Donor - recipient relations Experience of a transition country Development Centre IIR, Prague, Daniel Svoboda, IDEAS Board member, civic association Development Worldwide (DWW) DWW

2 Before 1989, former Czechoslovakia belonged to the (socialistic) donor community… In early 90th, we became an interesting target country for many international donor institutions… Czech ODA interventions were revived again since 1995, anyhow still with heritage of historical orientation, outdated models and ineffective procedures… And finally in 2004 after EU accession, we started the necessary fundamental changes of the Czech ODA system and the final transformation from reemerging donor to experienced donor country… We can compare…

DWW 3 STOP 1 - Historical heritage / ODA fragmentation Example one Limited ODA budget for more than 40 countries (for 80 with scholarships) cannot bring visible and sustainable results... Example two 10 line ministries are still involved in ODA management and decision-making process. Other line ministries and institutions are involved in „incoming“ development projects (Structural and other EU funds for NMS). The ministries and departments responsible for ODA and Structural funds almost do not communicate... If we are not able to share information and unify practices within the Czech Republic how we can assure open communication and cooperation with our partners?

DWW 4 STOP 2 - Recipient experience Almost no donor took into consideration our transformation needs, they have been coming as teachers not as partners… Example one Renowned donor offered a demonstration project and then protested against demonstration of the results… Example two Within the Structural funds, the final beneficiary is defined as a subject obtaining funds for its projects … what about target groups that should benefit from the project’s results? And, by the way, CR is the second worst country in gaining the support from the Structural funds… And almost everybody knows why… What is the sense of such interventions?

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6 STOP 3 - Recent donor experience ODA evaluations started in 2003, first Country Strategy Papers and new ODA regulations were approved in 2005, new manual for ODA cycle management was published in Too late? Example one There is still minimum reaction on evaluation findings and almost no results are shared with partner institutions although they are directly involved (and with tax payers)… Example two CSPs for 8 priority countries were approved by the Czech Government in the last year but almost no partner country got the translation of CSP through official channels. And none of them was asked for comments to CSP draft before approval… Paper led approach?

DWW 7 STOP 3 - Recent donor experience Example three Partner countries are invited to identify projects for Czech ODA but they are not informed about the selection process (and limited funds). Nobody cares about non-successful applicants… Example four Even the laic interpreter recognized during evaluation mission the critical factors of the project carried out by an experienced implementing organisation for more than three years… Example five We asked project beneficiaries to evaluate project progress and impacts. Neither implementing organisation nor responsible line ministry was able to recognize how the project influenced (in a positive way) daily life of local people. They did not care… Development project without developing partners?

DWW 8 CONCLUSIONS  We remember our problems with irrelevant support from international donors. We can also imagine the situation in developing and transition countries as we faced similar problems in the past. And we can also recognize the problems of the Czech ODA system. It should be our advantage…  Focus on results based and country led development cooperation is a clear challenge we are now facing. Anyhow, development cooperation must be about both-way partnership and when focusing on recipients’ needs we cannot forget motivations and interests of donors…  We have to communicate our approach, we have to identify mutual benefits and mutual responsibilities and we have to modify our ODA system accordingly. Participatory approach in all stages of project cycle and real cooperation that starts at national and European (donors´) level are the basic tools we should use. There is no other choice…

DWW 9 DWW - civic association for international development cooperation DWW, Máchova Prague 2, Czech Republic phone/fax: (+420) , mobile (Daniel Svoboda): (+420)