HOW WOULD YOU REINVENT FOREIGN AID?.
Overview
The world has changed radically since the emergence
of official development assistance and since the aid agency was invented. How
should aid change? Aid is by no means the only source of financing for
development in today’s world. Yet for the poorest countries, aid is a vital
source of government finance. Aid helps fund critical social services and may
catalyze other sources of development funding, such as private investment. In
the lead up to 2015, when many significant financing commitments for
development will be made, there is a need to be smart about where and how aid
is deployed, based on an understanding of how aid can be most valuable in a
given country.
In order to help bring attention to the need for
scholarship and fresh ideas in this area, and to encourage broad participation,
the Global Development Network (GDN) in partnership with the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation announces an international essay contest. The contest invites
essays on the future of development assistance. The primary objective of the contest
is to invite fresh thinking related to the future of aid that can inform the
ongoing discourse on development assistance and to make this thinking available
to policymakers and key stakeholders.
Up to 20 winning entries will be chosen, and receive
$20,000 each. An independent panel will make the final selectionsof the best
and most potentially consequential submissions, based on criteria defined.
Select winning ideas may be promoted by GDN and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation.
The competition is open in three languages.
Guidelines are currently posted in English. The French and Spanish versions of
the guidelines will be available as of 4 July 2014.
Essays in English, French and Spanish can be
submitted as of now on this platform. However, dedicated platforms for
submissions in French and Spanish will also be available as of 4 July, 2014.
The closing date for submisison is 15 September, 2014 (14:00 hrs GMT).
Theme and Topics
The themes for paper submissions are listed below.
The questions invite positive answers—for example, on how aid recipients can
better manage donors— because we are searching for solutions. However, contrarian
submissions are acceptable too. Although many of the questions are broad, a
strong entry might respond narrowly, for example, by proposing a particular
financial tool.
Instruments: Which financial instruments should be
used to provide aid, and what is the right balance among these different
instruments? Should financial instruments as diverse as loans, guarantees,
insurance, and equity be used and be mixed with varying degrees of
subsidization? If so, how and when? What are the advantages and disadvantages
of the different financing instruments?
How can we assess the contribution of debt, equity, and risk management
instruments —as distinct from grants—towards meeting internationally agreed
targets for human development—such as relating to health, education, and gender
equality?
Bilateral and multilateral institutions: How should
the donor “aid system” be organized? Some donor countries administer bilateral
aid from their foreign ministries, some from independent cooperation ministries
and some through aid agencies. Are there other options? Is there a preferred
way? What are the respective comparative advantages of bilateral and
multilateral channels to deliver aid?
Middle-income countries: If the main objective of
ODA is poverty reduction, is there a case to restrict ODA to the poorest
countries? What should an aid agency do for a country that has millions of poor
people and a space program? If one answer is to work with subnational entities
such as provinces and cities, how should donors adapt to do so? How would
details of risk assessments, national qualification criteria, national
borrowing limits, financial tools, and so on, need to be adjusted?
Aid and governance: Aid is often criticized for
reducing the accountability of government and funding corruption. Yet good
governance seems central to economic development. What are the ways for aid to
improve governance?
Recipient role:
Most discussions of foreign aid center on what donors should do, and are
generally shaped by donors’ perspectives. Recipient governments may have very
different views. How should recipient countries allocate aid in the context of
other sources of financing (i.e. where is aid most effective)? How can
recipient governments manage foreign aid to minimize distortions and build
their institutional capacity?
Data and information technology: There is growing
excitement about the power of open data as a tool both to inform policy and
spending decisions and to hold governments to account for commitments they
make. What will this data and technology driven transformation in the
development project “marketplace” actually look like?? How might citizens use
data to provide feedback on government services and development projects? What
will it take to get there?
Eligibility Criteria
Age: Entry is open to all adult individuals over 21
years of age.
Staff: Current employees, contractors and agents of
the Global Development Network and, as primary funder for this round, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, together with members of their immediate
families (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and those living in their
same household are ineligible to participate in the contest.
Countries: Residents of Cuba, Iran, Syria, North
Korea, Myanmar and Sudan are ineligible to apply. This program is void in these
countries and where prohibited or restricted by law. The verification of the
citizenship and residency of short listed and qualifying authors will be
verified wherein authors will be requested to submit proof of residency and
citizenship. The identification proof will be treated as strictly confidential
by GDN and will be used for purposes of the contest only.
Restricted individuals: Individuals included on the
List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List, available
at
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx)
maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets
Control are not eligible to participate in the contest.
Reviewers and Translators: Reviewers, selection
committee members and translators for this contest are not eligible to
participate.
The Global Development Network reserves the right to
limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the nomination process to any
person at any time for any reason.
Essay Submission Format
The format of the essay should follow the guidelines
given below:
Essay Cover Page: The cover page should display the
title of the essay and contain an abstract of at most 250 words. Information on
the author(s) should not be presented on the cover page or in the abstract.
Information on the authors can only be present in the list of referenced
documents. Essay documents containing author information in places other than
the list of referenced documents will be liable for disqualification.
Essay Word Limit:
The main text should contain at most 5,000 words,
not counting notes and reference lists. Sources should be cited consistently.
The abstract should not be more than 250 words and must be included in the
essay document.
Essay Margins and Spacing Requirement: The format
should be in Times New Roman, minimum 12-point font, 1 inch/2.5 centimeter
margins.
Essay Document and Page Formatting: The submission
should be Microsoft Word .doc or .docx format. Essays in PDF will not be
accepted.
Essay Language: Essays can be submitted in the
English, French and Spanish languages only. The competition is open in three
languages. Guidelines are currently posted in English. The French and Spanish
versions of the guidelines will be available as of 4 July 2014. Essays in
English, French and Spanish can be submitted as of now on this platform. However,
dedicated platforms for submissions in French and Spanish will also be
available as of 4 July, 2014.
Application Process
Submissions to the Essay Contest will be accepted on
the dedicated online submissions platform only. For detailed information on how
to apply, please refer to the Guidelines provided on this webpage.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 September, 2014(1400HRS
GMT). Entries received after the deadline will not be accepted.
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