The rise of earmarked funding and how it affects aid effectiveness
Published: 6 March 2024
Research insight
Dr Bernhard Reinsberg from the School of Social and Political Sciences, gives an overview of what earmarked funding is, why it’s significant, and outlines scope for future research.
Earmarked funding has risen dramatically in the last decade, marking a significant change in the way that international organisations are funded. This is not just a technical issue, but also a deeply political one, as there are concerns that earmarking undermines the capacity of these organisations to deliver on their mandates while increasing the cost of aid delivery.
In this explainer video, Dr Bernhard Reinsberg gives an overview of what earmarked funding is, why it’s significant, and outlines scope for future research.
Learn More:
As part of this wider research project, Dr Bernhard Reinsberg and Dr Mirko Heinzel (LSE) brought together scholars from 15 institutions from around the world for a workshop in December 2023 entitled, Resourcing international organizations: Insights from a global collaborative effort. Over the course of two days, 12 papers were presented on earmarked funding, all informed by the Earmarked Funding Dataset (LINK?) developed by Dr Reinsberg and his team. The research presented touched upon a wide variety of topics exploring the extent to which earmarking impacts multilateral institutions and how states rely on earmarking to ensure that their individual interests are reflected in multilateral settings. It was agreed that future research should also pay attention to the impact that earmarking has on recipient countries.
The workshop was made possible through the generous support from the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Glasgow, UK Research & Innovation, the European Consortium for Political Research, and the City of Glasgow.
Get involved:
In 2024 there will be a special issue in the Review of International Organisations. Researchers are invited to submit their relevant work on resourcing of international organisations. The special issue will bring together researchers from various disciplines with an interest in the policies and politics of resourcing international organizations. We welcome submissions of articles that try to explain the causes or consequences of how international organizations attain or spend their resources. Contributions can be comparative or focus on individual international organizations working on, including but not limited to, global development, health, economic governance, international security, human rights, food security, or environmental protection.
First published: 6 March 2024