May 15, 2018
From the article:
...Clearly, COD works where outcomes are measurable, and preferably achieved in a short time, as in the example of the Norwegian project on checking carbon emissions. But, as many critics have pointed out, the obsession with outcomes could result in denying funds to many desirable projects where the outcomes are not so tangible, say, for example, reducing crime by changing adolescent behaviour.
COD is just one of many financial nostrums proposed by the aid bureaucracy as cash-strapped advanced economies resort to austerity measures. Borrowed mostly from the corporate repertoire, they go by various names like Aid for Trade (AfT) and Value for Money (VfM). Following Donald Trump Administration’s proposal to drastically cut US’ foreign aid, a paper by the Centre for Global Development suggested a few more: for instance, the increasingly popular direct cash transfers, which, it claims, lowers cost and increases impact; evidence-based policy making, which allows scant resources to be allotted to proven projects; and increasing leverage by investing in development projects engineered by multilateral institutions.