Aid Effectiveness

Several thousands gathered in the port city of Busan in Korea (the fifth largest port in the world) this past week at the fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

Is aid worth it? Does it make a positive difference in the lives of poor people in developing countries? Or is it merely lining the pockets of corrupt officials at a time when more and more western taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet?

Despite popular terminology, most of the so-called emerging donors are not new; some have been running aid programs for as long as traditional DAC donors.

We hope that the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will mark a milestone of sorts, where the aid effectiveness movement turns from words to action.

Senator Jim Webb says the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) should stop funding development projects awarded to non-U.S. companies in Africa. I can think of three reasons this is misguided.

We hope that the G-20 members will call upon donors and recipients to experiment with the application of incentives and outcome-based development assistance to increase aid effectiveness.