Ownership is defined as the leadership of partner countries over their development policies and strategies. Despite the wide recognition from the donor community of ownership as a central principle of development policy, the implementation of the concept is still meager. The Global Partner- ship for Effective Development Co-Operation, for example, indicates that only 1 out of 2 development payments is disbursed using recipient’s public management and procurement systems. For at least 20 percent of development funds donors and not recipients make procurement choices. New trends, however, might strengthen the ownership-principle. First, the Sustainable Development Goals have nominally eliminated the “developing-developed world”- dichotomy and offer an ideo- logical vehicle to foster relations at eye-level. Second, emerging donors such as China offer new cooperation models which, according to some commentators, directly contribute to country owner- ship by applying “no conditions”.