AID FRAGMENTATION AND SWEDISH BILATERAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE

A recently discovered problem concerning foreign development assistance is that of its fragmentation. The concept of aid fragmentation refers to the composition of the flow of aid into a recipient country in terms of its origin. Highly fragmented aid is by definition that which is made up by contributions from a large share of the total number of potential donors. Sufficiently high fragmentation it is argued, has adverse effects on the efficiency of aid in a number of ways, some of which are set out in this paper. During the Paris High-Level Forum of Aid Effectiveness in 2005 aspects relating to fragmentation was brought to discussion. Following the conference, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiated a process of implementing a new development assistance policy. By examining data on aid flows over recent years, I attempt in this paper to find indications of any changes in the fragmentation of bilateral aid following the rise in consciousness, focusing on partners of Sweden. In addition I try to establish whether the presence of Sweden as a donor in a recipient country has a significant influence on the level of aid fragmentation. Results lead to my conclusion that Sweden, and the better part of the aid community, still has a long way to go in the process o