Exploring Ecosystem Donor Funding in Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda: Evidencing a new agenda for enhanced alignment, coherence, and collaboration

Donor funding plays a crucial role in advancing development goals across East Africa, not least in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya. These nations have made significant strides toward inclusive economic growth and improved infrastructure to enhance social impact, in part, due to the support of international donors, development agencies and philanthropic funds.

However, as multiple organisations fund similar initiatives across these regions, questions arise about coherence, alignment, and potential duplication of efforts. In the face of data paucity and indicator opaqueness, we aim to address a hypothesis: a lack of donor coherence is causing suboptimal allocation of resources. By ‘donor coherence’ we mean the degree of alignment between the objectives, processes, and priorities of various funding bodies, aiming to avoid redundancy and ensure that resources are used efficiently. Financial contributions should aim to nurture dynamic entrepreneurial environments while ensuring more effective use of public funds.

This report explores how donor coherence in Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Kenya impacts resource distribution across sectors, identifying potential overlaps and assessing the implications of these strategies. By assessing the activities funded and the thematic areas supported, we can gain insights into how donor coherence affects the overall impact of development assistance in East Africa.

This study utilises data from the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) which brings together governments, multilateral institutions, private sector and civil society organisations and others to increase the transparency and openness of resources flowing into developing countries. We also examined various associated databases to assess donor funding broadly associated with entrepreneurship and innovation related activities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia between 2019 and 2024.

The data collection process was designed to ensure comprehensive and up-to-date information, allowing for a detailed analysis of donor funding patterns, overlaps, and thematic focus areas in East Africa.