Development Finance and Inequality

Good practice in Ecuador, Rwanda and Thailand

Publication date: 9 August 2013
Author: Cecile Unternaehrer

Inequality is central to Oxfam’s mission to fight poverty.

While growth is good for poverty reduction, its effectiveness is severely reduced in places where high levels of inequality persist and privileged elites are able to hoard the rewards. In those cases, marginalized groups will see little of the positive benefits from high growth rates. However, governments, donors, and NGOs (both domestic and international) can do much to help redress these imbalances, particularly in places where development finance (defined as both overseas development aid and domestic resource mobilization targeted towards development) makes up part of the national budget.

This report explores how reforms to the way that development finance is provided and administered in developing countries can help to reduce inequality and, as a result, create growth that benefits all. The three case studies focus on education in Rwanda, fiscal policies and revenue collection in Ecuador, and universal health care in Thailand.