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21. UK Research Aid: Tied, Opaque and Off-Topic?

Author:
G. Lee Robinson, Euan Ritchie, and Charles Kenny
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
The UK has considerably increased the amount of aid it spends on research in recent years. This policy follows statements by DFID that research is among the best ways of spending aid. It also follows the UK legislating a commitment to spend 0.7 percent of GNI as foreign aid. In pursuing this target, the UK has decreased the proportion of bilateral aid spent through DFID and has channelled more through other departments. BEIS and the Department for Health and Social Care have been big recipients, and research accounts for much of their increased share of aid budgets. The information associated with the majority of this research aid is vague, raising questions about transparency. A large amount of the research is financed using an allocation mechanism that effectively ties it to UK institutions. There are also questions as to the poverty focus of some of the research conducted, given the explicit intention of the UK government to find existing activity to reclassify as ODA following the legislating of the 0.7 percent target. We suggest reporting reforms that will increase transparency and allow greater scrutiny of the way UK research aid is spent. We also call for the UK to live up to its reporting to the OECD that all British aid is untied.
Topic:
Health, Research, Academia, and Funding
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

22. “Contractors or Collectives?” Earmarked Funding of Multilaterals, Donor Needs and Institutional Integrity: The World Bank as a Case Study

Author:
Owen Barder, Euan Ritchie, and Andrew Rogerson
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
We revisit the policy dilemmas thrown up by so-called Multi-bi funding (earmarked bilateral aid routed via multilateral channels), based on a case study of World Bank trust funds, given their industry-leading overall size and relative transparency. We update patterns of sources and uses of Multi-bi using the 2019 Trust Funds Directory and use this to derive a new Index of Responsible Multi-bi Donorship. We consider complementary donor motivations for Multi-bi, highlighting their perceived need to shift the focus of a multilateral institution faster than they believe possible through its core systems. We examine potential negative effects of Multi-bi on the distortion of funding choices available to client countries, and above all on the risk of “hollowing out” of the multilateral itself, as the locus of power and accountability shifts from the wider collective toward a narrower set of contracting relationships. We find that current trust fund reform efforts can at best partly address these dynamics, while the growing trend toward creation of sub-windows within the main core funding instrument could potentially make things worse. Instead, we offer a pragmatic two-track solution that could significantly reduce tensions between funder needs and institutional integrity. This involves (a) developing an improved battery of output indicators mapped to donor core contributions, to enhance visibility and results reporting and (b) routing new Multi-bi proposals increasingly through core governance processes, focusing initially on greater transparency and on demonstrating their additionality to donors’ core funding.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Finance, Banks, Donors, and Funding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Funding for LGBTI Activism in Europe and Central Asia: Comparing the Priorities of LGBTI Organisations and Funders

Author:
David Scamell
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Philanthropy Project (GPP)
Abstract:
In October 2018, Global Philanthropy Project and ILGA-Europe launched a new report comparing the key findings from ILGA Europe’s 2018 Funding for LGBTI Activism in Europe and Central Asia: Priorities and Access to Resources report with a deeper-dive analysis of European and Central Asian grantmaking data from the 2015-2016 Global Resources Report:
 Philanthropic and Government Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Communities. This new report provides a compelling challenge to assumptions about the funding landscape in Europe and Central Asia, with new data and recommendations for resourcing LGBTI movements at the forefront of progress and the frontlines of resistance. The report is a first-of-its-kind gap analysis made from two sets of complementary data providing clear pathways and opportunities for new grantmakers and additional resources to support this large and complex region. This research was presented and analyzed during the October 2018 ILGA-Europe Donor Pre-Conference in Brussels, Belgium. The research will also be presented in a wider webinar for grantmakers in February 2019, with joint advocacy between activists and funders to increase resources to the region taking place over 2019.
Topic:
Government, Political Activism, LGBT+, Philanthropy, and Funding
Political Geography:
Europe and Central Asia

24. A new funding approach could bring clean water to the world’s poorest households

Author:
Matthew Eldridge and Chloe Hauenstein
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. At the current pace, the world will fall short of meeting one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs): to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. Accelerating to meet the SDGs for water and sanitation will cost as much as $166 billion a year for capital expenditures alone. Although critical to global efforts, utilities and municipalities serving the poorest households face three large hurdles, resulting in a funding gap that prevents them from meeting customers’ demand for clean water: They often cannot cover their operational and maintenance costs through existing tariffs and transfers alone. Higher tariffs, without improved service, would create an unsustainable burden for the poorest households, who may prefer not to connect to piped services at all. Operating at a loss, these utilities are not creditworthy and cannot tap private finance to make needed investments.
Topic:
Poverty, World Health Organization, Water, and Funding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. The Private Turn in Humanitarian Aid

Author:
Jose Montesclaros and Christopher Chen
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
To bridge funding gaps in humanitarian assistance, states will need to re-examine their roles, relative to the private sector. Humanitarian technologies offer a potential highvolume, low-profit margin sector which can be an entry point for private companies.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Science and Technology, Business, Private Sector, and Funding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

26. Nepal: Why Funding for Orphanages is Harming the Children it Aims to Help

Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Elevate Children Funders Group
Abstract:
Private philanthropic support for vulnerable or orphaned children often has a strong focus on the funding of orphanages. Despite powerful evidence of the negative impact of orphanage care, private donors continue to provide large amounts of funding to orphanages through donations, volunteer tourism, mission trips and other forms of fundraising – adding to the pull factors drawing more vulnerable children into institutional care and away from family or community care.
Topic:
Children, Public Policy, and Funding
Political Geography:
Nepal

27. Haiti: Why Funding for Orphanages is Harming the Children it Aims to Help

Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Elevate Children Funders Group
Abstract:
Private philanthropic support for vulnerable or orphaned children often has a strong focus on the funding of orphanages. Despite powerful evidence of the negative impact of orphanage care, private donors continue to provide large amounts of funding to orphanages through donations, volunteer tourism, mission trips and other forms of fundraising – adding to the pull factors drawing more vulnerable children into institutional care and away from family or community care.
Topic:
Children, Youth, Public Policy, and Funding
Political Geography:
Haiti

28. Nepal Policy Brief: Why Funding for Orphanages is Harming the Children in Aims to Help

Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Elevate Children Funders Group
Abstract:
Private philanthropic support for vulnerable or orphaned children often has a strong focus on the funding of orphanages. Despite powerful evidence of the negative impact of orphanage care, private donors continue to provide large amounts of funding to orphanages through donations, volunteer tourism, mission trips and other forms of fundraising – adding to the pull factors drawing more vulnerable children into institutional care and away from family or community care.
Topic:
Children, Youth, Public Policy, and Funding
Political Geography:
Nepal

29. Haiti Policy Brief: Why Funding for Orphanages is Harming the Children it Aims to Help

Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Elevate Children Funders Group
Abstract:
Private philanthropic support for vulnerable or orphaned children often has a strong focus on the funding of orphanages. Despite powerful evidence of the negative impact of orphanage care, private donors continue to provide large amounts of funding to orphanages through donations, volunteer tourism, mission trips and other forms of fundraising – adding to the pull factors drawing more vulnerable children into institutional care and away from family or community care.
Topic:
Children, Youth, Public Policy, Private Sector, and Funding
Political Geography:
Haiti

30. Mapping Knowledge Brokers Working to Prevent Violence Against Girls and Boys, 2017

Publication Date:
05-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Elevate Children Funders Group
Abstract:
As interest has grown at the global level around preventing violence against girls and boys, a diverse range of actors from international and non-governmental organizations, government and philanthropy have increasingly supported efforts to build knowledge about the problem and effective interventions and translate that evidence into action. Many within this growing community of “knowledge brokers” have partnerships and collaborate on joint efforts, but there remains significant room for improved coordination and collective action.
Topic:
Non-Governmental Organization, Children, Youth, Violence, Philanthropy, and Funding
Political Geography:
Global Focus