As the year draws to a close, we at the Center for Global Development pause from our regular newsletters to thank you for your interest in our work and mission. We will be back in January with the weekly development updates and invitations to the lively, informative events that you have come to expect from us. Meanwhile, our president, Nancy Birdsall, has some news and a request to share with you.
December 20, 2011
Dear Friend,
Since the Center for Global Development began in 2001, we have earned a reputation as a trusted source of independent, non-partisan analysis and innovative policy proposals. Working across the political spectrum with policymakers in rich and developing countries and leaders in the multilateral institutions, we leverage the modest resources at our disposal to improve the policies and practices of the rich and powerful that affect poor people in the developing world.
Central to our success at turning ideas into action is the independence that arises from the support of friends and supporters like you. Because this support is not tied to specific programs, it enables us to be innovative and nimble, to investigate new areas that have not yet attracted the interest of major funders and to pursue policy openings as they arise. If CGD is the yeast in the global development policy process, the Society is the yeast in CGD. I invite you to join me and this growing network by investing in the CGD Society with a gift of $150 or more.
I would like to offer you an update on one example of our work that has involved me personally: Cash on Delivery (COD) Aid. Like many ideas hatched in the Center, COD Aid draws upon our prior research for a deep understanding of the shortcomings of the status quo, in this case the ways that aid can undermine the very governments that donors would like to strengthen.
In a December 2006 CGD working paper, Owen Barder and I outlined an alternative hands-off approach to foreign assistance: offer incremental payments for verified increases in an agreed outcome, such as children completing primary school and taking a test. We hoped that such an approach could strengthen local institutions while showing tax payers in rich countries that the aid they provide actually improves poor people’s lives.
After years of research and consultations to refine and elaborate the COD Aid model, last year Bill Savedoff and I published Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid, a small volume that is part theoretical framework and part handbook for implementation. The book has been widely read, cited, and discussed, and I am proud to report that COD Aid is now well on its way from idea to action: this year the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) announced that it is preparing to sponsor COD Aid pilots. Foreign Policy, which included me and three others affiliated with CGD on its 2011 Top 100 Global Thinkers List, said that with recent developments, “Cash on delivery now has a chance to deliver.”
That is just one of our ideas. Our research and policy initiatives—on trade, financial services for the poor, health policy, international migration and more—provoke, inform, and inspire governments and international institutions to examine their practices anew and experiment with promising new solutions.
By joining the CGD Society you will be helping us continue to push for policy change to promote shared global prosperity. As an extra incentive to join now, your gift will be doubled, thanks to a 10th Anniversary matching pledge from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
There are many benefits to membership, which include a complimentary copy of CGD’s publications in 2012. By joining today you will be one of the first to receive our newest book, Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance, by senior fellow David Roodman. Those of you who have followed David’s Open-Book blog know he pioneered a new way of writing a book, sharing his intellectual journey and inviting comments on the draft chapters. In the process he earned a reputation as what Nobel Prize-winning microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus called “the most consistent and articulate analyst of microcredit.” I know you will learn from and enjoy this thoughtful, balanced and engaging book.
I hope you will take a moment now to join me and the growing network of CGD Society members from around the world supporting independent research and practical ideas for global prosperity.
Season’s best,
Nancy
P.S. Please consider sharing your knowledge and appreciation of CGD’s work with a friend, family member, or colleague by making a contribution on his or her behalf or by extending an invitation to join you in becoming a member of the CGD Society.
