New York Times op-ed columnist Nick Kristof featured CGD's idea for Cash on Delivery Aid.
From the article:
"A new book from the Center of Global Development in Washington by Nancy Birdsall and William Savedoff suggests a novel approach to address some of aid’s shortcomings, and I think it’s worth experimenting with. The book is called “Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid.” The idea is to pay poor countries not for inputs but for outcomes. Aid money wouldn’t be used to cover expenses, but would be paid out only if a country performed by raising certain benchmarks.
For example, instead of using aid money to pay to build schools, or to train teachers, aid could be used to reward a country for getting more kids to complete school – without sacrificing education quality, as measured in test performance. Something like this is already done in the health field, where GAVI pays countries some upfront expenses and also $20 for each additional child vaccinated."