Drawing on decades of experience with international assistance in dozens of transitional countries, this guide seeks to explain—for the benefit of local governmental and nongovernmental aid recipients—the Western aid system that lands in their countries in periods of transition out of war or authoritarianism. The aim is to help recipients of transition assistance better understand how the industry operates so that they may find ways to ensure that their vision is supported, rather than hindered, by assistance providers.
The guide aims to clarify the kinds of international actors offering such assistance, their motivations and interests, the forms of assistance they offer, the theories of change on which their actions are based, and the sorts of operational issues that arise most frequently in practice. It is premised on the conviction that greater knowledge and tools on the part of those on the receiving side can appreciably improve the results of national transitions.
This report was originally published by the Institute for Integrated Transitions.