| Academic year: | 2010-2011 |
| Course code module | IOB004 |
| Semester: | 2nd semester |
| Credits: | 12 |
| Study load (hours) | 336 |
| Theory (hours): | |
| Practice/Exercises(hours): | |
| Other (hours): | |
| Part-time program: | 1/2 |
| Instructor(s) | Danny Cassimon
Nathalie Holvoet
Nadia Molenaers
Robrecht Renard
|
| Language of instruction: | English |
| Semester exam information: | exam in the 2nd semester |
| Contract restriction information: | |
1. Prerequisites
*Algemene competenties
- Theories of Development
- Module 'Evaluating Development Effectiveness'
- Research Methods I
- Research Methods II
- See also admission requirements on IOB-website.
*Sequentiality
None
2. Objectives (expected learning outcomes)
The objectives are structured per unit (see ‘content’ for more information).
Unit 1: Economics and Politics of Aid: an introduction (compulsory)
- Students are able to apply the insights of the social sciences, including political science and economics, to critically assess discourses and practice in the field of development aid.
- Students understand the motivations and institutional characteristics of the main international actors (multilateral development organizations, bilateral donors, international development NGOs) and how their interactions with national actors (government, civil society, private sector) shape outcomes.
- Students are familiarized with the evolution in thinking on aid, both by the donors and by critical outsiders, and are able to interpret widely used statistical data and indicators on aid.
- Students are able to take part in the ongoing debate on the role of aid in development, including its successes and failures, and acquire the basics to make a more advanced analysis of their topic selected for further study.
Unit 2: Monitoring and Evaluation (compulsory)
- Students are aware of the importance of M&E in the context of the new aid modalities.
- Students understand the reform agenda imposed by the new aid modalities on donors’ and recipients’ M&E.
- Students are familiarized with the various components of an M&E system (methodological & systemic).
- Students understand the importance of systemic issues and politics of M&E.
- Students are familiar with theory-based evaluation
- Students are introduced to meta-evaluation
- Students are able to elaborate/apply a checklist/assessment framework for a country’s M&E system.
Unit 3: Selected topics (each student chooses one out of three subunits)
Subunit 3a: Governing for Development
- Students are familiarized with the notion of governance and know which institutional arenas that it entails and which problems and challenges that it faces.
- Students learn how governance is assessed in different donor environments.
- Students are introduced to the most important data sets on governance, they learn the weak and strong points and know how to interpret and use these datasets.
- Students are introduced to the most important governance tools as employed by donors, and are aware of their strong and weak points.
Subunit 3b:
Macro-economic
and Fiscal Management of Aid
-
Students are familiarized with basic technical aspects of the macroeconomic consequences of aid (for exchange rate, fiscal and monetary policy) to enable them to read and understand technical donor (e.g. IMF) documents.
-
Students understand why and how macroeconomic management of (scaled up) aid has become more complex under the new aid architecture. They are aware that that different aid instruments can have different macroeconomic/fiscal consequences/responses.
-
Students learn how to make a country-specific analysis of the macroeconomic consequences of (an increase in) aid.
-
Students are familiarized with the basics of the budget cycle in recipient countries, and the theory and practice of translating poverty reduction strategies (PRS) into budgets.
-
Students understand the basics of Public Finance Management (PFM), and understand why and how donors use this under the new aid architecture.
-
Students are familiar with international initiatives to harmonize PFM evaluation (e.g. PEFA).
-
Methodologically:
Students are able apply one of the methodological evaluation tools that they have acquired in the EDE module (module II) to a concrete evaluation case.
Subunit 3c: Engendering Development
- Students understand the underlying rationale for engendering new aid modalities.
- Students are aware of the mutually influencing relationship among gender equality and empowerment on the one hand, and economic growth, human development and poverty reduction on the other hand.
- Students are able to compare their countries’ performance on economic growth, human development, gender equality and empowerment.
- Students are aware of the different policy approaches to gender and development and they are able to identify their countries’ current policy approach.
- Students are able to elaborate/apply a gender scan/checklist for PRSPs and sector programmes.
- Students are aware of approaches/tools to engender new aid modalities (from a donor and recipient’s perspective).
- Students understand the usefulness of gender budgeting to engender new aid modalities.
- Students understand various approaches and tools of gender budgeting.
- Students are familiarized with the application of gender budgeting tools and approaches in the context of new aid modalities.
- Students are able to apply selected gender budgeting tools and approaches to a country’s policy/budget cycle (in the context of PRSPs and sector programmes) or to critically analyze an existing initiative.
3. Course content
·
Unit 1: Economics and Politics of Aid: an Introduction (compulsory)
·
Unit 2: Monitoring and Evaluation (compulsory)
·
Unit 3: Selected Topics (choose 1 out of 3 subunits)
→
Subunit 3a: Governing for Development
→
Subunit 3b: Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management of Aid
→
Subunit 3c: Engendering Development
·
Unit 4: End of Module Paper (compulsory)
Content description per (sub)unit :
Unit 1: Economics and Politics of Aid: an introduction
(Robrecht Renard & Nadia Molenaers)
·
Session 1-5: The management of Aid
·
Session 6-11: The economics of Aid
·
Session 12-14: The politics of Aid
·
Session 15-17: The new aid approach
Unit 2: Monitoring and Evaluation
(Nathalie Holvoet)
·
Sessions 1-2-3: M&E in the context of the new aid modalities: importance of M&E and implications for donors’ and recipients’ M&E
·
Sessions 4: Recipient M&E systems: policy, methodological and systemic issues
·
Sessions 5-6: Meta-evaluation
·
Sessions 7-8: Assessment of M&E systems: application + discussion
Unit 3:
Selected topics (1 out of 3 subunits):
Subunit 3a: Governing for Development
(Nadia Molenaers)
·
Session 1- 3:
How significant is the governance challenge? An analysis of problems in six different institutional arenas
·
Session 4 - 8: How do development actors deal with the governance challenge? An overview and assessment of visions, instruments, toolkits and strategies
Subunit 3b: Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management of Change
(Danny Cassimon)
·
Session 1-3: Macroeconomic management of aid
·
Session 4-5: Linking PRS to the budget
·
Session 6-7: PFM reform under the new aid paradigm
·
Session 8: Application to (HIPC) debt relief
Subunit 3c: Engendering Development
(Nathalie Holvoet)
·
Sessions 1-2: Rationale for engendering new aid modalities
·
Sessions 3-4: Gender sensitivity of new aid modalities: experiences to date
·
Session 5: Moving forward. Engendering new aid modalities
·
Sessions 6-7: Gender Budgeting: basic principles, limitations, approaches and tools
·
Session 8: Application of GRB in the context of new aid modalities
Unit 4: End of module paper
Students are expected to contact a supervisor, choose a topic and write an individual policy paper (ca. 8,000 words). Please consult chapter 6 of the ASG for guidelines on how to write a policy paper. The assessment will be focused mainly on the relevance and soundness of the analysis, and to a lesser extent on policy advice and supportability. Students are expected to present their papers in a conference format. Please consult chapter 7 ASG for guidelines on public presentation. For more information on deadlines cf. infra.
4. Teaching method
Direct contact: LecturesExercise sessionsSkills training
Personal work: ExercisesPaper - individual
5. Assessment method
Continuous assessment: ExercisesAssignmentsParticipation in classroom activities
Written assignment: With oral presentationWithout oral presentation
6. Compulsory reading – study material
See Blackboard
7. Recommended reading - study material
See Blackboard
8. Tutoring
The lecturer will give immediate collective feedback in class. Individual feedback and feedback on final assessments will be given upon request. Feedback on the presentation of end of module papers will be given immediately.
B. Jacobs is the tutor for this course. He is the first contact person for content-related and organizational matters. He may help students himself or refer to the appropriate person if needed.