Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds (GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report 1094)

Abstract

Query We would like to know whether any donors have attempted to work with/leverage MP constituency funds for developmental outcomes. We would like to know which donors in what countries, what successes and what failures have been documented. If available we would be interested in evidence on why those efforts succeeded/failed. We are interested in examples from anywhere they may be found. Overview Constituency Development Funds (CDF) are funding arrangements which ‘send funds from the central government to each constituency for expenditure on development projects intended to address particular local needs’ (Hickey, 2010, p.1). CDFs are largely nationally or locally designed, funded, and implemented. This rapid literature review found almost no literature that documents or evaluates donor relationships with CDFs, and it found only two examples of donors directly engaging with CDFs. While there is general literature on CDFs, only a very small amount of this mentions donors and other international actors. The majority of this general literature critiques the use of CDFs – with analysis at the macro level, and at the case study level