aid effectiveness

Transparency in international aid is not just about fulfilling a requirement based on people’s right to access information, but also about making aid more effective. Based on interviews conducted in Sierra Leone and Liberia, this research looks at the information needed by in-country development stakeholders with an emphasis on accountability actors.

This briefing note presents a preview of key findings from Oxfam-commissioned research in Lebanon and Jordan and concludes that for assistance to succeed in its aim of helping both refugees and poor host communities there is a need for increased democratic ownership, transparency and accountability in donor and government aid policies. 

"The outcome of the Nairobi summit signals a renewed commitment to development effectiveness that is critical to ending poverty. Rich, donor countries must get behind this agenda, not undermine it, especially as our world faces huge, unprecedented humanitarian challenges," said Oxfam International's executive director, Winnie Byanyima. 

At a time of great need, aid and other forms of development cooperation are at risk. Representatives from donor countries and developing countries alike will meet at the end of 2016 to discuss the way forward. The direction they take has the potential to affect millions of lives, for better or worse.

Despite some advances, progress towards meeting aid and development effectiveness targets is flat-lining, according to a report published by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. 

Over the past six years, the International Finance Corporation has channelled over $50bn to the financial sector. However, the evidence continues to grow that this private sector arm of the World Bank Group has little control over how a great deal of this money is spent.

Increasing aid and making it more effective can help poor people become more politically active in decisions that affect them, while also supporting governments to become more accountable and plot their own path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

This study seeks to understand the strengths and challenges of working with national and local nongovernmental organisations in South Sudan’s conflict-driven emergency, and reviews how the broader humanitarian system facilitates or prevents their involvement.

This paper is one of a series published by Oxfam in West Africa since 2009 on the effectiveness of aid in the agriculture and food sector. It analyses the West African context and reviews ECOWAP by looking at the processes and complex institutional structures currently in place.

This report assesses the capacity of local humanitarian actors to deliver humanitarian aid in response to the repeated crises that Somalia faces. It is the starting point of an Oxfam project to build the strength of local humanitarian actors to deliver effective humanitarian responses.