Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/273947 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2022/160
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This working paper provides a summary of three systematic reviews on the effectiveness of aid in Afghanistan, Mali, and South Sudan between 2008 and 2021. These three countries, like all other highly fragile countries, suffer from bad governance, lack of capacity, and violence. The systematic reviews provide robust evidence that aid interventions in precisely those fields are not effective. Aid cannot improve governance, build capacity for central governments, or stabilize the situation. The international aid community can no longer ignore this evidence. We need a change of paradigm in how we support the most fragile states. The prevailing 'grand vision' of fixing failed states needs to be replaced with a much more modest approach that aims for local, tangible, small gains.
Subjects: 
foreign aid
effectiveness
systematic review
Afghanistan
Mali
South Sudan
JEL: 
F35
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9267-293-5
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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