Ownership and Donorship: Analytical Issues and a Tanzanian Case Study

Ownership has joined a list of funder-agency concerns that in recent years has included governance, institutions, poverty reduction, sustainable development, participation, and decentralization. The definition of 'ownership' is central to an analytical discussion, whose meaning varies across donors, lenders and governments, in part reflecting the history of agencies and intergovernmental relations, and ideology. Understanding ownership also involves tracing the links between these delivery modalities and other mechanisms of the aid relationship. Foremost among these is the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process. Conditionality, defined as actions required of the recipient government in order to receive development assistance, is at the heart of ownership. Once the recipient and assisting agency establish a mutual-understanding, which invariably implies a diplomatic understanding between governments, or governments and multilateral agencies, conditions on assistance come under discussion. Being sensitive to the asymmetric power within an established partnership is essential to moving from donorship to ownership.