The Rhetoric and Reality of Partnerships for International Development

Over the past 60 years, the international development landscape has become far more complex. There is now a much wider range and number of organisations involved in some aspect of poverty alleviation, and an increasing emphasis on collaborative activities and forming partnerships to achieve development goals. This approach has been reinforced by the Eighth Millennium Development Goal, which calls for a global partnership for development, the emerging Sustainable Development Goals, as well as recent multi-stakeholder partnerships including the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, which evolved from the Busan Partnership agreement devised at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. However, there are many challenges to partnerships, both in terms of defining their form and operation, but also achieving sustainable, mutually beneficial partnerships for development. The advocating of partnerships in development policy suggests significant normative advantages to a more collaborative approach, however other literature is more cautious, highlighting a number of pitfalls including reductions in effectiveness, difficulties in implementation and conflicts of interest. This article reviews the contemporary nature of partnerships for international development, and considers their role in achieving more effective development cooperation.