BORA CMI: Filling "the Gap": Lessons Well Learnt by the Multilateral Aid Agencies

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10202/105

Title:	Filling "the Gap": Lessons Well Learnt by the Multilateral Aid Agencies
Authors:	Suhrke, Astri Ofstad, Arve
Keywords:	Multilateral aid Development aid Humanitarian assistance International organizations
Issue Date:	2005
Publisher:	Chr. Michelsen Institute
Series/Report no.:	CMI Working paper WP 2005: 14
Abstract:	An assumed gap between relief and development assistance was widely discussed in the 1990s. Urged to “mind the gap”, the multilateral aid agencies adjusted. In terms of the initial learning phase - i.e. readiness to recognize a new set of problems and adjust objectives and programs accordingly - the agencies thus responded effectively. Functional adjustment was fostered by agency concern for their organizational standing, reinforced by inter-agency competition. Attempts by two agencies to forge a structured approach and create a regime to address “the gap” was neither successful, nor did it in the end prove necessary. The case suggests that inter-agency competition rather than cooperative regime-building is the easiest way to foster certain kinds of organizational learning.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/10202/105
ISBN:	82-8062-128-8
ISSN:	0804-3639
Appears in Collections:	CMI Collection (Reports, Working Papers, Articles etc.)

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