KEY UNDERLYING ISSUES
National strategies versus donor strategies.Since effectivelocal leadership is essential for successful policy reform,donors must unite around a single coherent nationaldevelopment strategy. This is preferred to a situation inwhich line ministries participate in specific but isolateddonor agendas. Unfortunately, the policy priorities andorganizational imperatives of various donors often make thisintegrated approach difficult. A donor's willingness to fundparticular policy reforms may be tied to the adoption of aspecific institutional change. This can inhibit openness andit pre-empts national or local leadership in the reformprocess. More seriously, when donors have different visionsof the appropriate reform goals and strategies, resultingpressures on host-country policymakers are generallycounterproductive.