The principle of ownership and the idea that development aid should be owned by recipients has
emerged within the last two decades in key statements from a series of international meetings
between major donors and partners, most prominently since the 2005 Paris Declaration when
'ownership of development aid' became the first Principle of Aid Effectiveness. The principle was
applauded particularly by the governments of rich donor states, but also by their specialist aid
agencies and representatives of civil society. However, despite the endorsement and praise of the
principle of ownership by all donors and stakeholders, confusion and lack of clarity remains as to
what exactly ownership of development aid means especially in terms of policy and practice in the
work of development actors.
The core proposal of this thesis is that the principle of recipient ownership of development aid,
apparently so important at the highest international levels of discussion, must be defined, broken
down into relevant ingredients, taken into consideration in terms of policy and practice, and
measured. Otherwise, the principle is nothing but empty rhetoric. It is logical to suggest that to have
any policy value political concepts should be definable and measureable. Hence, the thesis argues
that if one can formulate the relevant ingredients of ownership, one can carefully investigate factors
that increase or decrease those ingredients. This is the focus of this thesis.
