New approach to ODA policies

“Europe has, in the last decades, experienced a number of success stories in moving out of poverty and onto sustainable economic growth. The secret of success has been the push towards economic integration and the adoption of economic reforms at the local, national, and regional levels conducive to economic growth. The recipient countries of development assistance have much to learn from the European experience” – argue Paolo Garonna, Deputy Executive Secretary and Abdur Chowdhury, Director of the Economic Analysis Division and Technical Cooperation Unit at UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). In a paper entitled Effective Foreign Aid, Economic Integration and Subsidiarity: Lessons from Europe, Garonna and Chowdhury propose an alternative approach to development assistance policies – economic integration and subsidiarity, which provides the conditions necessary for ODA to produce higher rates of economic growth on a sustainable basis. The paper, now available in the CASE Studies and Analyses Series, was presented at the Winds of Change conference in March. Excerpts from Paolo Garonna and Abdur Chowdhury’s conference presentation are available for online viewing at www.video.case.com.pl [Go to: clip 1, clipt 2, clip 3]