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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/03/effective-aid-projects-teamwork-not-templates-jonathan-glennie
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| Effective aid projects are the result of teamwork, not templates | Effective aid projects are the result of teamwork, not templates |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| The relationship between aid and the national interest is under close scrutiny after the UK published its new aid strategy. Now, more than ever, it is the effectiveness of aid spend in reducing poverty, rather than alignment with national interest, that will win over the public. | The relationship between aid and the national interest is under close scrutiny after the UK published its new aid strategy. Now, more than ever, it is the effectiveness of aid spend in reducing poverty, rather than alignment with national interest, that will win over the public. |
| The UK aid strategy makes a great play of achieving results and value for money. It promises to shut down projects that aren’t working and expand ones that are. | The UK aid strategy makes a great play of achieving results and value for money. It promises to shut down projects that aren’t working and expand ones that are. |
| But nowhere in the 28-page document does the UK government, once considered the bastion of sound, evidence-driven, effective aid spending, even pay lip service to the most important principle of all: that effective aid is about partnerships, relationships and ownership. | But nowhere in the 28-page document does the UK government, once considered the bastion of sound, evidence-driven, effective aid spending, even pay lip service to the most important principle of all: that effective aid is about partnerships, relationships and ownership. |
| Related: Aid and national interest needn't be uneasy bedfellows if the balance is right | Jonathan Glennie | Related: Aid and national interest needn't be uneasy bedfellows if the balance is right | Jonathan Glennie |
| Experts are meant to boldly declare what makes aid effective. In reality, though, aid has proved very complex. Despite decades of research and practice, much less is known than we would like about what makes one project work and another fail. Fads are frequent, and this strategy is notable for its rejection of general budget support (pdf), which only a few years ago was a great new hope for aid practitioners. | Experts are meant to boldly declare what makes aid effective. In reality, though, aid has proved very complex. Despite decades of research and practice, much less is known than we would like about what makes one project work and another fail. Fads are frequent, and this strategy is notable for its rejection of general budget support (pdf), which only a few years ago was a great new hope for aid practitioners. |
| But research makes one thing clear: if you don’t have support and ideally leadership from the supposed beneficiary, aid intervention is likely to fail. | But research makes one thing clear: if you don’t have support and ideally leadership from the supposed beneficiary, aid intervention is likely to fail. |
| Ownership was the guiding principle of the Paris agenda for aid effectiveness (pdf), which has shaped the spending of major donors since it was agreed in 2005. You don’t turn up with blueprint approaches; you build answers together, joining donor expertise on some technical matters with recipient expertise on the ground. | Ownership was the guiding principle of the Paris agenda for aid effectiveness (pdf), which has shaped the spending of major donors since it was agreed in 2005. You don’t turn up with blueprint approaches; you build answers together, joining donor expertise on some technical matters with recipient expertise on the ground. |
| Achieving results was also a key theme in Paris, and the aid world has come on leaps and bounds in this regard. It tracks how money is spent and what impact it has better than ever before, and that is important – this is taxpayers’ money and they deserve to know if it is being spent well. | Achieving results was also a key theme in Paris, and the aid world has come on leaps and bounds in this regard. It tracks how money is spent and what impact it has better than ever before, and that is important – this is taxpayers’ money and they deserve to know if it is being spent well. |
| But in the Paris era, this emphasis on results has been underpinned by an even stronger focus on relationships. Working with beneficiaries and other donors is the only way to achieve results. | But in the Paris era, this emphasis on results has been underpinned by an even stronger focus on relationships. Working with beneficiaries and other donors is the only way to achieve results. |
| In the evidence I presented to the international development committee, I tried to show you don’t get results in the short term, whether in stable or fragile contexts. You get them by building slowly, establishing close relationships with partners. | In the evidence I presented to the international development committee, I tried to show you don’t get results in the short term, whether in stable or fragile contexts. You get them by building slowly, establishing close relationships with partners. |
| Building relationships is also the best way of safeguarding money. You can throw all the audits and monitoring and evaluation logframes you like at a project but, if you don’t know your partners well, those spreadsheets might not tell you the reality. | Building relationships is also the best way of safeguarding money. You can throw all the audits and monitoring and evaluation logframes you like at a project but, if you don’t know your partners well, those spreadsheets might not tell you the reality. |
| There are two ways to manage large projects. There is the “audit every penny” mentality. Of course we need audits and detailed impact assessments, but when that is all you are relying on, you are in a really bad position. If you don’t know the real needs of the organisation/post-holder/government you are working with, even the most detailed audit is a desperately weak accountability mechanism. It is not a scientific analysis of impact, as is sometimes claimed; it is a last resort. | There are two ways to manage large projects. There is the “audit every penny” mentality. Of course we need audits and detailed impact assessments, but when that is all you are relying on, you are in a really bad position. If you don’t know the real needs of the organisation/post-holder/government you are working with, even the most detailed audit is a desperately weak accountability mechanism. It is not a scientific analysis of impact, as is sometimes claimed; it is a last resort. |
| What you really need is to build five-, 10- or 20-year relationships with organisations. You know the people. You know what they are trying to do. You trust them. They trust you. And you work closely together both on the project in hand and on the financial and impact reporting. | What you really need is to build five-, 10- or 20-year relationships with organisations. You know the people. You know what they are trying to do. You trust them. They trust you. And you work closely together both on the project in hand and on the financial and impact reporting. |
| In aid, relationships matter more than anything else. | In aid, relationships matter more than anything else. |
| But reading the UK aid strategy (pdf), in which the hubris of a “we know what’s best” attitude bubbles up over the document, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Department for International Development (DfID) now has little time for building relationships. | |
| I can’t remember when I last heard a government minister or DfID spokesperson emphasise ownership and the importance of humility from donors. | I can’t remember when I last heard a government minister or DfID spokesperson emphasise ownership and the importance of humility from donors. |
| General budget support, the investment of large amounts of money in government systems based more on trust than tight tracking systems, was the most extreme expression of a serious belief in ownership. It is now being terminated. In fairness to the UK, it was not wholly successful and therefore is hard to defend. | General budget support, the investment of large amounts of money in government systems based more on trust than tight tracking systems, was the most extreme expression of a serious belief in ownership. It is now being terminated. In fairness to the UK, it was not wholly successful and therefore is hard to defend. |
| But the strategy makes me very worried about the future of other similar and much more defensible investments, in sector budget support and trusted civil society organisations. This money is the lifeblood of development, and without it the creativity and drive of independent ministries and organisations could grind to a halt, as they transform into huge implementing bodies of Whitehall preferences. | But the strategy makes me very worried about the future of other similar and much more defensible investments, in sector budget support and trusted civil society organisations. This money is the lifeblood of development, and without it the creativity and drive of independent ministries and organisations could grind to a halt, as they transform into huge implementing bodies of Whitehall preferences. |
| This becomes doubly worrying because DfID will spend only 70% of aid. The rest is being spent by other government departments who may know little about how ownership and partnerships must underpin successful aid spending. | This becomes doubly worrying because DfID will spend only 70% of aid. The rest is being spent by other government departments who may know little about how ownership and partnerships must underpin successful aid spending. |
| Luckily, DfID is packed with some of the most thoughtful aid experts in the business, whose job it should now be to educate the rest of the civil service about how to spend well. They could do worse than finding a copy of the Paris agenda, dusting it down, and sending it round Whitehall. It is not perfect but it is a very good start. | Luckily, DfID is packed with some of the most thoughtful aid experts in the business, whose job it should now be to educate the rest of the civil service about how to spend well. They could do worse than finding a copy of the Paris agenda, dusting it down, and sending it round Whitehall. It is not perfect but it is a very good start. |
| Perhaps they should quickly reacquaint themselves with it as well. | Perhaps they should quickly reacquaint themselves with it as well. |