Ownership on Aid, Rhetoric or Reality? The case of Zanzibar: The Semi- Autonomous State of Tanzania

This paper analyses the commitment of donor countries in the Paris Declaration. More specifically we look at the principal of ownership which has attracted increasing attention in development economics Ownership is very important for development and achieving the MDGS goals. Nevertheless the experiences show that ownership is still ‘fuzzy’ within recipient countries. This principle needs capacity in term of human rather then control of resources. Besides, involvement of different stake holders is very essential for achieving the target of Paris Declaration including civil societies, government and development partners. This paper scrutinises the challenges facing semi-autonomous states in the implementation of the Paris declaration. Is their participation in the Paris declarations simply rhetoric or real? More specifically the paper analysis the case of Zanzibar, it is observed that there are different stakeholders in aid management but aid and political dependency hampered the implementation of this commitment. Aid ownership process in Zanzibar is limited in the existing structure of aid development assistance.