Reflexivity in Development Assistance

© Common Ground, Martin Karlsson and Marasu Yarime, All Rights ReservedThe concept of reflexivity has been brought forward as a key component of sustainability science and sustainability governance, being indispensable for sustainability as a process and a goal. The reflexive governance research field has started to produce some insight into what reflexivity could mean in practice when brought out from the hallowed halls of science into the messy arena of governance, but so far attention has been focused on First-World cases. This paper will explore how reflexive governance relates to the reflexivity concept, and how it can be applied within Official Development Assistance (ODA), especially in ODA evaluations. Two main obstacles to reflexive knowledge production in ODA are identified, being the duality of accountability in ODA and the resulting knowledge incentives, and the asymmetry in communicative capacity. Lastly recommendations are made to address these obstacles, so that evaluations can assist in achieving sustainable development.