Report – Managing Aid Exit and Transformation
This is a report from an evaluation of the management of donor exits from partner countries and related transformations of aid relationships, an important aspect of development cooperation that has so far not received much attention in evaluations. The evaluation was jointly undertaken by Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. It contains case studies of completed and ongoing exits by one or several of these donors from government-to-government development cooperation with Botswana, Eritrea, India, Malawi, and South Africa.
Download "Synthesis Report - Managing Aid Exit and Transformation"
Download "Summary - Managing Aid Exit and Transformation"
Download in Dutch: 'Kamerbrief inzake Uitfaseringsstrategieën Partnerlanden'
While based on a limited number of case studies, many of the observations and conclusions presented in this report are likely to be relevant more widely. One overall conclusion stands out: planning for exit and handing over of donor-supported programmes that focuses on impact and sustainability of development results is the exception rather than the rule. In addition, systematic monitoring of exit processes is extremely rare. Despite the principles of partnership and mutuality enshrined in the Paris Declaration of 2005 and elsewhere, donor-induced exit processes tend to be overly one-sided and lack attention to the context in the partner country. The evaluation recommends that provisions for exits are made more explicit in aid agreements and that such agreements become more business-like.
The evaluation stresses the point that exit processes have unique characteristics and that planning for exit and aid transformation must be sensitive to context. What this means in practice is developed in detail in the five case study reports which provide a detailed assessment of 14 donor exits.