. Hay que ayudar ahora para que la salud, el desarrollo, el progreso social y la democracia sean una realidad en África. Luis de Sebastián La condicionalidad de la ayuda no es un instrumento adecuado para alterar las conductas de los receptores, e inclusive, puede llegar a ser contradictoria en este sentido. Si los donantes verdaderamente creyesen que las políticas conminadas a terceros son las correctas, ¿por qué tienen que exigirlas a sus receptores? ¿Serán los donantes capaces de presentar evidencias de los beneficios tras la instrumentación de las reformas exigidas? El problema central es que recurrentemente la evidencia es menos que persuasiva.

Self-reliance was a cornerstone of Ujamaa socialism -the ideology of Tanzania from 1967 till mid-1980s. In the post-Cold-War time the socialist ideology has actually been abandoned, together with the really valuable concept of self-reliance. At present, Tanzania is crucially dependent on foreign aid. We argue that aid can play a positive part for the country, but only if it will promote her self-development which, in its turn, is possible only if the nation strives to become self-reliant. However, in contemporary Tanzania the culture of self-reliance has almost disappeared since national ideology has virtually changed, and many people rely on foreign aid and national government, not on their own hard work. At the same time, the union of foreign donors and corrupted national bureaucracy results for Tanzania in aid without development that, as in the case of mosquito bed nets aid, cannot promote self-reliance and, hence, socio-economic progress. The paper is based on fieldwork conducted under the papergiver's guidance in two Tanzania's regions -Dar es Salaam (three urban municipalities, 67 filled out questionnaires and 18 structured interviews) and Morogoro (two rural districts, 58 questionnaires and 12 structured interviews).

For decades, and especially in recent years,
emerging countries have practiced South-South
Cooperation (SSC) on an increasingly frequent
basis. The impact of SSC on the global development
agenda is growing. This brings to the fore
the question of how to create political dialogue
and collaboration between emerging SSC practitioners
and traditional – often northern – donors
and their institutions, in order to establish a more
cohesive development strategy.
The main focus of this paper is to analyze how
Mexico, a country whose geographical affiliations
are shared between North and Latin America, can
serve as a bridge between North and South, facilitating
communication and agreements between
both hemispheres in order to improve the governance
of international development cooperation. In this regard, the UN can play an important role
in supporting Mexico’s efforts to establish innovative,
permanent, and even institutionalized mechanisms
for coordination and partnership between
North-South and South-South Cooperation models.
These initiatives could serve to improve both
development cooperation and SSC governance
in order to strengthen the current development
agenda, as guided by the Global Goals for Sustainable
Development

Self-reliance was a cornerstone of Ujamaa socialism – the ideology of Tanzania from 1967 till the mid-1980s. In the post-Cold-War period socialist ideology was actually abandoned, together with the really valuable concept of self-reliance. As most African countries, Tanzania is crucially dependent on foreign aid. We argue that aid can play a positive part for Tanzania and countries like it, but only if it promotes their self-development which, in its turn, is possible only if a nation is or strives to become self-reliant. However, in contemporary Tanzania the culture of self-reliance has almost disappeared since national ideology has changed, and many people rely on foreign aid and national government, not on their own hard work. At the same time, the union of foreign donors and corrupt national bureaucracy results in Tanzania in aid without development that, as in the case of aid for mosquito bed nets, cannot promote self-reliance and, hence, socio-economic progress.
Keywords: Aid, civil society, development, self-reliance, state, Tanzania

In 2000, the United Nations launched the MDGs campaign which was meant to provide a common framework for global development. Although perceived as a positive initiative, these Goals became a general recipe that international donors could follow, safe in the knowledge that they would not be harming recipients by doing so. Recent studies debated whether MDGs could even be attained by the end of 2015, given a mix of "good policies and financial resources." 1 The debate on aid lands on a very specific context in the Palestinian Territories, which have been under Israeli Occupation since the end of the Six Day War in June 1967. The Territories, indeed cannot be said to exercise the prerogatives and hold the responsibilities that define a state-like entity. According to OECD's 2015 list of 50 fragile states, with populations living on less than US$1.25 per day, 2 Palestine is not even a fragile state. It is a 'non-state' occupied entity, with no political or economic sovereignty. It is the victim of Israeli colonial ambitions and of donor neglect of its national aspirations to independence. Reasons for making Switzerland the focus of research Both the Palestinian economic and socio-political background as well as generic Swiss foreign aid have always been high-interest topics. However, they do not seem to be adequately represented in literature. Although Switzerland finds itself at the heart of the development paradigm in terms of hosting global institutions, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and aid donors, the current literature does not adequately cover Swiss aid. The same cannot be said about Palestinian development. Here, the literature is well-balanced, varied and responds to a multitude of research questions. This has also resulted in a great deal of research to be undertaken in this respect. Apart from its neutrality, Switzerland is also the host to many financial organizations. Some of these institutions are also active in the areas of international development and foreign aid. Although the Swiss Confederation is in a position to benefit from their technical expertise and contribute to