Earmarked funding and the effectiveness of international development organizations (EF-IO)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Glasgow
Department Name: School of Social & Political Sciences
Abstract
The EF-IO research program will examine how earmarked funding affects the effectiveness of international development organizations (IDOs) in addressing global development challenges. 'Earmarked funding' refers to financial contributions from donor governments to IDOs whose use is restricted to specific recipient countries, themes, or sectors. Over the past two decades, flows of earmarked funding to IDOs have increased tenfold, which has led to growing concerns about a decline in the ability of such organizations to allocate resources in accordance with development needs, increased transaction costs of aid delivery, and unhealthy competition for funding among IDOs. Apart from case studies on individual IDOs, our knowledge about the consequences of earmarked funding on IDOs is limited.
Against this background, EF-IO pursues the following research aims:
-- develop a theoretical framework to understand the variegated effects of earmarked funding on IDOs;
-- establish the complex relationship between earmarked funding, organizational performance, and project performance;
-- examine to what extent IDO performance is related to IDO effectiveness.
To achieve these objectives, EF-IO will use a multi-method approach combining qualitative analysis of 40 semi-structured interviews with development stakeholders, structural regression analysis of large-N administrative data at different levels of analysis, and survey data analysis at the country level. First, EF-IO will draw on semi-structured interviews with over 40 IDO stakeholders to establish the prevalence of a 'micro-macro paradox' of earmarked funding, whereby the availability of earmarked funding can bolster the performance of individual projects but at the same time undermine the organizational performance of implementing IDOs. Second, by extending the available data on earmarked funding and linking them to new data on performance, EF-IO will establish whether and how earmarked funding affects the performance of individual projects and their implementing IDOs. To that end, EF-IO will further develop appropriate methodological tools to assess the causal impact of earmarked funding, including structural regression analysis and instrumental-variable designs. Third, through piloting a survey experiment, EF-IO will examine how IDO performance affects aid effectiveness as perceived by country elites. To that end, it will build on a UN-administered survey with recipient-country elites.
Aside from contributing to several strands of social-scientific research, findings from EF-IO will inform the policy debate on earmarked funding. By providing fresh evidence on how earmarked funding affects the effectiveness of IDOs, it suggests avenues for reform of such funding in view of maximizing the potential of IDOs to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while considering the need for donors to ensure visibility of their development contributions.
Against this background, EF-IO pursues the following research aims:
-- develop a theoretical framework to understand the variegated effects of earmarked funding on IDOs;
-- establish the complex relationship between earmarked funding, organizational performance, and project performance;
-- examine to what extent IDO performance is related to IDO effectiveness.
To achieve these objectives, EF-IO will use a multi-method approach combining qualitative analysis of 40 semi-structured interviews with development stakeholders, structural regression analysis of large-N administrative data at different levels of analysis, and survey data analysis at the country level. First, EF-IO will draw on semi-structured interviews with over 40 IDO stakeholders to establish the prevalence of a 'micro-macro paradox' of earmarked funding, whereby the availability of earmarked funding can bolster the performance of individual projects but at the same time undermine the organizational performance of implementing IDOs. Second, by extending the available data on earmarked funding and linking them to new data on performance, EF-IO will establish whether and how earmarked funding affects the performance of individual projects and their implementing IDOs. To that end, EF-IO will further develop appropriate methodological tools to assess the causal impact of earmarked funding, including structural regression analysis and instrumental-variable designs. Third, through piloting a survey experiment, EF-IO will examine how IDO performance affects aid effectiveness as perceived by country elites. To that end, it will build on a UN-administered survey with recipient-country elites.
Aside from contributing to several strands of social-scientific research, findings from EF-IO will inform the policy debate on earmarked funding. By providing fresh evidence on how earmarked funding affects the effectiveness of IDOs, it suggests avenues for reform of such funding in view of maximizing the potential of IDOs to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while considering the need for donors to ensure visibility of their development contributions.
Organisations
- University of Glasgow (Lead Research Organisation)
- AidData (Collaboration)
- German Development Institute (Collaboration)
- International Labour Organization (ILO) (Collaboration)
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD (Collaboration)
- London School of Economics and Political Science (Project Partner)
- German Development Institute (DIE) (Project Partner)
Publications
Cormier B
(2024)
Informally Governing International Development: G7 Coordination and Orchestration in Aid
in International Studies Quarterly
Dreher A
(2024)
Aid effectiveness and donor motives
in World Development
Heinzel M
(2024)
Core funding and the performance of international organizations: Evidence from UNDP projects
in Regulation & Governance
Heinzel M
(2023)
Earmarked Funding and the Control-Performance Trade-Off in International Development Organizations
in International Organization
Heinzel M
(2024)
Trust funds and the sub-national effectiveness of development aid: Evidence from the World Bank
in World Development
Heinzel M
(2024)
Incentivizing Responses in International Organization Elite Surveys: Evidence from the World Bank
in Journal of Experimental Political Science
Heinzel M
(2024)
Issue congruence in international organizations: A study of World Bank spending
in Global Policy
Kern A
(2023)
Why cronies don't cry? IMF programs, Chinese lending, and leader survival
in Public Choice
Kern A
(2024)
Empowering women in central banking
in Journal of European Public Policy
Reinsberg B
(2025)
How Does Earmarked Foreign Aid Affect Recipient-Country Ownership?
in Journal of International Development
| Description | The award helped build-for the first time-a systematic evidence base on the effectiveness of earmarked funding in international development organizations (IDOs). Across different levels of analysis, we found that earmarked funding increases transaction costs and reduces aid effectiveness. However, earmarked funding also allows organizations to do more, by expanding their overall resource envelope. Earmarked funding thereby poses a tradeoff for organizations (and their donors) in that they must choose between fulfilling their mandate and doing it well. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding are relevant to both academics and policymakers. Academics benefit from our unique data collection to advance our understanding of the causes and consequences of IDO resourcing. Our new Earmarked Funding Database-including all earmarked activities of 50 donors with 340 IDOs in 1990-2020-allows researchers to examine the role of funding structures, rather than total resources, for IDO policy outcomes. The data have been publicly released in spring 2024 and attracted considerable interest in the research community. Following a call for papers on 'Resourcing international organization' in the Review of International Organizations organized by the project team, 21 research teams from all over the world have submitted draft papers on earmarked funding. Over seven papers have received revise-and-resubmit decisions, suggesting high chances for a special issue being published soon. Policymakers benefit from the evidence that the project generated, showing that earmarking induces performance losses and that these losses can be significant. Our analyses at the project level show that earmarked projects perform worse than comparable core-funded projects. At the organizational level, the results show that earmarked funding undermines the capacity of IDOs to deliver sustainable results. These results suggest that core funding is better value for money for donors. Donors should thus increase their efforts to un-earmark their IDO contributions. |
| Sectors | Other |
| URL | http://www.bernhardreinsberg.wordpress.com/efio |
| Description | Academic impact: We presented our project findings internally to our Advisory Board, at locally-organized workshops, and at international conferences. On all occasions, our work was well received and stakeholders engaged actively with it by providing helpful feedback. Project impact is further demonstrated by the strong response to our call for papers for the December 2023 Glasgow workshop on 'Resourcing International Organizations'. International participants used our new dataset to explore the causes and consequences of evolving resourcing patterns. Over 21 research teams submitted papers on this topic to a Review of International Organizations special issue, which our team is leading. Seven teams have received revise-and-resubmit decisions, indicating a high likelihood of publication of the special issue. Non-academic impacts: The project has already had tangible impact. Policymakers have received pre-prints of our outputs and expressed interest to learn more about our research during presentations with policy teams at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval), the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD), the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The OECD/DCD team invited us to organize and deliver expert roundtables for the biennial Multilateral Development Finance week. Our first roundtable in November 2022 discussed the latest research on the effectiveness of earmarked funding in international organizations. Our second roundtable in September 2024, co-organized with our project partner German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), focused on the impact of rising powers on the multilateral funding choices of OECD/DAC donors. Both events were broadcast to a global audience of development experts. Following the publication of our research findings, the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) launched its first-ever inquiry into multilateral development funding. The inquiry is interested in how the German government and its implementing agencies can strengthen multilateralism through appropriate funding choices, drawing on key findings from our research project. DEval will publish its evaluation report in summer 2025. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice,Other |
| Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Parliamentary inquiry on UK aid architecture |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/event/17656/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/ |
| Description | Research Grant |
| Amount | £491,124 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/W012332/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2023 |
| End | 08/2026 |
| Title | Tracking earmarked funding to international organizations: Introducing the Earmarked Funding Dataset |
| Description | Over the past two decades, the funding of international development organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, and other multilateral implementing organizations has fundamentally transformed. On the one hand, core contributions-unearmarked resources that are pooled together and allocated under the purview of the main governing bodies-have stagnated. On the other hand, donors have provided increasing amounts of earmarked contributions, which receiving organizations must spend on specific themes, sectors, countries, or projects. Despite improvements in the official reporting on earmarked contributions, we lack systematic understanding of earmarked funding and the stringency of earmarking from the perspective of implementing organizations. This is the codebook for the Earmarked Funding Dataset, which extends the coverage of existing data in terms of sample years and multilateral institutions. In addition, the Earmarked Funding Dataset allows for comparisons of the stringency of earmarking across international organizations as well as within institutional sub-accounts. The data therefore are the primary choice for researchers who study the resourcing of international organizations and its consequences for bureaucratic autonomy and organizational performance |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Researchers from around the world have been using our new dataset to explore the causes and consequences of evolving resourcing patterns. Over 21 research teams submitted papers on this topic to a Review of International Organizations special issue, which our team is leading. Seven teams have received revise-and-resubmit decisions, indicating a high likelihood of publication of the special issue. |
| URL | https://dataverse.harvard.edu/citation?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WCS99H |
| Description | AidData |
| Organisation | AidData |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Our team launched a partnership with the Policy Analysis Unit at AidData-the largest development research lab in the world located at William & Mary College. This partnership aimed to co-develop a questionnaire on the causes and consequences of earmarked funding from the perspective of recipient-country elites. In collaboration with AidData, we developed a survey module that was fielded in summer 2024. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The AidData team was keen to learn how recipients perceive earmarked aid, as part of its ongoing survey analysis on the effectiveness of foreign aid more generally that AidData conducts every three years. AidData has provided in-kind contributions to this partnership, including through the staff time of two policy analysts who co-developed the questionnaire. |
| Impact | No published output yet |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | IDOS Research Institute |
| Organisation | German Development Institute |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I initiated a research partnership with the IDOS (German Institute of Development and Sustainability). I first visited the IDOS in September 2022 to develop ideas for a joint research project with the Division on International and Transnational Cooperation. I also presented early-stage results from our project on earmarked funding that is directly relevant to the work on international development cooperation at the institute. Finally, I provided key data analysis on earmarked funding patterns by German aid agencies feeding into IDOS policy advice. In November 2023, I co-organized a workshop on UN funding reforms at the IDOS, which convened academics and policymakers to discuss common challenges to UN funding and chart out ways to bring this topic on the agenda in future major UN summits. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The IDOS team provided feedback on research outputs and co-developed ideas for future joint research. Furthermore, the IDOS team involved me in the drafting of a policy report targeted to the German federal ministry of development cooperation. The IDOS team hosted the workshop on UN funding reforms in November 2023, co-convened by me and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The IDOS team provide a policy document for circulation to key UN discussion forums (including the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024 in New York). |
| Impact | Baumann, M.-O., & Reinsberg, B. (2025). Pathologies in the United Nations Development System: the role of funding structures. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | ILO report on G7 aid for green employment |
| Organisation | International Labour Organization (ILO) |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | At the request of the G7, I conducted an analysis for the International Labour Organization (ILO) on how to best track Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending on 'green' employment and skills development (together with Pietro Bomprezzi from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy). This work was commissioned in support of the G7's 2022 commitment to increase, by 2025, the portion of their ODA for employment and skills programs specifically targeting green sectors and the greening of traditional sectors. Our report explores and improves methods for tracking these financial flows. We used data from the OECD's Creditor Reporting System (CRS), combining standard sector codes with 'green' policy markers to categorize ODA projects. Furthermore, we employed large language models (LLMs) for semantic text analysis, providing a new way to identify green projects using advanced text analysis techniques. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The International Labour Office and the German G7 presidency provided invaluable technical guidance for our report. Their direct involvement gave us practical insight into the complexities of intergovernmental work on development programming in the post-COVID-19 era. This collaboration not only deepened our understanding of current policy priorities but also spurred us to explore innovative methodologies, including the use of large language models. |
| Impact | Reinsberg, B., & Bomprezzi, P. (2025). Tracking trends in Official Development Assistance toward green jobs and skills. Policy report for the International Labor Organization (ILO) commissioned by the German G7 presidency. Geneva: International Labor Office. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development |
| Organisation | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Our team initiated a partnership with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Development Cooperation Directorate (DCD). This partnership led to several key outputs. First, I organized an expert roundtable on "Time to rethink earmarked funding practices? New data, new evidence, and new directions", with participation from OECD/DCD staff and international experts. The event helped raise awareness about earmarked funding and disseminate early-stage findings on the effectiveness of this funding to international development policymakers. I also organized the follow-up roundtable on "Financing international development organizations in an age of disorder", together with the German Institute of Development and Sustainability, for the 2024 Multilateral Development Finance Week. Second, the sustained exchanges with OECD/DCD staff helped us maximize the coherence of our respective data collection effort. As a result, our earmarked funding dataset is fully compatible with the official data held by the organization. Third, we provided input to the 2022 Multilateral Development Finance Report, the flagship publication of the OECD/DCD. Finally, I provided input to enhancing the user experience of the new OECD website, helping the development community locate data and information more easily. |
| Collaborator Contribution | OECD/DCD staff provided in-kind contributions to the project by making available staff time. They provided critical technical input to understanding the OECD/DAC Creditor Reporting System. They also provided comments on our own coding decisions and the draft codebook for our data. Furthermore, OECD/DCD staff helped advertise the expert roundtable in their networks to maximize its policy impact. Personally, their invitation to moderate the roundtable enhanced my public engagement and science communication skills. |
| Impact | Reinsberg, B., Heinzel, M., & Siauwijaya, C. (2023). Tracking earmarked funding to international organizations: Introducing the Earmarked Funding Dataset. Available on Harvard Dataverse (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WCS99H). |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | ARC Firsts |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As resident of the Advanced Research Centre (ARC), our team contributed a stand to the 'ARC Firsts' exhibition. Conceived and curated by the ARC Engagement Team, the exhibition asked the University of Glasgow research community to think upon their own research-inspired firsts. These might include the first time something is understood, observed, or demonstrated. Or they might represent a memorable moment such as a first job, book or performance. This diversity conveys the spirit of curiosity and discovery that drives, and indeed unites, research journeys across all subjects and topics. From the first direct detection of gravitational waves to very personal 'first moments' in individual research careers, the exhibition gave a unique insight into the challenges and excitement that goes alongside research and innovation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/311531/ |
| Description | ECPR Joint Sessions workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I organized the ECPR Joint Sessions 2024 workshop on "Interconnected challenges of global governance institutions" (together with Dr Ueli Staeger from University of Amsterdam). The workshop brought together a diverse mix of scholars from all over the world with a research interest in international organizations (IOs). In addition to funding, workshop papers examined contemporary challenges to IOs such as the role of geopolitics, domestic politics, and exogenous shocks. A particular emphasis of the Joint Sessions workshops was to build the capacity of early-career researchers and help them navigate academic work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/WorkshopDetails/14389 |
| Description | Expert input to DW news article |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I provided expert input to the news article "No G20, Brasil se engaja na reforma de órgãos multilaterais", published by Deutsche Welle (DW) (February 29, 2024). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.dw.com/pt-br/no-g20-brasil-se-engaja-na-reforma-das-institui%C3%A7%C3%B5es-multilaterais... |
| Description | Expert roundtable on earmarked funding |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I organized and delivered the expert roundtable on "Time to rethink earmarked funding practices? New data, new evidence, and new directions", during the Multilateral Development Finance Event Week. The roundtable was organized on invitation by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, hosted virtually on 30 November 2022, 15:30-17:00 CET, via Zoom. The event furthered an improved understanding of the phenomenon of earmarked funding, by sharing the results of latest research, policy analysis, and stakeholder discussions. Participants obtained clear quantifiable insights into the effectiveness of earmarked funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://twitter.com/b_reinsberg/status/1597152199402221570 |
| Description | Expert roundtable on multilateral development finance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I organized a succession of roundtables for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Development Cooperation Directorate (DCD), during their biennial Multilateral Development Finance Week. Following the first roundtable in November 2022 titled "Time to rethink earmarked funding practices? New data, new evidence, and new directions", I organized, together with the German Institute of Development and Sustainability, a second roundtable on "Financing international organizations in an age of disorder" in September 2024. The event sparked debates about the future of multilateralism and informed future research agendas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2024 |
| Description | FCDO Lunch & Learn 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our team presented on invitation at the Lunch & Learn series of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the responsible department for overseas development assistance of the United Kingdom. Up to 60 FCDO staff attended the session to learn about the results of our research while sharing their experience from managing aid. According to our FCDO contact, this is a "really fantastic turnout" for an over-lunch session. Our contact confirmed participants found the session "incredibly useful and informative" and indicated they would definitely like to take us up on coming back again later in the year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | French Ministry of the Economy - "Diversification and fragmentation in public development finance" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented on invitation by the Fondation pour les Études et Recherches sur le Développement international (FERDI) a commentary on an expert report by Alain Le Roy and Jean-Michel Severino on the effectiveness of the multilateral development system. This sparked questions and discussions about the role of earmarked funding in the multilateral financial architecture. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://ferdi.fr/publications/diversification-et-fragmentation-du-financement-public-du-developpemen... |
| Description | GPEDC blog on earmarked funding and ownership |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I published a blog on invitation by the Global Partnership on Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) on the effects of earmarked funding on recipient-country ownership, together with my co-author in this project. The underlying research used GPEDC monitoring data and established that earmarked funding undermines ownership, compared to alternative funding modalities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.effectivecooperation.org/blog_earmarked_aid_ownership |
| Description | GPN workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Under the leadership of the Research Associate, the University of Glasgow hosted the first Global Policy North Research Network workshop event. Following the formation of the Global Policy North Research Network in autumn 2022, these workshops will take place every 6 months at various institutions in the UK. The workshop advanced the research of all participants and stimulated discussions about the role of international organizations in a multipolar world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Global Political Economy Research Network (GPERN) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | In 2022, I launched the Global Political Economy Research Network (GPERN), a network of Glasgow based scholars committed to tackling global challenges through the lens of political economy. GPERN is committed to mutual support, inter-disciplinary exchange, and promoting research excellence. Our members are from all social sciences, including economics, education, geography, history, law, management, politics and international studies, public policy, sociology, and others. The key activity of the network has been a monthly research seminar featuring two network members who share their research and obtain feedback from peer members. Attendees find the exchanges uniquely beneficial in shaping their ideas and advancing their research. Since autumn 2023, I co-lead the 'Political Economy Futures Forum' -- a new College interdisciplinary research theme incorporating GPERN -- to direct future work on global governance and development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/socialsciences/research/interdisciplinaryresearchthemes/peff/ |
| Description | IDC inquiry on Value for Money |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Our team submitted evidence to a UK parliamentary inquiry by the International Development Committee on Value for Money in UK aid. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/203858/new-co... |
| Description | IDC inquiry on climate aid |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | As part of a team of researchers from International Political Economy & Development at the University of Glasgow, I submitted evidence to the UK parliamentary inquiry of the International Development Committee on climate aid. Our recommendation to the IDC was to commission an investigation into the intersection between the UK's development and climate objectives, focused on identifying ways that UK aid can contribute towards the just transition. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8549/in-development/publications/written-evidence/?page=2 |
| Description | IDC inquiry on development finance institutions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Our project team submitted to a UK parliamentary inquiry on the current foreign aid architecture, notably the role of the development finance institution British International Investment (BII), in February 2023. We examined the portfolio of BII activities, its governance structure, and made policy recommendations to help fill knowledge gaps on development finance institutions. The final report references our expert input on several occasions, suggesting that we provided key inputs and original analysis on the role of BII in UK development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/event/17656/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/ |
| Description | Interview with Deutschlandfunk (German national broadcasting station) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed by the leading German national broadcasting station 'Deutschlandfunk' to comment on the reform process of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The interview also covered the need for tradeoffs involved in different sources of finance to stem emergent global development challenges. The interview was published in the podcast 'Der Tag' under the title "Tagung von IWF und Weltbank: Welche Reformen sind nötig?"(13 October 2023). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/der-tag-nahost-dlf-785b0038-100.html |
| Description | MOPAN Technical Working Group follow-up presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I presented results from our research on the effects of multilateral evaluations on donor allocations of earmarked funding to members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN). This research responded to demand raised by participants of a previous engagement event with the TWG. The TWG is the main body that sets the standards and guidance for assessing the performance of IOs, with the MOPAN Secretariat providing a facilitating role in implementing IO assessments. TWG members welcomed the use of MOPAN data to learn more about the politics and effectiveness of multilateral funding. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | MOPAN Technical Working Group presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I presented results from our Global Policy article on how earmarked funding affects the performance of international organizations (IOs) to the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN). The TWG is the main body that sets the standards and guidance for assessing the performance of IOs, with the MOPAN Secretariat providing a facilitating role in implementing IO assessments. TWG members welcomed the use of MOPAN data to learn more about how funding structures affect the performance of IOs. They also showed interest in our data curated from the MOPAN reports and discussed the possibility for an in-depth follow-up meeting. Our novel methodological approach used factor analysis to unlock the wealth of information contained in MOPAN reports. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Political Economy of Aid Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I attended on invitation the inaugural conference of the Political Economy of Aid Society (PEAS) at University College Dublin (UCD/SPIRe) in October 2023. The event, supported by the Irish Research Council, SPIRe, and the UCD Center for Sustainable Development Studies attracted a mix of over 30 academic and policy experts to UCD for two days of discussion on current issues and research in the political economy of foreign aid. As a member of the program committee, I helped with the selection of papers for the conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Political Economy of Aid and Development Society - conference host |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In 2025, I will host the 3d Political Economy of Aid and Development Society meeting at the University of Glasgow. I therefore assume the role of local host of the meeting in addition to being a member of the Program Committee for the last three years. The meeting is a platform for advancing new research on aid effectiveness. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | Resourcing international organization: insights from a global collaborative effort |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Our team hosted the dataset workshop "Resourcing international organizations: insights from a global collaborative effort" at the University of Glasgow in early December 2023. The workshop marked an important step in building a global community of scholars and experts working on the resourcing of international organizations (IOs), following a call for papers earlier that year. Submissions covered any aspect of the resourcing of IOs and made use of a pre-release version of the Earmarked Funding Dataset, developed in our project. Over fifteen participants had productive discussions over two days and obtained feedback on their papers. Participants will work toward submitting to a special issue on resourcing IOs in the Review of International Organizations, which our team has opened earlier this year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://efioworkshop.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | Scottish Council on Global Affairs (SCGA) - Policy Insights |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In a blogpost for the Scottish Council on Global Affairs (SCGA), I offered a timely reflection on Scotland's international development policy, following the publication of the Scottish Government's International Engagement Strategy. This strategy outlines the principles and priorities underlying Scotland's foreign policymaking-from tackling climate change, increasing trade and investment, promoting human rights and sustainable development globally. The strategy continues Scotland's long-standing commitment to be a good 'global citizen', shaping not only the what but also the how. With strong roots in a feminist approach to international relations (FAIR), which I discussed in another blogpost for the SCGA (https://scga.scot/2024/02/21/scga-insight-towards-a-feminist-foreign-policy-for-scotland/), Scotland's international development activities seek to promote human rights and sustainable development in partnership with the communities in the Global South. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://scga.scot/2024/02/22/scga-insight-localizing-sustainable-development/ |
| Description | Scottish Council on Global Affairs (SCGA) - Policy Insights - FAIR |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I prepared a policy paper raising awareness about key principles and policy orientations of Scottish foreign policy, focusing on feminist foreign policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://scga.scot/2024/02/21/scga-insight-towards-a-feminist-foreign-policy-for-scotland/ |
| Description | Scottish International School presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I presented findings from a research program on sub-state development cooperation at the event 'Sub-state approaches to Foreign Policy and International Development' hosted by the Scottish Government's International School. The event, which took place on Wednesday 14 February 2024, brought together over 115 Scottish Government officials to hear more about why and how sub-state governments like Scotland engage in international development cooperation. In the subsequent Q&A session with Scottish Government officials, I discussed how Scotland could provide international development cooperation that is effective, efficient, and legitimate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/glasgowsocialscienceshub/resources/all/headline_1051433_en.html |