Finnish Value-Added: Boon or Bane to Aid Effectiveness?
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Date
2012
Journal Title
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Volume Title
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Abstract
‘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.
Description
Keywords
Finnish value-added, Aid effectiveness, Development
Citation
Koponen et al. (2012). Finnish Value-Added: Boon or Bane to Aid Effectiveness? Helsinki: Ministry of Foreign Affairs.