Outcome-Based Aid

CGD proposed Cash on Delivery Aid as a way to make aid more effective by paying for development outcomes rather than inputs (e.g., increasing learning rather than building more schools)). In 2010, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and Ethiopia became the first to implement an aid program inspired by this model. This pilot aims to increase the number of students who successfully complete a lower secondary education.

In 2015, Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Dana Hyde committed the agency to piloting a COD Aid program. The Cash on Delivery Aid team, led by Nancy Birdsall and Bill Savedoff, continues to engage with development agencies, charitable foundations, and developing-country governments to encourage additional programs to include these COD Aid features: a focus on outcomes, recipient choice in deciding how to proceed, independent verification of results, and transparency and accountability of donors and recipients to their own citizens.