Institute of Development Studies

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Browsing Institute of Development Studies by Subject "Aid effectiveness"

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    Finnish Value-Added: Boon or Bane to Aid Effectiveness?
    (2012) Suoheimo, Maria; Rugumamu, Severine M.; Sharma, Sundhindra; Kanner, Jussi; Koponen, Juhani
    ‘Finnish value-added’ (suomalainen lisäarvo) and ‘aid effectiveness’ are relative new concepts in the development discourse in Finland. As with all concepts, they have many uses. In this study, it is argued that first of all they have to be understood as political concepts which in themselves entail many meanings and which can be used in many different ways. As such, their political usefulness varies. Even if they have been prominent in Finnish aid discourse during the last few years, that prominence may now be receding. Whereas ‘effectiveness’ still remains as one of the key principles guiding Finnish development policy, the concept of ‘Finnish value-added’ no longer appears in the new, 2012 Development Policy Programme. But it is also in the nature of political concepts that, even if they come and go, the underlying concerns are much more persistent. In our case, the question that is bound to remain is whether a small donor such as Finland can make a difference in its development cooperation by bringing in something extra beyond the sheer volume of aid – i.e. money – and what that extra might be. It is this question that in this study is seen as representing the crux of the notion of ‘Finnish value-added’ in a broader, more analytical sense, and this is how the concept is used here. The Finnish value-added is thus understood as that ‘something extra’ that Finland can bring to development cooperation.