Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
Governments make policy to affect three domains: domestic outcomes, outcomes in foreign countries, and shared global challenges. This note sets out how the conceptual and analytical incoherence of policy set in developed countries across these three domains undermines their own effectiveness—most notably on international development and shared global challenges.
We develop screens and principles designed to maximise the impact of aid, especially in richer recipients. All else equal, a dollar spent in the poorest countries will have a larger impact on well-being than a dollar spent in richer countries, so ODA should be concentrated in those countries.
If the ODA budget is to be cut, doing so will be painful, messy, and imperfect, but there is a way to wield the chisel well, says Ranil Dissanayake.
Being a force for good in the world is more than about branding, or even good intentions: it requires impact and an organisation capable of it. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s vision offers a good starting point for being a values-driven force for good in the world, but within that vision there are potential tensions that need to be managed, rather than left to seethe.
Following the announcement of the merger between DfID and FCO, Stefan Dercon and Ranil Dissanayake take a look at the opportunities of the merger.
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