The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party launched a policy green paper outlining the party’s agenda for international development today. The paper sets forth policies and initiatives the party plans to adopt if elected to power in the upcoming UK elections with a focus on increasing the value of aid, enhancing wealth creation, and addressing conflict, stabilization and peacekeeping. Among other initiatives outlined in the paper, we are pleased to learn that the party has announced strong support for two initiatives developed by the Center for Global Development: Cash on Delivery (COD) Aid – an outcomes-based aid modality that focuses on results while promoting recipient ownership; and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation(3ie) – an organization that supports and promotes quality impact evaluations of development programs in low- and middle-income countries. What is especially exciting about this endorsement is the signal it sends that ideas for increasing the effectiveness of development efforts are non-partisan. The UK under Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor Party was one of the first countries to become a member of 3ie, and would presumably continue to support it if they remain in office. This signal that the Conservative Party would not only be willing to continue supporting the initiative, but would also commit additional funding, we hope will encourage other major bilateral donors, private foundations and new donors to commit resources to impact evaluations and become members of 3ie.The same is true for COD Aid. The UK government under the leadership of Prime Minister Gordon Brown was one of the first governments to begin seriously exploring the potential for COD Aid, and co-hosted a meeting on the approach at the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development. Although a COD Aid program has not yet been launched, several countries and official and private donors are considering trying it. We hope this announcement will encourage more governments and donors to consider collaborating on COD Aid programs.
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CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise. CGD is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions.