Panel 25: Can (Pan-) African Policy Initiatives Shape the Terms of Reference of the Donor Community?

Donors are important (external) political actors in the formulation of policies in African countries; they are thus a factor in local power politics. Against this background social science research focuses mostly on donors’ behaviour and policy-formulation. In contrast, the opposite relationship has hardly come under scrutiny. We do not know if and how African agendas have influenced the donors’ policies. This panel aims at answering the questions on the extent to which African states shape donors’ agendas.

African states have tried to gain ownership of donor activities inter alia through the creation of Pan-African initiatives which develop and offer “home-grown” solutions which compete with donor models in national policy arenas. Donors have committed to an aid effectiveness agenda (Paris Declaration of 2005, Accra Agenda for Action of 2008), which stipulates that aid recipient countries should “own” national policies and programmes and donors should align to these. At the continental level, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), African states formulated principles and rules which shall assure African ownership. What behavioural and institutional mechanisms are in place to effectively influence donors’ policies? How do they sit with older settings, such as the ACP-EU Agreement? How are emerging forces in Africa (China, India) influenced by pan-African policy initiatives? In order to explore the relationship, papers will offer in-depth studies of African initiatives and international donors’ instruments of cooperation.