This article describes how aid-influence mechanisms previously identified by academic literature (aid conditionality, tied aid, consultants, people-to-people exchanges and the support of like-minded donors) are triggered in a selection of six aid projects implemented by Spain and Germany and involving the EU in Senegal, in the domains of gender equity and migration control. Aid-influence nexuses might prove ineffective if there is a lack of political will on the part of the partner, an insufficient involvement of its Administration or local actors, a mis-selection of people involved in the aid-influence link, or if the scale of the project is too small
