July/August 2010

SEEN AND HEARD

In a recent speech to Oxfam and Policy Exchange at the Royal Society in London, Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, pledged to follow through on the UK government’s commitment to test COD Aid.  In the speech, Mitchell advocated for results-based aid and giving governments of developing countries more of a choice in how they make progress.
Mitchell reaffirmed his commitment in a subsequent speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

On June 14, the World Bank’s Operations Policy and Country Services division and its Human Development Network co-hosted a roundtable discussion of our book Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid with an Application to Primary Schooling. Bill Savedoff presented COD Aid as applied to the education sector, and Ayah Mahgoub gave an update of donor interest in COD Aid.  During this dynamic session, the audience provided good feedback and comments on how the World Bank can take a leadership role in promoting innovative approaches to foreign aid.

Mead Over presented applications of COD Aid to HIV prevention at a Center for Global Development seminar on June 8. The seminar, Making HIV Prevention Work (Really): An Incentive-based Approach, focused on topics from Mead’s recent essay which includes discussion of how COD Aid can strengthen incentives for governments and donors to improve outcomes in HIV/AIDS prevention.

Following their time in Liberia learning from government officials and development partners about the challenges and opportunities in the education sector, Bill Savedoff and Ayah Mahgoub offered recommendations for how COD Aid can be piloted for primary schooling in the country in this report (recommendations on how it can be applied in Malawi and Ethiopia can be found here and here). 

Robert Kaplan, Chief Advisor to the Executive Vice President of the Inter-American Development Bank, has completed this concept note for how COD Aid can be applied to development projects in the water sector.

COD AID IN THE MEDIA

In an article about the UK’s new aid policy, the Economist highlights the innovative features of COD Aid and DfID’s plans to apply the idea.

Following Andrew Mitchell’s speech, the aidinfo blog discusses COD Aid as a part of the UK’s new development policy in this post.

The Virtual Economics website has posted a summary and description of Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid with an Application to Primary Schooling.

Ranil Dissanayake highlights COD Aid as a form of budget support in this post about the best ways to give aid in the developing world.

In this post, Nandini Oomman and Katherine Douglas discuss how COD Aid can enhance efforts to reduce maternal mortality.

A recent report from the NGO ACTION about the weaknesses of the World Banks’s Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) in the health sector cites CGD’s work on COD Aid as a measure that can be taken to increase the effectiveness of SWAps.  Mead Over blogs about this report here.

In this blog post, Adrienne Villani discusses Mead Over’s work in applying COD Aid to HIV/AIDS prevention.

COD AID UPDATE

As the newest member of the COD Aid team, I’m excited to have recently joined the Center for Global Development and I look forward to continuing the work the team has done to inform donors and recipient country governments about the ways in which COD Aid can increase efficiency and accountability in the foreign aid system.

To learn more, please visit the COD Aid page of our website and take a look at our book, Cash on Delivery: A new approach to foreign aid with an application to primary schooling. I welcome your comments, questions and ideas. Please send them here. 

Best wishes,

Rita Perakis
Program Coordinator to the President
Center for Global Development

ON THE HORIZON

Bill and Katherine Douglas will release a concept note for how COD Aid can be applied to the health sector, including applications to reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.