Evaluation of international aid in Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

International Aid or Official Development Assistance (ODA), especially its implementation and effectiveness, has long been and continues to be a vigorously contested matter amongst the stakeholders in the development arena. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of ODA in two municipalities in the Eastern Cape – Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipalities – during the period 2005–2010. This period coincided with the introduction of the Paris Declaration (PD), an intervention intended to improve the ODA or Aid landscape globally. This was also the period during which the so-called service delivery protests in almost all municipalities in South Africa escalated. A diversified methodology including both quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in this study while adhering to the evaluation framework of the Paris Declaration as recommended by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This framework put special focus on the five principles of ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability. Of particular significance in this study is the special attention paid to the actual beneficiaries on the ground, namely the communities, which is contrary to most existing Paris Declaration evaluations. The research findings suggested that there had been no conscious efforts to implement the Paris Declaration in the two municipalities that were investigated. Furthermore, the prevailing weaknesses in governance, coupled with both administrative and operational paralysis in these two institutions, provided for less than fertile ground for this intervention to thrive.The findings also highlighted that ODA programmes were very poorly known by most stakeholders, especially the communities who were supposed to benefit directly from this assistance. These results also underscored the partisan nature of ODA and how it influenced the perceptions of the various key players. The success and future of ODA programmes in South Africa, particularly in municipalities, will largely rely on “Active Citizenry”. Although ODA’s contribution to South Africa seems negligible in monetary terms, its significance lies among others in the innovations, piloting, risk mitigation, catalytic initiatives and capacity development it introduces or generates and which need to be correctly exploited, implemented and maximised. ODA in South Africa should therefore focus at the local level, the municipalities, which represent the interface between the citizens and the state. To ensure that the ensuing innovations are optimally cascaded down in an organised and effective manner to where they are mostly needed, ODA should preferably operate at the strategic level in municipalities. This would in turn assist in counteracting the current high levels of poverty and inequality in the country. Study findings further suggest that South Africa should cease its current ambivalence regarding ODA and refrain from the so-called “Triangular” ODA in support of the rest of Africa. The demands in it’s own back yard are steadily mounting. This is clearly reflected by the continuous service delivery protests and instability in several municipalities in South Africa