The Beginnings of a Strategy: The Leaky Boat

Abstract

The possible merger also impeded zeroing in on the opportunities and threats in the rapidly changing field of development cooperation. The central focus on governments as the main custodians of national stability and economic growth was replaced increasingly by a focus on market forces, civil society and good governance. In addition, relief aid started figuring prominently on the international agenda, sometimes at the expense of traditional development cooperation (see A/48/940: 4). The buzzword was ‘globalization’, and different patterns in global trade and finance emerged. The impact of these multifarious trends was unclear; would the developing world become further integrated into the global system, or would it be marginalized? In addition, NGOs became more prominent in development cooperation. For multilateral organizations the age of entitlement was ending; increasingly donors tried to tie funding to performance. As a consequence, the funding sources were either declining, or subject to increasing competition. Hence, OPS had to focus on its own functioning to be able to respond to a changing world. However, no central point existed within OPS to deal with such strategic issues.