The “international development architecture” is defined as “the world’s agencies, institutions and systems for managing the transfer of resources (finance and expertise) to, and development relationships with, low-income countries”.
This project recognizes that despite increasing emphasis on developing country leadership and ‘ownership’, the amounts of aid delivered to low-income countries, and the terms, conditions and modalities of support, are all typically determined by donors, with little input from recipients. Proposals to reform the international development architecture (even those that aim to capture developing country concerns) continue to emanate from donor countries or from international agencies in which donor countries’ views tend to predominate.
The project attempts to alter this imbalance. It will do so by increasing knowledge of southern perspectives on reform of the international development architecture, so that this knowledge can feed into, and influence policy debates and processes internationally and at the developing country level. The overall goal of the project is to advance a reform agenda for the architecture that genuinely reflects the priorities and concerns of low-income countries.
Download the final synthesis report:
The International Development System: Southern Perpectives on Reform,
by Roy Culpeper and Bill Morton
The research for the project occured in two main areas:
a) Three "theme papers" by southern authors that consider overarching issues related to the broad development policy framework and that are relevant to architecture reform. These are:
- Power Imbalances and Development Knowledge, by Norman Girvan
- Policy Coherence: Aid, Trade and Investment,by T. Ademola Oyejide
- Security, the War on Terror, and ODA by Kwesi Aning
b) Five country studies (Bolivia, Burundi, Nigeria, Sri Lanka,and Vietnam) by southern authors consider specific aspects of the international development architecture, and will make recommendations for how it can be reformed:
- Bolivia study, by Gover Barja
- Burundi study, by Dismas Baransaka and Astère Girukwigomba (also available in French)
- Sri Lanka study, by Saman Kelegama and Deshal de Mel
- Vietnam study, by Nguyen Thi Thu Hang
Key findings from the Southern Perspectives on Reform of the International Development Architecture project were presented at the 887th Wilton Park Conference in Sussex, England on May 19-22, 2007
- Download The North-South Institute's Wilton Park Conference report (July 11th)
- Download the conference agenda
- View highlights of the conference and interviews with guest speakers
Background material related to the Southern Perspectives on Reform of the International Development Architecture project:
Listen to the Southern Perspectives podcasts.
Read the following related documents:
- Southern Perspectives - Report of the Steering Group Meeting - Strathmere House - October 15-16, 2006
- Reforming Global Development Institutions:What do sixty years of reform proposals tell us? by Roy Culpeper and Sam Wangwe
- Southern Writing on Reform of the International Development Architecture: A Review by Bill Morton