Samenvatting

Ownership, sustainability and capacity building are the buzz words of development cooperation; that is not different in the legal field. Five years of experience in legal development cooperation in Rwanda, both on the side of the northern and the southern partner, shows that this is not a merely southern responsibility. The fact that a project is demand-driven instead of donor-driven is only the start. The northern partner has the responsibility to seduce the southern partner each and every day again, and keep him at the steering wheel. This implies that the northern partner shows personal involvement, and leaves the southern partner deciding about what is happening and when. This implies certain flexibility in the execution of a project, both time and content wise. And it means that the northern partner recognizes that the southern partner does not exist merely for the northern project. Otherwise it will lead to a southern partner that says ‘yes’ and picks the best cherries, but for the rest does ‘no’ and obstructs where possible.