Development Cooperation in a Multilevel and Multistakeholder Setting: From Planning towards Enabling Coordinated Action?

The call to reduce fragmentation and promote joined-up action is an evergreen topic in development policy discussions. This article reviews past coordination efforts and changes in international cooperation and finds that, in recent years, donors did not adequately apply coordination standards that they promoted, while developing-country governments frequently failed to articulate an effective demand for coordination. Dominant coordination approaches have been inherently statist and managerial, whereas the increasingly multilevel and multistakeholder nature of the changing development cooperation context calls for new approaches involving four elements: positive framing of coordination, enlargement of involved stakeholders, increased focus on enabling over planning, and growing attention to coordination across countries and within sectors. The Sustainable Energy for All initiative serves as an example of a multistakeholder platform confirming both continued coordination needs and a changing perspective on the relevant avenues for addressing coordination deficits.