Abstract
BackgroundNepal has been receiving foreign aid since the early 1950s. Currently, the country’s health care system is heavily dependent on aid, even for the provision of basic health services to its people. Globally, the mechanism for the dispersal of foreign aid is becoming increasingly complex. Numerous stakeholders are involved at various levels: donors, intermediary organisations, project-implementing partners and the beneficiaries, engaging not only in Nepal but also globally. To illustrate how branding and bidding occurs, and to discuss how this process has become increasingly vital in securing foreign aid to run MCH activities in Nepal.MethodThis paper is based on a qualitative study. The data collection method includes Key Informant Interviews, the review of relevant policy documents and secondary data, and finally field observation visits to four maternal and child health (MCH) projects, currently funded by foreign aid. Through these methods we planned to gain a comprehensive understanding of the aid dispersing mechanism, and the aid-securing strategies, used by organisations seeking funds to provide MCH services in Nepal.ResultsStudy findings suggest that foreign aid for the provision of MCH services in Nepal is channeled increasingly to its beneficiaries, not through the Government system, but rather via various intermediary organisations, employing branding and bidding processes. These organisations adapt commercial models, seeking to justify their ‘cost-effectiveness’. They argue that they are ‘yielding good value for money’, with short-term target oriented projects. This ethos is evident throughout the aid dispersing chain. Organisations use innovative ideas and intervention packages, branded internationally and nationally, and employ the appropriate language of commerce in their bid to secure funds. The paper raises an important question as to whether the current mechanisms of channeling foreign aid in the MCH sector, via intermediary organisations, can actually be cost-effective, given the complex bureaucratic processes involved.ConclusionsThe study findings are very important, for Nepal’s development in particular, and for international development in general. The paper concludes by recommending strongly that foreign aid should concentrate on supporting and strengthening the national government system. Complex bureaucratic process must be minimised and streamlined in order to provide quality care to the beneficiaries.
Highlights
Foreign aid in health, in the maternal and child health (MCH) sector, occupies a significant sociopolitical space globally
Study findings suggest that foreign aid for the provision of MCH services in Nepal is channeled increasingly to its beneficiaries, not through the Government system, but rather via various intermediary organisations, employing branding and bidding processes
We interviewed staff members in each project, with a particular focus on how they receive foreign aid, and how the money is channeled thereafter to carry out MCH activities
Summary
Foreign aid in health, in the maternal and child health (MCH) sector, occupies a significant sociopolitical space globally. We focus on how some of the organisations, involved in the MCH sector in Nepal, source aid-funded project contracts, by a competitive process of branding intervention packages and bidding practices. Nepal has been receiving foreign aid and technical assistance in health sector development, and that of other sectors, as noted above, since the early 1950s, at the time of gaining its first multiparty democracy [1,2,3,4,5]. It began by receiving foreign aid from neighbouring countries in Asia: namely India and China. Other major sources of aid are from international nongovernmental and charitable and humanitarian organisations, such as the United Mission to Nepal and the International Red Cross
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