‘Aid works, but not as it should’

Speaker Owen Barder from The Dial on Vimeo.

A terrific talk by Owen Barder – here’s a quick summary what he said.

We ought to be able to fix lack of predictability, yet it costs between 15 and 20 per of the value of aid. And tying of aid costs as much as 30 per cent of the value of aid.

The proliferation of aid – projects and donors – since the 1970s is staggering. Average project size is now less than $100,000!

Why is this happening?

Perhaps the answer is politics – people want their governments to be involved in everything, and there is also rent seeking.

So despite donor declarations, we are locked into a deep political equilibrium that leads to proliferation.

So how to we modify the system to shift the equilibrium?

First, we need to change the equilibrium rather than move away from it.

Secondly, we need variation in the system and the mechanisms to learn. We need better feedback mechanisms to learn.

Third, maybe its easier to make decisions about systems than about plans, that make it easier to do the right thing later on.

For example:

▪ Mechanisms to decentralise and empower people on the ground.
▪ Increase transparency (more raw data, better intermediation, beneficiary feedback, comparable unit costs).
▪ Close the feedback loop to scale up success and stop things that don’t work (see EWB’s failure report.)
▪ Empower beneficiaries to make their own choices – instead of interventions, consider giving money.

So the solution is not to design a new system, but to put into the system things that will help it to adapt and evolve better.

Notes: Also check out Owen’s podcast on Beyond Planning and the related paper.