Development Effectiveness at the Country Level (original) (raw)

Aid evaluation: pursuing development as if evidence matters

Debates on what works in development and what does not are rarely evidence based but donors are increasingly interested in establishing rigorously whether the aid they provide to developing countries is effective. While much of the aid effectiveness literature uses a macro approach (cross country regressions) this paper proposes a bottom up approach whereby the impacts of general budget support or aid-supported sector programmes are assessed on the basis of statistical impact evaluation of the interventions affecting a representative sample of intended beneficiaries. This bridges the gap between the existing methods for evaluating impact (which are designed for projects) and the growing demand for impact evaluation of sector aid or general budget support.

Reducing World Poverty by Improving Evaluation of Development Aid

American Journal of Evaluation, 2008

This article argues that given its structural conditions, development aid bears a particularly heavy burden of learning and accountability. Unfortunately, however, the organization of evaluation guarantees that evaluations will be inconsistent and it creates incentives for positive bias. This article presents evidence from organizational studies of aid agencies, from the public choice literature, from eight development projects in Africa, and from one in India, that demonstrates positive bias and inconsistency in monitoring and evaluation. It proposes that the evaluation function should be professionalized through an approach titled “monitoring and evaluation for cost effectiveness,” and it compares this approach to the World Bank's results-based monitoring and evaluation, the Development Assistance Committee's five evaluation criteria, and evaluations based on randomized trials. This article explains the analytics of the proposed approach and suggests directions for further...

Dimensioning Development Aid: Some Lessons from Evaluation

Most discussions on the development effectiveness of aid tend to focus on aggregate flows and neglect attention for various categories of aid and different aid delivery mechanisms. We emphasize, however, that the key question is not whether aid works, but which aid works. The potential -positive and adverse -effects of aid appear to be mainly the consequence of how aid is provided. This paper therefore addresses two questions: which aid works and how aid is delivered. These issues are becoming increasingly relevant given the declining societal trust in public aid and against the background of the growing interests in the new aid architecture.

Aid effectiveness: research, policy and unresolved

This paper provides a critical review of the recent research on aid effectiveness. It argues that there is an enormous disjunction between research on aid effectiveness and current policies and practices: in particular, recent empirical research efforts have spawned a large body of work that is rife with controversies and insiders’ drama, but sheds little light on important policy issues regarding allocation, design and delivery of foreign aid. The paper argues that a convergence of the two universes – research and policies – is essential both for a sophisticated understanding of the underlying issues and for formulating appropriate policies and practices for aid effectiveness. Keywords: aid effectiveness; poverty; growth; selectivity; aid policy

Development Effectiveness of Foreign Assistance

International aid is given in order to generate economic growth and development in developing countries. The theoretical and empirical research on aidgrowth effects are extensive and multidimensional. Studies of aid effectiveness are very important because they address basis question: Is foreign aid the basic remedy for economic growth and poverty reduction in poor aid-recipient countries? However, the results of aid effectiveness are ambiguous. They depend on many different factors. Among them, the main are differences in models and estimation techniques and differences in countries and periods considered in the studies.

Raising Aid Efficiency with International Development Aid Monitoring and Evaluation Systems

Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 2019

Background: Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), or more specifically perhaps the Monterrey Consensus, there has been a distinct shift in the conversation around assessing the development effectiveness of international aid programs. Initially, the focus had been on establishing monitoring and evaluation systems that served the needs to bilateral and multilateral donors to demonstrate the effectiveness of their assistance vis-a-vis their own constituencies. Today, there is an increasing recognition that recipient countries should be equally concerned with the effectiveness of donor resources as they are with the use of national resources devoted to development programs. Purpose: This article reveals the current efforts of the sovereign new and traditional donors in establishing and operationalizing the international development assistance (IDA) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to raise the efficiency of IDA programs. Setting: N/A Intervention:...

New perspectives on aid effectiveness

2004

Over the last five decades, development assistance has evolved in response to a dramatically changing global political and economic landscape. In this paper, we examine this evolution and discuss how the effectiveness of aid has been and will be seen in the eyes of donors, intended beneficiaries, and outside observers. From an historical perspective, we note that the effectiveness debate has been confined by preoccupation wit h macro institutions and outcomes.

Refining Effectuality of Development Aid: Donors' Malfeasances

International development assistance has worked to improve the lives of the poor in developing countries. Yet, greater and better aid is badly needed lest donors are to live up to the commitments of the Millennium Development Goals. This article examines ways for donors to refine their assistance within the international aid system. Research exhibits that aid is of poor impact due to: less deployment to the poorest countries because of geopolitical and commercial reasons; less allocation to investments that directly address poverty; high volatility which impedes development planning of recipient countries; conditionality to donor goods and services that are over-priced and render piecemeal institutional development of recipient governments; fragmentation of competitive donor objectives which hinders a concerted resolve to corroborate a recipient development strategy; and limited systematic evaluation and sharing of outcomes. Provided donors are to allocate and manage aid in a more effectual manner, thereby to attribute to the levered well-being of the poor, they thus need to tackle these malfeasances without hiatus.

Political-Economy Analysis, Aid Effectiveness and the Art of Development Management

Development Policy Review, 2014

Bath Papers in International Development and Well-Being (BPIDW) is a working paper series of the Centre for Development Studies at the University of Bath. The Centre for Development Studies aims to contribute to combating global poverty and inequality through primary research into the practical realities of global poverty; and, critical engagement with development practice and policy making. Bath Papers in International Development and Well-Being publishes research and policy analysis by scholars and development practitioners in the CDS and its wider network. Submissions to the BPIDW series are encouraged; submissions should be directed to the Series Editor, and will be subject to a blind peer review process prior to acceptance.