Research project Contracting for Development: On Ethics, Identity and Everyday Practice in For-Profit Aid
The project addresses the growing role of for-profit development aid and its role in delivering goods and services, on the one hand, and leveraging capital, on the other.
The influence of the private sector in international development cooperation has grown in both intensity and breadth. More than half of today’s official development assistance to developing countries goes to for-profit companies. The majority is spent on the procurement of goods and services. But increasing aid volumes are also invested in so called “innovate” financing meant to mobilize capital for development purposes through e.g. guarantees, equity and Development Finance Institutions. Hence, no longer are commercial enterprises used as mere tools in the aid industry. Today, they also figure as development partners.
This is the focus of my current research project, funded by the Swedish Research Council (project number 2019-03883). It addresses the growing role of for-profit development aid and its role in delivering goods and services, on the one hand, and leveraging capital, on the other. The project centers on development cooperation between Sweden and East African countries. It is expected to finish by 2025.
Project members
Project managers
Molly Sundberg
Assistant Professor, Director of Studies Global Development
