Tackling rural poverty, together

Improving the division of labour between donors is a core challenge for the effectiveness of development co-operation

The Platform would like to draw your attention to the recent study 'Towards a Division of Labour in European Development Co-operation' from the German Development Institute and commissioned by the BMZ.

We consider this study a laudable act to break down the Paris Declaration from political to operational level.

In short, the study acknowledges that improving the division of labour between donors is a core challenge for the effectiveness of development co-operation. Because of high transaction costs of co-ordinating and harmonising a large number of donors, the Paris Declaration can only become a success if a division of labour is implemented. It states that too many donors are concentrating on the same countries and the same sectors. It thus defines complementarity as the optimal division of labour between various actors in order to achieve optimum use of human and financial resources, based on their comparative advantage. This can take place as cross-sector, cross-country and in-country complementarity.

Read the full study…