University of Gothenburg

Courses

The School of Global Studies offers a number of doctoral courses that are open for PhD students from other departments and universities.

Upcoming courses

Making foreign aid work: Managing tensions between top-down and bottom-up approaches

5 credits
Study period: 19 March to 20 May 2025
Apply by: 31 January 2025

There is an inherent tension between top-down and bottom-up approaches in the management and implementation of foreign aid. Donors generally want control over goals, funds, policies and results, which has generated a wide range of top-down approaches to foreign aid, as illustrated by strategies related to development planning, public management and various results-based management approaches. At the same time, proponents of bottom-up approaches emphasize that foreign aid will work better by giving field agents the authority and power to use their own discretion and judgement in the delivery of foreign aid. Proponents of bottom-up foreign aid also emphasize the need for context-sensitivity and recipient ownership or the role of local institutions for achieving effective and sustainable development.

This course deals with the tensions between top-down and bottom-up approaches to foreign aid and practical solutions to overcome the contradictions. While the main focus is placed on conventional Official Development Assistance (ODA), consideration is also given to multilateral foreign aid (e.g. UN, EU), new donors (e.g. China and India) as well as non-state development agencies. The whole policy cycle is taken into account, from agenda-setting and policy design to policy implementation and evaluation.