Open government and US development co-operation in Colombia: Lessons for locally led development

IF 2 3区经济学 Q2 DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Development Policy Review Pub Date : 2024-07-08 DOI:10.1111/dpr.12796

Jonathan Fox, Jeffrey Hallock

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Motivation

“Localization”—direct donor support for national organizations in aid recipient countries—has become a top priority for international development. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged to raise the proportion of direct funding to national organizations to 25% and for 50% of funding to involve “locally led” input. Independently, USAID commits to proactive disclosure of project information. This study analyses sectoral priorities, access to project data, and localization trends to inform policy discussion about how USAID can reach its twin localization goals, with a focus on Colombia, the largest US aid recipient in Latin America.

Purpose

An open government perspective can shed light on whether and how development agencies are making progress towards localization. Moreover, user-centred information disclosure by donors is necessary to inform locally led development. The goals of this study are to document USAID's sectoral funding priorities, gaps in data disclosure, implementation actions, and direct local funding percentages to make patterns more visible to stakeholders. We ask: What are the strengths and limitations of public disclosure of data concerning US aid in Colombia?

Approach and methods

This analysis uses open-source data review methods to bring together different sources of publicly available data. These methods include triangulating government data disbursed across multiple sites, recoding government data to make trends visible, and identifying barriers to data access.

Findings

Public data indicate that US funding for peace-related projects increased in the years following Colombia's 2016 Peace Accord, though the security share of total US aid remains high. Funding trends demonstrate that USAID is far behind its localization goals in Colombia, though absolute funding totals to local organizations are increasing. Finally, publicly available project data are not user-centred, require technical acumen to access, and are fragmented across multiple sites.

Policy implications

User-centred disclosures are key to locally led development to ensure informed participation and accountability to stakeholders.

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哥伦比亚的开放政府与美国发展合作：地方主导发展的经验教训

"本地化"--捐助方直接支持受援国的国家组织--已成为国际发展的重中之重。美国国际开发署（U.S. Agency for International Development，USAID）承诺将直接向国家组织提供资金的比例提高到 25%，并将 50%的资金用于 "当地主导 "的投入。另外，美国国际开发署还承诺主动公开项目信息。本研究分析了各部门的优先事项、项目数据的获取以及本地化趋势，为有关美国国际开发署如何实现其双重本地化目标的政策讨论提供信息，重点关注美国在拉丁美洲最大的受援国哥伦比亚。此外，捐助方以用户为中心的信息披露对于地方主导的发展也是必要的。本研究的目标是记录美国国际开发署的部门资助重点、数据披露方面的差距、实施行动以及直接的地方资助比例，使利益相关者更清楚地了解其模式。我们要问：美国在哥伦比亚援助数据的公开披露有哪些优势和局限性？本分析采用开源数据审查方法，汇集了不同来源的公开数据。公开数据显示，在哥伦比亚 2016 年《和平协议》签署后的几年里，美国对和平相关项目的资助有所增加，但安全项目在美国援助总额中所占比例仍然很高。资金趋势表明，尽管美国国际开发署向当地组织提供的绝对资金总额在增加，但其在哥伦比亚的本地化目标远远落后。最后，公开的项目数据并非以用户为中心，需要技术知识才能获取，而且分散在多个地点。以用户为中心的披露是地方主导发展的关键，以确保知情参与和对利益相关者负责。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Development Policy Review DEVELOPMENT STUDIES-

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

5.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Development Policy Review is the refereed journal that makes the crucial links between research and policy in international development. Edited by staff of the Overseas Development Institute, the London-based think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues, it publishes single articles and theme issues on topics at the forefront of current development policy debate. Coverage includes the latest thinking and research on poverty-reduction strategies, inequality and social exclusion, property rights and sustainable livelihoods, globalisation in trade and finance, and the reform of global governance. Informed, rigorous, multi-disciplinary and up-to-the-minute, DPR is an indispensable tool for development researchers and practitioners alike.