Anticipating Change: FCDO's Climate Aid Design in Bangladesh

• In Event: Preferences in Development: Aid, Immigration, and Clientelism

Abstract

How do pessimistic projections of the countries vulnerable to climate change shape the way in which bilateral climate aid programs are designed for them? The literature on bilateral climate aid suggests that climate resilience projects express an understanding of vulnerable countries as doomed, an assessment that further pushes them to the periphery of international relations. However, by doing so, they fail to focus on two important factors: the donor countries’ self-perception and the contribution of local and national recipient actors in shaping the perception of vulnerable countries. To explore this dynamic, I analyze the FCDO’s Bangladesh Climate and Environment Programme, mapping the design of the project from knowledge production to delivery design, via semi-structured interviews supported by a series of interviews. The findings of the study indicate that donor countries sponsor projects that align with the future they envision not only for the recipient country but also for themselves. Moreover, the results show that vulnerable countries actively influence the perception of climate change in their territory and of possible optimal responses. In doing so, they actively balance their own climate priorities and becoming key partners with which donor states can work to achieve the desired future for their own country. As such, the study emphasizes the need to contextualize climate aid projects within the broader framework of international politics.

Author

• Martina Bortolan, University of Oxford