A Journey into the Unknown

Abstract

Again and again, donors responded to difficulties by taking upon themselves even more complex tasks, until donor ambitions became, perhaps, a mission impossible. They did so voluntarily, since there was little external pressure to do so, and without knowing that the new approaches would make things easier for themselves or improve the chances to succeed, since in most cases the new strategies were untested. There was little discussion on the new theories of how aid could contribute to development, which the new approaches entailed, and little concern over the politically sensitive nature of the new forms of aid. The chapter discusses a number of factors that can explain how this could happen.