Introduction: Ownership policy and external intervention

National ownership is a sine qua non principle for aid, development cooperation and peacebuilding interventions and a fundamental principle of the respective international policy frameworks (UN/OECD). The concept is rooted in the context of debates on participatory development, people-centred approaches to reform, and recipient-led development approaches (Narten, 2009, p. 253; Rayroux/Wilen, 2014, p. 26; von Billerbeck, 2017, p. 29). Ownership describes a state in which domestic actors design and implement development policies, institutions and activities, with external actors providing support on demand to processes that have been initiated and are led by domestic actors (Carlowitz/Pietz, 2011, p. 2).