Record Details

Replication Data for: Affinity or Effectiveness? Donor’s Preferences for Bypass Aid

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: Affinity or Effectiveness? Donor’s Preferences for Bypass Aid
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DMQXTT
 
Creator Interactions, International
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description Western donors have progressively increased the amount of foreign aid allocated through bypass channels, particularly for recipients with weak domestic institutions. Rather than giving money directly to recipient governments, aid is given to non-governmental organizations working on the ground in those countries. Explanations for this shift range from increased donor attention to effectiveness, a desire to deliver assistance directly to those in need, and enhanced
legitimacy by working with local civil society partners. Donors, however, face a trade-off when deciding whether or not to allocate aid through bypass channels. Because bypass aid is not given directly to the recipient government, the donor has less leverage to prop up friendly regimes or buy policy concessions. We argue that as donors balance competing motivations, geostrategic incentives can, at times, trump concerns regarding best practices of poverty alleviation. Using data on bypass aid from 2004-2019, we find that donor’s commitment to good governance is ameliorated in strategically important recipient states. Strategic partners who improve their domestic governance are rewarded with less bypass aid (more government-to-government aid) at higher rates than less strategic recipients. These results highlight potential limitations of the good governance movement in foreign aid.
 
Subject Social Sciences
Foreign assistance, Bypass aid, NGOs
 
Date 2024-01-23
 
Contributor Interactions, International