Brokers Beyond Borders: Moldova's Countertraffickers

Abstract

Why do development organizations behave the way they do? What factors determine the key constraints and incentive structures within which they pursue their goals? In this paper, I make the case that development organizations should be thought of as brokers connecting donors on one side and beneficiaries on the other. As development brokerage organizations (DBOs), their strategic choices are influenced not only by the preferences of their funders, but also by the desires and capacities of the aid recipients whom they serve. To illustrate the advantages of this DBO perspective, I use it to shed light on two major empirical puzzles that I encountered while studying the field of organizations working to fight human trafficking in the Republic of Moldova.