At a time when progress towards the 2030 Agenda has stalled, there is a clear need for collective—and cooperative—development action to put the agenda back on track. The good news is that the number of countries with institutions dedicated to sharing knowledge, skills, and resources to support development outcomes is growing, with more DAC and non-DAC countries providing cooperation than ever before. The bad news, however, is that cooperation across these providers—particularly between DAC and non-DAC countries—has faced considerable barriers to deep and impactful partnerships. In this paper, we explore the barriers to cooperation between DAC and non-DAC providers for development and how they can be overcome. To do so, we use a combination of survey and interview research, which is designed to capture diverse perspectives across providers, as well as international organisations responsible for convening actors for development.
Our survey research finds that differences in the principles and visions for development cooperation, lack of capacity, and low political appetite for cooperation remain pervasive barriers to deeper partnerships between DAC and non-DAC providers, while interviewees highlighted low trust as a fundamental challenge. To overcome these challenges, providers will need to invest time and energy in rebuilding trust through engagement and should aim to co-create development norms and standards that reflect the priorities and realities of the shifting provider landscape.
