Harmonization of practices in financial management by development partners

Abstract

Donor assistance is characterized increasingly by high transaction costs and excessive demands on recipient administrative capacity. More than 60,000 aid projects are under implementation globally. In some highly aid dependent countries, the governments has to deal with as many as 800 new development activities each year. A 1996 academic study found that one country’s 600 development projects translated into 2,400 quarterly reports a year to supervisors, and more than 1,000 annual missions to monitor and evaluate the work. Naturally, each visitor needs to meet with key officials and each wants the government to comment on their findings. This is a growing concern as aid dollars shrink, and as pressures mount for fresh injections of aid to produce scaled-up results.