6: Coordination and Complementarity of Assistance for Local Development
This sixth and final study will look at the track record of EU coordination and complementarity in the programming development and strategy formulation for assistance to local development. Contrary to what is happening at the national level in developing countries, aid which is focused at the district level continues to be channelled in a far more fragmented and less coordinated fashion. This study will stimulate and contribute to a multi-actor learning process on this area.
Lead agency: Sweden
Partners: Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands
The specific purpose of the evaluation of Coordination and Complementarity of Assistance for Local Development is to assess the European actors’ track record of coordination and complementarity in the area of programming and strategy formulation for local development. [1] More concretely, the evaluation will identify processes of planning for development by local actors and authorities, and subsequently assess the extent and impact of European coordination efforts in supporting such initiatives. Given the large number of European and non-European actors involved (donors, NGOs, specialised agencies and twinning partners) in this area, such a study should provide for an in-depth look at the actual use of coordination mechanisms and task divisions in a field which is increasingly important to development efforts.
It is expected that the findings from this evaluation will be of interest to several categories of stakeholders located at the national and sub-national level:
The national level includes, on the donor side, the country offices of the EC, MS and other bi- and multi-laterals active in this field. It also includes the country offices of international NGOs and twinning agencies. On the partner country side, it includes various parts of central government responsible for the delivery of economic and social sector programmes and for the administration/supervision of provincial and local government. It also includes representative organisations of non-governmental organisations, of local authorities as well as of the private sector.
The sub-national level includes, on the donor side, regional offices, programme management units as well as technical assistance personnel directly engaged in programming activities. On the partner country side, it includes the different stakeholders directly involved in donor-sponsored initiatives such as representatives of local governments, managers of technical departments, as well as representatives of non-governmental and private sector organisations.
Besides actors on these two levels, it is expected that the results of the evaluation will be of interest to donor headquarter staff responsible for policies and strategies with respect to support for local development.
[1]. It is hard to find a practical working definition of “local” that can be applied in every country. For that reason, definition of what constitutes “local development”, “local government”, and the like has to be done for each individual country.
