Evaluation report 2014:1 Complementarity in Finland’s Development Policy and Co-operation: The Institutional Co-operation Instrument
By:
Lucien Bäck
Mette Visti
Ziad Moussa
ISBN 978-952-281-209-4 (print)
ISBN 978-952-281-208-7 (pdf)
ISSN 1235-7618
The case study on the Institutional Co-operation Instrument (by the Finnish acronym, IKI) is part of a broader evaluation of complementarity in Finnish development policy and co-operation. The case study involved an extensive review of documents, surveys and interviews in Finland and in nine partner countries.
The IKI instrument successfully strengthened capacities in developing countries by making the considerable technical knowledge and expertise that exists in public institutions in Finland available to Government agencies in partner countries. The instrument represents a relatively small investment and is, in principle, well-targeted by building specific technical expertise in partner organisations through short-term project-type interventions. The drawbacks of the IKI instrument have been that it acted too much in isolation, and that interventions were spread too thinly over too many countries. Opportunities for co-operation with other instruments of Finnish development co-operation, and also within the context of partner countries, were not sufficiently used. The instrument has, therefore, so far failed to reach its full potential.
Recommendations include: a more balanced partnership between Finnish agencies and partner organisations; the possibility of links with South-South co-operation; greater focus on present and past long-term partner countries; a better integration of country strategies and regional programmes; improved project design and reporting; the improvement of the IKI website; streamlining and decentralisation of review and oversight procedures, including an enhanced role for the Facilitation Consultant.
Keywords: complementarity, institutional co-operation instrument, capacity development,
project aid