my name is Lodewijk Smets, trained as an economist at the Catholic University of Leuven. Currently I'm employed at the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IOB) where I'm doing research in the theme group Aid Policy. For my PhD I'm investigating to what extent external actors - multilateral and bilateral donor agencies - can influence the process of policy change. I am combining econometric, qualitative and modelling techniques in order to assess the scope for external policy influence.