Last autumn’s financial markets meltdown is ushering in a global recession that is already being compared with the Great Depression and the ”hungry thirties”. The turmoil also presents unprecedented challenges for African policymakers with falling commodity prices threatening to undermine recent economic successes in many sub-Saharan African countries where growth and rising income levels have had a significant impact on poverty reduction. Demand for commodities, capital flows, and debt relief helped, but their successes also reflected sound policies fostering stable, low-inflationary economic environments. But how can African policymakers best deal with the impact of global financial turmoil? And what policies should donor nations and organisations adopt that can reconcile their aid commitments with the increasingly heavy pressures on their own budgets? Has the time now come for a revolutionary re-think of development assistance?

Recent years have seen a growing proliferation of aid instruments and a dramatic widening of the range of actors. These new players bring much-welcomed additional resources, but also make the coordination of aid efforts more?