Aid Projects Research Articles

Are autocratic donors impeding democracy abroad? The presence of autocratic donors and citizens' perceptions of democracy

AbstractDoes the presence of autocratic donors alter citizens' perceptions of democracy? The paper argues that the presence of autocratic donors can alter citizens' views of donors' influence and support for democracy. The study analyses, on the donor side Chinese development assistance from AidData, one of the largest autocratic donors worldwide and, on the recipient side, Serbia—a middle‐income country where both Western and non‐traditional donors are heavily involved with aid projects. The findings suggest that in the presence of higher levels of aid from autocratic donors, citizens who uphold a very positive view of donors' political influence are the least likely to support democracy. The article proposes two main mechanisms: the attribution processes of aid and the instrumentalization of foreign aid by elites. The analysis employs a mixed‐method approach, combining mixed‐ordered probit regression of aid and municipal‐level survey data with insights from 16 interviews with experts on Serbia who have direct experience with aid initiatives or research. The study contributes to advancing our understanding of the impact of autocratic donors on citizens' support for democracy.

대북원조 역사에서 남북협력기금의 개발재원 역할 재조명: OECD CRS 기준 적용을 중심으로

Purpose: This study aims to elucidate the role of South Korea's aid to North Korea as a development resource and to identify its characteristics in comparison to major donor countries. Originality: For North Korea, where exports and foreign investments are limited, foreign aid represents a critical resource for development. Should progress be made on the North Korean nuclear issue, the demand for development in North Korea is expected to surge, and the role of the IKCF is anticipated to expand. This study is significant as a foundational research effort to enhance the utilization of the IKCF as a development resource. Methodology: It categorizes IKCF programs from 1995 to 2022 into development aid projects and projects based on the unique inter-Korean relationship. It reclassifies the programs using the OECD CRS and compares the aid patterns of major donors to highlight the distinctive features of South Korea's aid to North Korea. Result: Initially, the IKCF had a strong character as a development resource, but since the early 2000s, the proportion of projects based on the special inter-Korean relationship has increased, giving the fund a dual character. Since 2008, the significant reduction in aid to North Korea has diminished its development resource role. Comparing sectoral allocation patterns of South Korea and major donors shows these patterns vary depending on key donor countries, reflecting international circumstances and donor characteristics rather than North Korea’s needs. In the mid-2000s, aid through NGOs increased, focusing on ‘productive sectors’ despite criticism for small, fragmented projects. Conclusion and Implication: Given fluctuating international circumstances, diversifying aid to North Korea cooperation with other donors is necessary. To enhance future aid effectiveness, integrating small-scale development projects by private organizations through consortia and addressing sectoral imbalances from a long-term perspective is crucial.

The spatial impact of international reconstruction aid in the aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake

The 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal caused significant property and life loss, triggering a large influx of international reconstruction aid. This paper investigates the spatial implications of this international aid, particularly in Lalitpur. It examines how aid from NGOs and bilateral and multilateral agencies affects urban spaces, including rent, land values, and infrastructure distribution. The study focuses on Wards hosting aid projects and personnel and compares these to earthquake-affected Wards without aid presence as a counterfactual.Two key points emerge: 1) The clustering of aid organization headquarters (operational presence) creates negative externalities, favoring a rentier class over equitable distribution of housing and infrastructure. 2) Aid-funded reconstruction projects (project presence) shift amenities and businesses, accelerating inequity in ways distinct from operational presence. Two Wards in Lalitpur show notable negative impacts, including rising rents, changes in small businesses, and a shift towards catering to the rentier class due to the effects of aid.The research provides policy recommendations for local governments and disaster management authorities in Nepal to address these unequal impacts. Recommendations include monitoring and evaluating aid effects over time, collaboration, and the promotion of transparency in urban development and fiscal resilience.

BEYOND RHETORIC: CHINA'S PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN KENYA THROUGH A POLITICAL-ECONOMIC LENS (2013-2020)

This article explores the evolution of China-Kenya relations within the context of China's broader public diplomacy strategy, focusing particularly on the period from 2013 to 2020. The foundation for these bilateral relations was laid as China opened up to developing countries and African nations gained independence. While formal diplomatic relations between China and Kenya were established in 1963, it was during the 2000s that these relations diversified significantly under the leadership of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. This diversification spanned commercial, cultural, and political domains, becoming a notable example of public diplomacy. With the ascension of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's public diplomacy experienced a strategic shift towards a more assertive and politically oriented approach. This study argues that under Xi Jinping, new initiatives and strategic plans were introduced, enhancing the existing framework of China's public diplomacy. A key element of this transformation was the increased emphasis on foreign aid, which gained momentum through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Between 2013 and 2020, China's foreign aid to Kenya played a pivotal role in reshaping the structure of Chinese public diplomacy. This period saw a continuation and expansion of activities in culture and media, established in earlier phases, alongside a growing focus on infrastructure development, humanitarian aid, healthcare assistance, and educational and cultural projects. The study begins by examining traditional public diplomacy tools such as cultural exchanges, high-level visits, and educational initiatives. It then discusses specific projects implemented between 2013 and 2020, analyzing their contributions to public diplomacy efforts. Finally, the article provides an overview of these projects, as documented in AidData, highlighting their impact on the bilateral relations between China and Kenya.

Opioids and personalized analgesia in the perioperative setting: A protocol for five systematic reviews.

Treatment with opioids is a mainstay in perioperative pain management. While the leading treatment paradigm has been procedure-specific pain management, efforts regarding personalized pain treatment are increasing. The OPI•AID project aims to develop personalized algorithms for perioperative pain management, taking demographic, surgical, and anaesthesiologic factors into account. We will undertake five parallel reviews to illuminate current evidence on different aspects of individual responses to perioperative opioid treatment. Inclusion of adult populations in English-written studies. Review-specific searches are developed for the following databases: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, clinicaltrials.gov, and clinicaltrial.eu. Two authors will independently screen citations, extract data, and assess the risks of bias in each review (QUIPS, PROBAST and RoB2, as relevant). These reviews will evaluate various aspects of perioperative opioid treatment, including individualized treatment strategies, selection of specific opioids, and individual patient responses. These will guide future development of a personalized perioperative opioid treatment algorithm (OPI•AID) that will be validated and tested clinically against standard of care.

U.S. Development Assistance, Democratization and State-Building in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article investigates the U.S. development assistance role in democratization, state-building and sustainable growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The OECD and USAID reports and selected projects (2015-2022) were used to examine and analyze the U.S. development assistance in the democratization process and state-building. The statistical data on the U.S. aid allocation and projects comes largely from the OECD's annual publications and USAID reports. Because of different periods, approaches and priorities, this paper placed the U.S. development assistance in the historical context. The analysis of different democratization and state-building projects indicated the extent to which the programs implemented have generated desired progress and development.

The Impact of Foreign Aid on Local Development: A Grid Cell Analysis

We examine whether geocoded World Bank foreign aid projects affect economic activity at the level of equally sized grid cells with a spatial resolution of 0.5 decimal degrees latitude and longitude. We use geospatial data for 58,676 grid cells during the period 1997-2013 with about one million grid-by-year observations. Using fixed effects estimating techniques, we evaluate the impact of World Bank foreign aid projects on grid cell night-time light growth. The estimates reveal that World Bank foreign aid projects contribute significantly and positively to grid cell economic activity measured by night-time light growth. We complement the fast-growing literature using geocoded data to assess aid effectiveness at the subnational level. We provide evidence that the lack of robust empirical findings at the country and subnational (e.g., ADM1 and ADM2) level can be explained due to spatial aggregation and the choice of spatial units. Additional estimates and robustness tests further corroborate our main findings.

Deciphering China’s higher education outreach paradigm in Southeast Asia: can a neo-tributary perspective work?

AbstractChina’s unprecedented economic rise has fueled scholarly debates about its mentality of power strategy. Pundits have approached China’s strategic objectives through its higher education outreach, with Confucius Institute expansion and international student recruitment as two mostly discussed pathways. Whereas their efforts have been largely oriented by Western lexicon including soft power and center-periphery dichotomy. China’s emerging engagements in higher education aid projects and partnerships, particularly along the Belt and Road, are rarely noticed. Adopting the Chinese history-based neo-tributary perspective as the theoretical lens, this study (re)conceptualizes China’s paradigm for global rise through its higher education export to Southeast Asia, encompassing language training, educational development assistance, student mobility, and institution/program partnerships. Data was collected from documentation, institutional data, and semi-structured interviews with 40 informants from Sino-Cambodian higher education programs. The results suggest that universities serve as a showcase for a more pragmatic Chinese exceptionalism, in which traditional Chinese worldview has been incorporated with scientific outward-looking Western ideals. A cultural recognition-seeking tactic has been experimented through telling stories of China’s attractive contemporary cultures and values in educational practices. China has relied more on utilizing higher education as a tool for short-lived economic incentives, diplomatic alliances, and image-building activities to yield quick returns. However, concrete higher education outreach practices remain scant. Neo-tributary perspective is helpful in systematically examining China’s power projection but still confined to its simplified presuppositions of Sino-centrism. It should integrate pluralistic concepts like tianxia and knowledge diplomacy to unveil China’s interactions with the ‘Global South’ and the ‘Global North’.

The use of digital platforms by citizen aid actors during the Ukraine humanitarian crisis

Following the Ukraine humanitarian crisis, which was a result of the war in Ukraine, ordinary citizens stepped up to spontaneously coordinate various humanitarian responses to support affected populations. In this article such individuals who founded or coordinated this form of spontaneous humanitarian aid are referred to as citizen aid actors (CAA). This paper explores the work of citizen aid actors in Poland, a country which received many of the people displaced by the war in Ukraine. The study applies the concept of digital affordances to illustrate and argue that citizen aid actors relied on the features available on digital platforms to attain their goals. It is an outcome of a qualitative research approach where interviews, participant observation, and analysis of relevant online material about the studied citizen aid actors were used as methods of collecting data. The findings indicate that these actors used diverse digital platforms at different stages of the humanitarian aid projects, from establishment, organization and sustenance. While this study demonstrates how specific digital platforms contributed to the accomplishment of the work done by CAAs, it also highlights how problematic it can be when the actors largely rely on digital platforms. As such, potential risks associated with overreliance on digital platforms as a way of implementing projects are factored in. Ensuing concerns include the presence of online trolls, the spreading of fake news, and internet disruptions as potential obstacles for the success of the aid projects.

Exploring China's "The Belt and Road" Sports Foreign Aid Initiatives

This study conducted interviews with coaches from Hunan Institute of Science and Technology who participated in the foreign aid management of the " Belt and Road " sports foreign aid project and athletes from aided countries, discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by foreign sports aid, and evaluated the experiences of foreign athletes from foreign aid in sports foreign aid. The results showed that Hunan Institute of Science Technology provided technical assistance to recipient countries and provided high-quality training facilities and systematic training plans to enhance the competitive ability of athletes in recipient countries. In terms of management mechanism, the university has established a team leader responsibility system and multi-department coordination and management to ensure the smooth progress of the project. Regarding the training plan, coaches formulate scientific and systematic plans in strict accordance with the characteristics of the project and the athlete's skill level to ensure the steady improvement of athletes' training performance. In terms of cultural exchanges, the university actively participates in international cooperation to promote national sports. However, the translator team faced the challenge of language and cultural differences and needs to strengthen foreign language communication and professional translation skills. Coaches had solid basic theoretical knowledge and professional technical level, but language, culture and other factors may cause communication and understanding barriers. The university provided comprehensive logistical support, but needed to adapt to the needs of different cultural backgrounds. Future research directions mainly focus on the following aspects, explore more diverse athletes and coaches, consider the responses of underage athletes, use focus groups to conduct research, pay attention to the sustainable development of projects, strengthen technological innovation, and strengthen cultural exchanges to promote the development of sports foreign aid projects.

Foreign Aid, Norm Diffusion, and Local Support for Gender Equality: Comparing Evidence from the World Bank and China's Aid Projects in Africa

Foreign Aid, Norm Diffusion, and Local Support for Gender Equality: Comparing Evidence from the World Bank and China's Aid Projects in Africa

Understanding Syrian migration in Lebanon: a methodological framework.

Wars, crises, and climate change are just a few of the worldwide concerns that have resulted in the forced relocation of millions of people. After 12 years of conflict in Syria, millions of Syrians are still displaced in the neighbouring countries, and their conditions have worsened due to the economic and socio-political crisis of the region. This paper reports on a study conducted in Lebanon as part of the EU Horizon-funded project ADMIGOV - Advancing Alternative Migration Governance. It describes the methodological framework used to study Syrian migration in Lebanon and sheds light on the phenomenon's patterns, challenges, and impacts. In our study, we opted for a mixed method. It is built on a large corpus of primary data collected over the course of years of intensive, in-depth fieldwork and the author's immersion in the community. Alongside observations, quantitative and qualitative phone interviews were conducted to obtain the perceptions of displaced Syrians living in informal tented settlements in rural Lebanon and an incomplete building in the city of Saida. This interview data is accompanied by primary and secondary data sources, including the findings of other European research projects, statistics from UNHCR and IOM, and academic and press articles. Our research revealed the difficulties Syrians displaced in Lebanon encounter while navigating the challenging situation they are trapped in. Based on a case study approach, it unveils similarities and differences determined by the government's no encampment policy that led to self-settled practices across the country. This approach helped in understanding the challenging dynamic created by weak public institutions and their failure to guarantee the observance of basic human rights, compromising displaced Syrians safety. The weakness of public institutions and their failure to guarantee the observance of basic human rights has compromised displaced safety. Moreover, even though the development interventions and aid assistance have been necessary for Syrians' survival, they proved insufficient, and unequally distributed by location evidencing the inefficiencies of the majority of development aid projects. The findings contribute to an enriched understanding of the situation of Syrians in Lebanon and offer insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working in the field of forced migration and humanitarian responses.

Aid and child health: A disaggregated analysis of the effects of aid on impaired growth

Motivated by a recent setback in the fight against child malnutrition, this study explores whether aid projects help reduce stunting or impaired growth among children close to project sites. Focusing on Malawi, a country with a very high stunting prevalence for which we have access to geo-referenced data on aid projects from a broad range of donors, we geographically match spatial data on 778 aid project sites of 22 different donors with anthropometric and background data on 26,604 children under the age of five. The detailed data allows for a disaggregated analysis comparing local aid impacts by types of aid, donor- and recipient groups. To identify the effect of aid, we rely on spatial and temporal variation in aid project coverage and survey rollout, coupled with variation in the child’s age at aid exposure. The empirical results consistently indicate a positive impact of early-life aid exposure on child growth. The positive treatment effect is seemingly driven primarily by multilateral aid and is stronger in rural areas. On the other hand, we observe little heterogeneity by aid type and across socio-economic recipient groups, signaling that the treatment effect stems from improvements across the board in aid receiving areas rather than by interventions targeting the most vulnerable groups. In terms of mechanisms, the results of the mediation analysis underscore the influence of distal determinants of stunting, such as the improved economic conditions of households, which are likely to impact more proximal determinants downstream.

Sustaining foreign aid initiatives in the field of media and information literacy within the central asian context

In the ever-evolving landscape of global media and information dissemination, the need for literacy and critical understanding has become increasingly paramount. Central Asia, with its unique cultural tapestry and geopolitical challenges, stands as a region ripe for intervention in the realm of media and information literacy (MIL). This research paper examines the endeavours to attain sustainability in international MIL projects within the distinctive context of Central Asia. Through a multi-faceted approach incorporating in-depth interviews with prominent media trainers and MIL experts and research works from Central Asian scholars, the study offers a comprehensive exploration of the sustainability landscape in the region. This study delves into the challenges and strategies associated with sustaining MIL initiatives, shedding light on the intricacies of fostering MIL in Central Asia. Findings highlight the importance of local partnerships, contextualization of interventions, resource allocation, technology integration, and policy advocacy in promoting sustainable MIL practices. Through a comprehensive review of existing literature, policy documents, and empirical data, this paper sheds light on the various dimensions of foreign aid projects in MIL. The paper provides valuable guidance for policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders involved in advancing MIL efforts in Central Asia and beyond.

Europe and Arab States’ Migration-related Instruments with Africa: Dilemma of Soft Power and Conflictual Interests

The national and regional interests of the European Union, oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council and Africa are conflictual in addressing international labour migration. This underscores the structure and ineffectiveness of bilateral migration instruments. The European Union canvasses for migrants’ returns, readmission and outsourcing of national border controls; Arab states show reluctance to stop the predominant employer–sponsorship system that curtails labour migrants’ human rights, while African states detest migrants’ return and readmission, and prefer liberalisation of legal migration and flow of remittances. This article is anchored on the hegemonic stability and regime frame of interventionist liberalism theoretical perspectives to highlight Europe’s soft power in migration partnerships or agreements deployed via financial aid and development projects as a way to drive the migration-development-security nexus with African countries. Essentially, African states’ asymmetric economic relationship with Europe has accentuated the carrot-and-stick approach, while Arab states’ slow pace in allowing the mobility of African labour migrants has led to a reduction in remittance flows. It is recommended that the dialogues between the regional blocs and countries leading to labour migration agreements must find a common ground of mutual interests for effective partnerships to emerge.

Foreign Aid, Violence, and Electoral Support in Developing Countries: Experimental Evidence From the Philippines

Election-related violence is rampant in many developing countries that receive foreign aid. However, it is not well understood why voters often elect representatives who are associated with such violence. In this article, I investigate why voters might support politicians who resort to violence. I argue that the poor tend to vote for candidates who deliver tangible local benefits through foreign aid projects even when those candidates use violence during election periods. To support this argument, I conducted a nationwide survey in the Philippines that included an experiment about the effects of foreign aid and violence on voters’ electoral support for a candidate. I find that poor voters who reside in a region where basic public goods and services are deficient are more likely to support a candidate whose district has received foreign aid, regardless of her alleged electoral violence. This research sheds light on a mechanism that links poverty to electoral violence in less developed countries. It also reveals an unintended consequence of foreign aid: increasing the likelihood of electoral violence.

Genome-wide sequencing in children with epilepsy and developmental disorders

The progress of genetic diagnostic methods and a significant improvement in the quality of next-generation sequencing (NGS) have led to a revolution in the study of the genetics of epilepsy. Genome-wide sequencing (PSG) is the «gold standard» in genetic research in epilepsy.Material and methods. Genome-wide sequencing was performed in 168 probands aged from 1 month to 18 years with a suspected diagnosis of genetic epilepsy. PSG was prescribed to patients who, alongside with epilepsy, had delayed intellectual/speech development and/or motor disorders and behavioral disorders.Results. According to the results of PSG, genetic variants related to the phenotype of the disease were detected in 137 out of 168 (81.5%) children, variations in the number of DNA copies were noted in 14 out of 168 (8.3%) patients. Variants with unclear clinical significance were described in 35 of 137 (25.54%). In the remaining 102 out of 137 (74.45%) patients, the identified causative genetic variants were described as probably pathogenic and pathogenic. Monogenic developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) were detected in 37/137 or 27% of all patients, while the spectrum of these genetic encephalopathies was extremely wide (from DEE type 1 to DEE type 97). In 52/137 (37.9%) children, the presence of a specific genetic syndrome outside the framework of the DEE, classified in OMIM, was confirmed.Conclusion. The results confirm the high informative value of genome-wide sequencing in a group of children with a combination of epilepsy, intellectual, speech, motor and behavioral disorders. In most cases, the results allow either to prescribe a genotype-oriented symptomatic (less often pathogenetic) treatment, or rationally justify the tactics of further observation and examination, as well as to increase the effectiveness of medical and genetic counseling. The authors express their sincere gratitude to the Charity foundation for medical and social genetic aid projects «Life Genome” for assistance in conducting genome-wide sequencing of most of the described patients.

Circular Economy in Haiti and Least Developed Countries to Improve Social Justice The Missing Aspects of The Circular Economy Discourse

Current development aid methods implemented by NGOs have demonstrated to generate negative consequences as for example to weaken the role of state, create dependency and reproduce imperialistic power relations. Furthermore, despite great efforts, good wills and a lot of money spent by NGOs and international agencies for development aid projects in Haiti all along the last few decades, little to no results have been reached in a long-term perspective. The purpose of this work is therefore to present and evaluate a new strategy for the field of developmental aid, which is based in this case on the circular economy principles and that is intended to produce a long-lasting change. Circular economy is a relatively new method of thinking about production which will lead the economy of the future, however, its positive effects have been analyzed only in relation to the industrialized and industrializing world, while for the moment no studies have been produced to understand its applicability in the least developed countries of the world. Therefore, this article is of exploratory nature and aims to start a discussion on this subject and to contribute to the understanding of the benefits that circular economy-based projects could generates in fragile and failed states like Haiti. The method utilized has been the one of bibliographic research and a case study, which deeply describe a social-eco enterprise that works in Haiti applying circular economy principles to its projects, is provided. The results confirmed our hypothesis and sustained the idea that to generate long lasting changes and to improve social justice in Haiti and in the other least developed countries of the world, these kind of projects are more than necessary. While the main limit of our method is that we have been able to presents a single case study only, to conclude, we suggest that further studies in this direction and the provision of more case studies by other researchers could better contribute to the solving of the questions generated by this research and could provide more data in support of our assumptions.

Does Aid Improve Local Wealth? Micro‐Level Evidence from Africa

AbstractThis paper adopts a micro‐level analysis to assess the effect of aid from China and the World Bank on the wealth of locals residing near aid project sites. We match geospatial data on aid projects financed by China and the World Bank in 35 African countries between 2008 and 2014 to respondents from rounds 5 and 6 of the Afrobarometer survey. The results indicate that aid from these two donors increases the wealth of the local population. Our transmission mechanism test suggests that aid impacts wealth by promoting employment opportunities.

Following the money: climate adaptation finance in the Marshall Islands

The significant body of research on the distribution of international finance for climate change adaptation shows that it is not well correlated to the vulnerability of countries. Vulnerability differs greatly within countries as well, yet very few studies examine subnational flows of adaptation finance. Here, we present evidence of the subnational allocation of international adaptation finance within the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The RMI is a highly salient case as it is a small island developing state comprised solely of low-lying atolls that is both in need of and a recipient of adaptation finance. We describe patterns of adaptation finance in the RMI between 2015 and 2019 based on analysis of a comprehensive government database of bilateral and multilateral aid projects. We find that flows of adaptation finance were heavily skewed towards a small number of large-scale civil works projects in urban areas funded by multilateral institutions. Rural areas attracted smaller scale projects funded largely by bilateral donors. The overall distribution of adaptation finance across islands is highly sporadic, with hotspots of activity and areas of neglect. Our results suggest the allocation of adaptation finance to the RMI is insufficient relative to needs, poorly coordinated, and fails to reach places where it is most needed.