Striving for complementarity in European development cooperation : evidence from Burkina Faso and Ghana

EU institutions and member states have made several commitments in recent years to improve division of labour and complementarity, and proceed to joint programming of development cooperation. On the basis of country studies in Burkina Faso and Ghana, this report analyses the progress in implementing these commitments in practice. Transfer of management responsibility to EU delegations in the 2000s and the legal changes of the Lisbon Treaty have paved the way to strengthening the role of EU delegations in coordination at country level. The EU has become a major forum for coordination for all member states, reflected, for instance, in the intense dialogue presently taking place around the process of joint programming of development cooperation in Ghana. Implementation of the commitments, though, is not a straightforward process from goals to results. In practice, division of labour processes concern multiple actors, have political ramifications and impinge upon longstanding traditions of individual donor agencies. The linking of stronger internal coordination in the EU with wider donor coordination processes is also a central issue. ...