Managing Aid Exit and Transformation - Lessons from Botswana, Eritrea, India, Malawi and South Africa

In 2005 four donor countries – Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – took the initiative for a joint donor evaluation of the manage- ment of country level exit processes in development cooperation. The evaluation was seen as an opportunity for donors, development organi- sations and their developing country partners to share experiences and learn from each other regarding country level aid exits and their man- agement. The evaluation is based on country studies in Botswana, Erit- rea, India, Malawi and South Africa and covers exit processes involving any one of the fours donors – 14 processes in total.
Although this sample is not representative of country exits by the four donors nor does it cover all donor exits from the five case study countries, it represents sufficient variation in terms of contexts, political justifications and management processes to distil general lessons and recommendations for exit management guidelines that can be applied by development cooperation actors more broadly.