Edward Hedger

Head of Programme, Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure

Edward Hedger is Head of the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure at the Overseas Development Institute in London. He specialises in budgeting and public expenditure management reform issues in developing countries and fragile states. He has also worked on the design and implementation of aid modalities, the political economy of policy reforms, and the role of domestic accountability mechanisms.

His experience includes long-term assignments as team leader of a multi-year public finance reform programme in the Russian Federation and as budget adviser to the ministry of finance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has also worked as a short-term consultant in areas of budget planning and preparation, external audit and accountability, and public administration reform in countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Western Balkans and Central Asia -- including several post-conflict countries. Current research focuses on the political economy of PFM reform processes and the value for money of aid interventions. He is team leader for a World Bank study to review PFM reform experience in eight post-conflict fragile states (including Liberia, Sierra Leone and DR Congo) and to develop operational guidance.

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Promoting change and value for money: the European Development Cooperation Strengthening Programme (EDCSP 3)

Projects - July 2011 to July 2013

The project, European Development Cooperation Strengthening Programme (EDCSP), aims to promote change and deliver better value for money in European development cooperation.

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Strengthening public financial management in post-conflict countries

Publication - Briefing papers - 28 April 2011

Economic Premise 54

Verena Fritz, Edward Hedger, and Ana Paula Fialho Lopes

Understanding how to rebuild resilient states in post-conflict countries is an urgent priority for the international community. A new cross-country study of public financial management reforms in post-conflict situations shows that substantial progress is possible even in difficult circumstances, while showing a pattern of sequencing and progress that differs from standard assumptions. However, the impact on state building remains less than what might be hoped. That impact could be strengthened by persistently targeting sustainable capacity, challenging areas such as procurement, greater public awareness, and more rapid coverage of line ministries and sub-national levels.

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Unpicking the Multilateral Aid Review

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 2 March 2011

Much of the reaction to the reviews published yesterday is likely to focus on the results of the Bilateral Aid Review (BAR), and the decision to cut direct aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) to countries such as Burundi and Niger, while continuing with programmes in India and South Africa. Opinions will vary and it is clear that judgements have already been made about where DFID can expect to secure the best results.

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Public sector innovation in the developing world

Event - Public event - 9 February 2011 13:00 - 14:30 (GMT+00)

This ODI event examines emerging lessons for public sector reform. It will draw on some of the latest thinking on innovation in public sector reforms in a number of OECD countries, as well as recent experiences in strengthening public sectors in a range of fragile and post-conflict countries.

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Accelerating the transition out of fragility - the role of finance and public financial management reform

Event - Conference - 15 - 16 November 2010

This is the sixth in a series of annual conferences on development finance and public financial management reform organised by the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure at ODI. The conference will focus on the practical and policy aspects of how to use finance to support fragile states in their transition out of fragility and the associated implications for public financial management. The conference is being organised jointly with the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department.

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