The paper begins with an overview of the international context, tracing the evolution of the aid system from the Washington Consensus in the 1980s to the signing of the Paris Declaration in 2005. It then analyses the experiences of five countries seen as relatively successful examples of recipientled aid policies and donor management. These countries are Afghanistan, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. By way of conclusion, the paper outlines a set of factors that may facilitate recipient government leadership in the aid relationship.