Aid – Debating Development Research

13/05/2025

The End of Development Aid?

By Aram Ziai

In the last few months, our object of research has seen some dramatic changes. I am referring to the de-facto dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) after the inauguration of President trump in January 2025. The USA has been by far the largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) during the past decades (although in relation to its GDP it has been among the less generous). In February 2025, the Trump administration has announced to eliminate more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and 60 billion US-$ in assistance.

01/04/202501/04/2025

Analyzing Community Representation in the Kenyan Aid Chain

By Maaike Matelski and Lise Woensdregt

Within the field of development research and practice, there is a growing awareness that interventions aimed at supporting emancipation struggles in the Global South should prioritize local actors and agendas. Consequently, community-based organizations (CBOs) are increasingly considered vehicles of change. But who are the communities that constitute these CBOs? To complement existing literature on CBOs that focuses primarily on Northern case studies, we decided to analyse this question in relation to two types of CBOs engaged in advocacy work in Kenya. Our findings testify to the diversity of identities, forms and goals of organizations that come under the banner ‘community-based’.

26/02/202429/04/2024

DFID 2.0…? Some Wild-ish Speculation on UK Development Cooperation, 2025-2030

By Andy Sumner / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

The UK will have a general election by January 2025, most likely in autumn 2024, perhaps close to the US presidential election.

The polls suggest a potential wipe-out for the ruling Conservative party, who have been in government since 2010. A majority in the House of Commons looks likely for the Labour Party, though it can’t be taken for granted and may be much smaller than the polls suggest. Although some kind of Labour majority seems the most likely outcome, it is important not to dismiss the potential for a coalition (e.g. Labour-Liberal Democrat) government if there isn’t a majority for any party.

03/03/2020

Re-Politizing the European Aid Debate

By Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez EADI/ISS Blog Series

The economic, social and political crises that have erupted in Europe in the last decade might be shifting the academic debate on the drivers of aid from the more traditional selfish vs. solidary divide to a -somehow related- new divide on Nationalism vs. Liberalism-Cosmopolitanism. Recent examples are the Brexit process, or the rise of populist movements in Europe. Continue reading “Re-Politizing the European Aid Debate”