The verdict on aid effectiveness: Why the jury stays out

International Journal

Volumn 51, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 287-313

  Schmitz, Gerald J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0040525106     PISSN: 00207020     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/002070209605100205     Document Type: Review

References (77)

1. 'The nervous nineties: uncertainties cloud decade for the Third World,' Review '89 Outlook '90 (Ottawa: North-South Institute 1990), 1.
2. Susan Strange, 'The defective state,' Daedalus 124(spring 1995), 69, 72.
3. Dale Hanson Bourke, 'Creating American poverty,' Prairie Messenger (Muenster, Saskatchewan), 16 October 1995, 15.
4. Cranford Pratt, ed, Canadian International Development Assistance Policies: An Appraisal (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1994; 2nd ed 1996); also Pratt, 'Development assistance and Canadian foreign policy: where we now are,' Canadian Foreign Policy 2(winter 1994), 77-85; Andrew Cohen, 'Canada in the world: the return of the national interest,' Behind the Headlines 52(summer 1995).
5. Cranford Pratt, ed, Canadian International Development Assistance Policies: An Appraisal (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1994; 2nd ed 1996); also Pratt, 'Development assistance and Canadian foreign policy: where we now are,' Canadian Foreign Policy 2(winter 1994), 77-85; Andrew Cohen, 'Canada in the world: the return of the national interest,' Behind the Headlines 52(summer 1995).
6. Cranford Pratt, ed, Canadian International Development Assistance Policies: An Appraisal (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 1994; 2nd ed 1996); also Pratt, 'Development assistance and Canadian foreign policy: where we now are,' Canadian Foreign Policy 2(winter 1994), 77-85; Andrew Cohen, 'Canada in the world: the return of the national interest,' Behind the Headlines 52(summer 1995).
7. Costas Melakopides, review of Canadian International Development Assistance Policies, by Cranford Pratt, ed, in Canadian Journal of Political Science 28(March 1995). 189.
8. Partners in Development: Commission on International Development (NY: Praeger 1969).
9. It is impossible to imagine a current president of CIDA describing the mandale of ODA in terms of the 'total liberation of mankind,' as Paul GérinLajoie, the agency's second president, once did. Today the discourse of corporate efficiency and professional consultants predominates.
10. Jacques Gelinas, Et si le Tiers Monde s'autofinancait? (Montréal: Les Éditions Écosociété 1994).
11. 'Riches to rags,' New Internationalist 272(October 1995) 6.
12. House of Commons, Standing Committee on External Affairs and International Trade, Discussion Paper on Issues in Canada's Official Development Assistance Policies, July 1986, 5. A decade later aid agencies still acknowledge areas of persistent and increasing poverty. Indeed, a 1994 World Bank bestcase scenario for sub-saharan Africa estimated a 50 per cent rise in the number of poor to 300 million in 2000.
13. For Whose Benefit? Report of the Standing Committee on External Affairs and International Trade on Canada's Official Development Assistance Policies and Programs (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, May 1987), 115ff. As the staff person responsible for drafting this chapter, I declare a modest and unapologetic conflict of interest.
14. Development Assistance Committee, Development Co-operation Report 1993: Aid in Transition (OECD: Paris 1994). On the broader geopolitical context, see Robert O. Slater, Barry M. Schultz, and Steven Dorr, Global Transformation and the Third World (Boulder Co: Lynne Rienner 1993).
15. Development Assistance Committee, Development Co-operation Report 1993: Aid in Transition (OECD: Paris 1994). On the broader geopolitical context, see Robert O. Slater, Barry M. Schultz, and Steven Dorr, Global Transformation and the Third World (Boulder Co: Lynne Rienner 1993).
16. See The Reality of Aid 1994: An Independent Review of International Aid (ActionAid and others, May 1994).
17. 'Foreign aid: the kindness of strangers,' Economist, 7 May 1994, 19-22.
18. Groupe Secor, Strategic Management Review: Working Document, 9 October 1991; Office of the Auditor General, Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the House of Commons (Ottawa 1993), chap 12, 327.
19. Groupe Secor, Strategic Management Review: Working Document, 9 October 1991; Office of the Auditor General, Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the House of Commons (Ottawa 1993), chap 12, 327.
20. Canada 21, Canada and Common Security in the Twenty-First Century (Toronto: Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, 1994), 39.
21. Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons Reviewing Canadian Foreign Policy, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence, no 4, 21 April 1994, 51-4.
22. Raymond Gladu, ibid, 15.
23. Phillip Rawkins, ibid, 47.
24. The programme aired on 6 November. A panel discussion which included members of parliament was not broadcast. (See 'Picture of good aid,' Ottawa Citizen, 6 November 1995; and Tony Atherton, ' "Skeptics" journey makes foreign aid cuts harder to rationalize,' ibid, 5 November 1995, C10).
25. CIDA, Performance 1 (September 1995), 1.
26. Roger C. Riddell, Foreign Aid Reconsidered (London & Baltimore MD: James Curry and Johns Hopkins University Press 1987), 185.
27. Twenty-Five Years of Development Co-operation (OECD: Paris 1986).
28. For Whose Benefit?, 117-18.
29. See, inter alia, L. Berlege and O. Stokke, eds, Evaluating Development Assistance: Approaches and Methods (London: Frank Cass 1992), and the journal Project Appraisal.
30. Robert Cassen et al, Does Aid Work? Report to an Intergovernmental Task Force (2nd ed; Oxford: Clarendon Press 1994), 6.
31. Ibid, 1, 225, 6, 228-31.
32. Ibid, 16.
33. Ibid, 235.
34. Jeker Carlsson, Gunnar Kohlin, and Anders Ekbom, The Political Economy of Evaluation: International Aid Agencies and the Effectiveness of Aid (New York: St Martin's 1994), 1.
35. Ibid, 180-5, 191-2.
36. Ibid, 203.
37. Ibid, 200.
38. Ibid, 183.
39. INTOSAI Development Initiative, 'Report on the ASOSAI/IDI seminar on auditing foreign aid effectiveness and accountability,' Lahore, Pakistan, 22-28 March 1994, 12. According to the report, recipient-country audit institutions 'could not identify any specific action taken as a result of their audit work, any studies carried out to improve the effectiveness of foreign aid, or any performance audits of foreign aid planned for the next three to five years' (p 4).
40. Carlsson et al, The Political Economy of Evaluation, 185 (emphasis in original).
41. Cited in 'Biting the hand that squeezed them,' Economist, 21 October 1995, 48.
42. 'Collaborative project on aid effectiveness in Africa,' Proposal of 16 May 1994, 3. I am indebted to Andrew Clark of the North-South Institute for bringing this work to my attention.
43. Ibid, 3-5, 10-15.
44. CIDA, 'Towards human security in Africa and the Middle East,' Draft of 14 November 1995, 7 (emphasis in original), 23.
45. Tim Draimin and Ian Smillie, 'Canada, Africa and the Middle East: learning lessons,' NGO Discussion Paper, Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC), Ottawa, 8 December 1995, 1, 3-5. A footnote elaborates: 'the OECD/DAC Expert Group on Aid Evaluation has been studying systems for rating project progress and achievements. These increasingly popular rating systems place value on simplicity and standardization, emphasizing questions about how much has been achieved, but almost nothing about why' (13, note 5).
46. Ibid, 6.
47. Carlsson et al, The Political Economy of Evaluation, 180.
48. Report of the Auditor General, chap 13; CIDA Phased Follow-up of the Auditor-General's 1993 Report - Phase I (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services, October 1995), 23.
49. Report of the Auditor General, chap 13; CIDA Phased Follow-up of the Auditor-General's 1993 Report - Phase I (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services, October 1995), 23.
50. Canada's Foreign Policy: Principles and Priorities for the Future, Report of the Special Joint Committee (Ottawa: Parliamentary Publications Directorate, November 1994), 48.
51. Canada in the World: Government Statement (Ottawa: Canada Communications Group, February 1995), 42.
52. The policy commits CIDA to 'concerted efforts through its programs [in all six priority areas] to contribute to a sustained reduction in the number of people living in poverty in developing countries, and the extent of their deprivation.' 'CIDA's policy on poverty reduction,'June 1995, 2.
53. Nicolas Dimic, The Geographic Distribution of Canada's Bilateral Assistance: Alternative Approaches, Policy Staff Paper, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, August 1995, 8, 10. Dimic, who was seconded from the department to the foreign policy review for its duration, has since moved to the Department of Finance.
54. Among the perverse results is that, in comparing countries on 'commitment to sustainable development policies,' Nigeria scores 'comparatively well' -higher than South Africa even on sound economic and democracy/stability indices! (ibid, 14ff). In CIDA's November 1995 draft Africa policy, Nigeria is also listed among a select group of countries 'where economic reform has been gaining momentum' ('Towards human security,' 5, note 1). Contrast this with the testimony of Julius Ihonvbere to the Commons foreign affairs committee on 14 December 1995: 'Nigerians have never had it this bad ... Aside from the gross inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the operation of its reform program, the Nigerian government is currently waging a war on its people.'
55. CIDA's Policy for Performance Review (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services 1995), 4, 7.
56. CIDA, Departmental Outlook, August 1995, affirms that budget reductions 'highlight the need for increased efficiency and effectiveness,' and that Estimates will in future report fully on development results in all aid priority areas ('Enhancing CIDA's impact,' 7-8).
57. Performance 1(September 1995), 2. The Bank's Task Force on Portfolio Management found that the proportion of projects judged 'unsatisfactory' at completion more than doubled from 15 per cent to 37.5 per cent in the 1980s. Performance problems remain a concern despite the Bank's healthy increases in net income. See George Graham, ' "Problem" projects rise at World Bank,' Financial Times (London), 25 September 1995.
58. Performance 1(September 1995), 2. The Bank's Task Force on Portfolio Management found that the proportion of projects judged 'unsatisfactory' at completion more than doubled from 15 per cent to 37.5 per cent in the 1980s. Performance problems remain a concern despite the Bank's healthy increases in net income. See George Graham, ' "Problem" projects rise at World Bank,' Financial Times (London), 25 September 1995.
59. See Elizabeth McAllister et al, Moving From an Oral to an Analytical World, Report on Visit to New York and Washington - 5-9 June 1995 (Ottawa: CIDA, n.d.), 2-5.
60. Performance 1(September 1995), 2, 4.
61. For a schematic outline of the phased follow-up audit methodology, see Report of the Auditor General, October 1995, 22, 12.
62. Statement of Assistant Auditor General Richard Fadden, 12 December 1995, 2-3. According to private information from knowledgeable sources, up to 80 per cent of CIDA's past projects might fail a rigorous post-completion test of sustainability of results.
63. 'CIDA's report,' in Report of the Auditor General, October 1995, 26.
64. The preliminary report was discreetly noted in Canada and the Developing World: Key Issues for Canada's Foreign Policy (North-South Institute: Ottawa 1994), 22.
65. While ODA was cut by 15 per cent and support for the Canadian partnership programme by over 18 per cent, CIDA INC, which supports business activities in development, was cut by less than 10 per cent.
66. John Stackhouse, 'CIDA a rudderless ship in Asia, critics say,' Globe and Mail (Toronto), 26 May 1994, A1, 10; 'CIDA aims to boost morale,' ibid, 13 September 1994, A11.
67. John Stackhouse, 'CIDA a rudderless ship in Asia, critics say,' Globe and Mail (Toronto), 26 May 1994, A1, 10; 'CIDA aims to boost morale,' ibid, 13 September 1994, A11.
68. See Deborah Murphy, 'Trends in evaluation in the 1990s: the influence of CIDA'S Policy Performance Review,' unpublished paper, Carleton University, June 1995, 17ff.
69. Keith Spicer, The Samaritan State: External Aid in Canadian Foreign Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1966).
70. Roy Culpeper et al, Multilateral Development Banks: Toward a New Division of Labour, Background Study for the Development Committee Task Force on Multilateral Development Banks (Ottawa: North-South Institute, September 1995), 13 (emphasis in original).
71. See Tim Draimin, North-South Relations - From Domination to International Cooperation: Sustainable Human Development and Reciprocal Co-operation, CCIC Policy Background Paper 9, February 1995.
72. Majid Rahnema, 'A development worker's second thoughts,' Compass (November/December 1995), 8. Rahnema observes that despite grave contradictions Iran's GNP in the early 1970s was growing at an amazing annual rate of 12-15 per cent. See also the essay in sober second thought by the distinguished development economist, Goran Ohlin, 'After the development era, what?' Global Development 50 years After Bretton Woods, Colloquium in Honour of Gerald K. Helleiner (Ottawa: North-South Institute, June 1994).
73. Majid Rahnema, 'A development worker's second thoughts,' Compass (November/December 1995), 8. Rahnema observes that despite grave contradictions Iran's GNP in the early 1970s was growing at an amazing annual rate of 12-15 per cent. See also the essay in sober second thought by the distinguished development economist, Goran Ohlin, 'After the development era, what?' Global Development 50 years After Bretton Woods, Colloquium in Honour of Gerald K. Helleiner (Ottawa: North-South Institute, June 1994).
74. Frances Cairncross, 'Environmental pragmatism,' Foreign Policy, no 95(summer 1994), 48.
75. On the historical and institutional dynamics of this pursuit, see my 'Democratization and demystification: deconstructing "governance" as development paradigm,' in David B. Moore and Gerald J. Schmitz, eds, Debating Development Discourse (Houndmills & New York: Macmillan and St Martin's 1995), 54-90.
76. Rawkins, Minutes of Proceedings, no 4, 21 April 1994, 18; also the CCIC brief, Building and Sustaining Global Justice: Towards a New Canadian Foreign Policy, May 1994, 32-3. The Commons standing committee on foreign affairs is to hold a special forum on this subject during 1996.
77. Rawkins, Minutes of Proceedings, no 4, 21 April 1994, 18; also the CCIC brief, Building and Sustaining Global Justice: Towards a New Canadian Foreign Policy, May 1994, 32-3. The Commons standing committee on foreign affairs is to hold a special forum on this subject during 1996.