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Laura Torvinen |
Laura Torvinen has completed the
following studies:
Msc.
Economics, Helsinki School of
Economics (Finland)
MPfil Development Studies,
University of Sussex, Institute
of Development Studies (UK)
Her research is on governance
reforms in the case of
Mozambique. While governance has
been a central issue in
development policy discussion
for a relatively long time, the
concept has gained significant
weight over the last decade, in
particular in the aid
effectiveness debate.
The argument that aid is
effective in countries with good
policies and institutional
environments has been widely
accepted by the donor community
and governance has become the
new catchword in international
development policy. The aid
allocations of donors are
increasingly influenced by their
assessment of the quality of
governance and performance of
the developing country partners.
Yet, in the words of the World
Bank’s Global Monitoring Report
of 2006: “…while empirical
research links
governance-related institutions
and development, there is not
yet a consensus as to how to
approach governance and its
measurement” (Global Monitoring
Report 2006, Strengthening
Mutual Accountability, p. 11).
The emphasis on governance has
resulted in increasing numbers
of tools and indicators to
assess quality of governance.
Concerns are raised about the
transparency and reliability of
such indicators, particularly
because they are widely used as
the basis for decisions on aid
allocation.
Mozambique provides an
interesting case for analysing
the real life implications of
governance assessment.
Mozambique has gone through a
major transformation over the
past two decades emerging from a
deeply divided country at war
into one of the fastest growing,
politically stable economies in
the Sub-Saharan Africa. The case
study on Mozambique is mainly
concerned with questions such
as: Can the widely used
governance indicators capture
the relevant dimensions of
governance? Do the governance
assessments provide an incentive
for implementing governance
reforms? In view of the lessons
learned from Mozambique, are
countries with weak governance
penalised with less support when,
it might be argued, they are the
ones most in need of additional
aid financing? |
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