Legitimating Aid:

This monograph looks at the policy making process in the rural water supply and sanitation sector in Nepal. Its focus is on the dynamics and interaction between the donors and the Nepalese water bureaucracies in policy making. The research aims to shed light upon this relationship, where things are less black and white than commonly understood, especially within the Northern donors. By following the of policy infl uence from the global policy priorities to the national level policy in Nepal, this study shows that the donor is not all powerful, and the recipient is not all powerless; but they are both locked in a mutual dependency. It also argues that aid is not based on a benevolent deed by the donors, but that aid is used to legitimise their other interests in the aid recipient country, and in this, the influence over national policy priorities is crucial. The fuzzy dynamics in the relationship play out when donors’ interests collide with the interests of the recipient country. Theoretically the study makes use of the politics of policy –perspective and political economy.