Measure What You Treasure: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Development Assistance

Abstract

Russia’s system of international development assistance (IDA) is still in the making. Among other things there is a need toestablish a system to evaluate its effectiveness. Donors usually focus such evaluations on the results of individual projects andprograms. Today, the field of IDA as a whole or its specific policies are increasingly the object of evaluation, which raises thequestion of articulating the expected effect or a goal of IDA from the donor’s point of view.This article considers the relationship between the underlying purpose of IDA and its evaluation criteria based on areview of the goals of main donors as stated in their policies and criteria outlined in evaluation manuals. It compares thosefindings with related research results.Most donors use evaluation criteria related to the positive impact of IDA on the socioeconomic development ofrecipient countries. The declared goals of IDA include fighting poverty, supporting sustainable development, promotingrespect for human rights, and ensuring peace and security. At the same time, the donors’ political and economic interestsnever cease to play an important role. The global financial crisis has narrowed the gap between words and actions as manydonor countries must justify their IDA budgets to their taxpayers. Not only have the declared goals of IDA changed, butthe criteria for evaluation its effectiveness are also being reconsidered. Donors are now trying to assess the political andeconomic effectiveness of IDA for themselves. However, only a few countries manifest these changes and so it is still early tospeak of a common trend.

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