Lesotho aid effectiveness study

2007
Irish Aid, Lesotho

The international aid effectiveness agenda is now encapsulated in the Paris Declaration. In Lesotho, government and most major donors have expressed a desire for greater alignment of aid with government systems and national strategies. However, such alignment is inhibited by weaknesses in the links between strategy and public expenditure plans.

Two Mokoro consultants, Stephen Lister and Ann Bartholomew, carried out a study to determine, in accordance with the Paris Declaration, how development partners can improve the effectiveness of their aid to Lesotho, with particular reference to Irish Aid and DFID. Aid to Lesotho is dominated by a comparatively small number of donors, with Ireland and the UK prominent among them, but harmonisation is complicated by the different mandates and modalities that are present. A key objective of this study therefore, was to highlight the need for greater aid harmonisation.

The study focused on; the role of donor aid; government strategies and framework on donor aid; dominant global aid modality trends and their relevance to Lesotho as well as recommendations for DFID and Irish Aid to maximise their aid effectiveness through aid harmonisation.

The people behind the project

Principal Consultant and Director

Ann Bartholomew