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If It Doesn’t Get Counted, Does It Count? New Measures of Aid Quality for Microfinance, Humanitarian Aid, and Everything Else

Dec 16, 2008

The last decade has seen a growing number of efforts to measure the quality of foreign aid, including part of CGD’s own Commitment to Development Index (CDI). This December 16, 2008 event showcased three new projects of this kind—projects that dramatize how the quality of aid matters as well the quantity, that point to specific ways to improve aid, and that create incentives for reform. The SmartAid for Microfinance Index of CGAP, an independent policy and research center dedicated to advancing financial access for poor people, scores donors and investors on how well they are set up to support microfinance. The Humanitarian Response Index of Madrid-based DARA International measures the quality of aid that responds to natural disasters, famine, and refugee crises. Finally, a new CGD project is assembling indicators of general aid quality, covering such aspects as aid volatility and use of independent evaluation.

The panel featured Silvia Hidalgo, Director General, DARA International; Alexia Latortue, Senior Microfinance Specialist, CGAP and Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development. Carol Lancaster, Director, Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University and Paul O’Brien, Director of Aid Effectiveness, Oxfam America, served as discussants and the event was moderated by David Roodman, Research Fellow and CDI Project Director, Center for Global Development.

Access Alexia Latortue's presentation (pdf, 637K)
Access Nancy Birdsall's presentation (pdf, 129K)
Access Paul O'Brien's slides (pdf, 237K)