Evaluation of the management of Danish development cooperation 20 years after decentralisation
The management of both Danish development cooperation and the management hereof has seen marked changes. To improve the quality of Denmark’s development programming, the process of decentralising bilateral aid management was initiated in 2003. An evaluation of the decentralisation was undertaken in 2009. Since then, many changes have taken place of the organisational structures of the aid management operations, of the international aid architecture and composition of Danish aid. Recent overviews indicate that in 2002, 60% of Danish aid was managed at the decentral level, while 40% was managed from head quarter. In 2022, the figures had changed to 30% managed at the decentral level. An evaluation has been initiated to investigate the evolution in management of Danish development cooperation with consideration of these broader changes.
The evaluation seeks to understand the major changes in the international context for development cooperation, how they have affected Danish policy objectives and how aid management changed in response. It assesses how relevant and appropriate they were in the light of the changing objectives, and identify strengths, weaknesses and lessons learned. Thus, the evaluation is mainly forward looking and focused on learning. The evaluation includes case studies with five partner countries (Ethiopia, Niger, Uganda, Vietnam and Morocco) and one multilateral mission (UN, New York), as well as substantial work at head quarter level in Denmark and with relevant partners.