This review of literature and ideas from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) draws on the knowledge base that exists on institution building. It examines and annotates 75 pieces of literature. Between them they cover a broad range of countries; the authors come from several perspectives; there are different types of organisation that have attempted institution building; and they have applied a variety of methods towards achieving it.
There is a large body of literature on institution building as a development assistance method. However, there is also a lack of clarity regarding basic terms, with for example, no consistent definition of institution building itself. This hampers efforts to try to reach general conclusions about specific points.
- Institution building consists of two parts, activities that are ‘organisational building’ that improve organisational performance, and other activities that are ‘intended to change the mechanisms through which societies are regulated’.
- It is difficult to assess whether agencies are performing well or not when there are no precise techniques for measuring success and no firm idea as to how institution building is achieved.
- Nevertheless, it is clear that aid agencies perform badly at institution building. They are bureaucratic institutions that are financially accountable to their own governments and taxpayers. They are outsiders to the country they are trying to help and their understanding of the local context is limited.
- Aid agencies undermine public institutions in recipient countries. Intentionally or not, they attract valuable local staff into their own employment with far higher renumeration packages.
An overriding impression from this literature review is that there is a need to create a standardised evaluation framework within which to work. A typical analysis of institution building begins with an attempt to define the subject itself.
- Current frameworks are no more than checklists and these are in no way definitive. At the very least each agency should devise a checklist that they will use consistently.
- Those involved in institution building need to be sensitive to cultural issues in partner countries. More research is required to assess what this means in practice.
