Foreign aid is intended to be a major contributor to poverty reduction. However, significant questions arise as to the capacity for development funding to contribute to human development, through service provision, through advocacy, through actions and interventions that change power relations, change the social and institutional arrangements that reinforce inequality, threaten or reproduce well-being, and prevent the fulfillment of human rights. In conjunction with questions about what aid “does,” there is equal focus on how it does it. Questions of efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accountability, social license to operate, relevance, and many others are all embedded in contemporary aid discourse and practice. The aim of this volume was to contribute to a critical understanding of Impact Assessment (IA) clearly informed by contemporary development theory and practice. There is a significantly increasing push for impact assessment, across the whole aid architecture. This is exacerbated by a much stronger focus on value for money, and accountability – to taxpayers specifically in the context of public funds, and donors in an increasingly competitive NGO environment. As was noted by many authors, since the GFC, a significant number of donor governments have reduced or are considering funding reduction for bilateral aid agencies and their contributions to multilateral aid agencies. At the same time they imposed a more stringent and rigorous requirement focusing on “aid-for-trade” and “value-for-money” strategies. There is a drive to ensure the positive impacts of the grant or loan in a sustainable manner.
History
Chapter number
16
Pagination
227-237
ISBN-13
9780128036600
ISBN-10
0128036605
Edition
1st
Language
eng
Publication classification
B1 Book chapter
Copyright notice
2016, Elsevier
Extent
16
Editor/Contributor(s)
Jakupec V, Kelly M
Publisher
Elsevier
Place of publication
London, Eng.
Title of book
Assessing the impact of foreign aid : value for money and aid for trade