The Economist quotes CGD President Nancy Birdsall on Cash On Delivery Aid.
From the article:
"In one area, however, he is open to radical thinking. Influenced by the work of a Washington think-tank, the Centre for Global Development, he says he wants to promote a new form of foreign aid known as “cash on delivery”. Donors promise to pay agreed sums to recipients once specific outcomes are achieved, for example cutting levels of HIV transmission or death in childbirth. Donors have no say on how to achieve the agreed ends, and an auditor decides whether funds should be paid.
The idea is to give recipients more control over aid spending—long an aspiration of thoughtful activists who point to waste, bureaucracy, unpredictable flows and confusion among foreign-aid programmes. Nancy Birdsall, head of the think-tank and the keenest advocate of the idea, says donors must learn to trust that locals often know best how to deliver results. She calls DfID a “thought-leader and innovator among donors in the last five to ten years”, and is delighted that Mr Mitchell, a fellow enthusiast, seems ready to apply the idea. With cash in hand and new ideas, Britain has a rare chance to blaze a trail."