Poverty Reduction & Participation

National poverty reduction strategy papers (Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers-PRSP) are being designed and implemented by many low income countries. Basic principles of these documents are the self-responsibility of the countries (ownership) and the participation of civil society (participation). However, in cooperation with the international community and within the different interests of each country, this does not always run smoothly. SÜDWIND has observed the developments in several countries and has cooperated with partners of church aid agencies. More

External Debts

Even after the huge international debt relief initiatives (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative - HIPC Initiative - and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative - MDRI), there are still many highly indebted poor countries. Some of them have even come again into a debt spiral in the view of the financial market crisis. SÜDWIND accompanied the debt relief movement long and is committed also to structural changes in creditor-debtor relations and the establishment of an international insolvency law for states. More

Budget Support

How can development aid achieve the greatest effectiveness in combating poverty in developing countries? In the “Paris Declaration” of 2005, more than 90 donor and recipient countries of development aid have adopted the most important principles for increasing the effectiveness of development aid. Budget support, and thus the direct payment into the budget of the recipient country, is part of it. How effective is this instrument? What kind of role does the civil society play? Where are the weaknesses? Which are the strong points of direct budget support? These and further questions are included in SÜDWIND’s research. More

Evaluations

The evaluation of direct and indirect effects of many projects and programmes of German and international cooperation is of particular importance. The SÜDWIND institute evaluates the instruments of German and international cooperation, by internationally accepted evaluation principles and techniques. More

Efficacy

In general, the efficacy of development cooperation (DC) depends on two factors: On the one hand on the quality of the available resources (e.g. direct grants for poverty reduction), on the other hand on the absorption capacity of partner countries to make reasonable use of these resources. SÜDWIND is committed to ensuring that poverty reduction and development strategies are accompanied by a strong participation and an improvement of skills and access possibilities of the people. More