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Spanish aid / Activity Brief

Democratic ownership and mutual accountability

22/07/2008 By Paolo de Renzio, Lucy Hayes, Stefan Meyer, Felix Zimmermann

Democratic ownership” and “mutual accountability” are the two main fields of political contestation in the global governance of aid.

Democratic ownership describes the aim of extending the creation and implementation of development strategies beyond the government, and towards parliaments, major auditing institutions and civil society. Mutual accountability refers to the negotiation, measurement and implementation of the two sides of the aid relation: good governance on part of the Southern states and good aid provision on the part of Northern donors.

These issues are being discussed in a series of multilateral, high-level events in 2008. In June 2008, FRIDE invited three experts to Spain, to present aspects of the international debate.

This activity brief by Stefan Meyer, reflects some of the key points of the debate. Includes three short statements by the Felix Zimmermann, Lucy Hayes, and Paolo de Renzio.

Download the full version of this publication, available in English (104 kB)
Spanish (107 kB)

Keywords

Aid effectiveness Civil society Conditionality Democratisation Harmonization Mutual accountability Spain Spanish Aid

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Bio author: Paolo de Renzio

Paolo de Renzio is Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and is also currently Research Associate in the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford University, in the UK.

Bio author: Lucy Hayes

Lucy Hayes is policy officer at the European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) in Brussels.

Bio author: Stefan Meyer

Stefan Meyer is a Political Scientist (FU Berlin) and holds a Masters degree of the IDS Brighton, U.K. He worked as a consultant on aid instruments and in conflict impact assessment for a number of NGOs and for the German Development Cooperation (GTZ and KfW).

Bio author: Felix Zimmermann

Felix Zimmermann is Coordinator of the Global Forum on Development at the OECD Development Centre in Paris.