Memorandum submitted by Howard White,
Executive Director, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation
(3ie)
Why does aid coordination matter?
There are two main, related benefits to aid
coordination:
1. Reduced transaction costs: governments
should no longer need to deal with multiple reporting formats,
multiple donor missions on the same subject and so on, freeing
up time from aid management for the business of government.
2. Increased ownership: the project-based
approach and program fragmentation under many donors hinder ownership
since there is insufficient staff in government to participate
in all projects and programs in a meaningful way.
What is 3ie and why is it necessary?
3ie is a new international organization which
will finance high quality impact evaluations on questions of enduring
relevance to enhancing development effectiveness. It is being
supported by a number of governments in both developed and developing
worlds, NGOs and official development agencies, including DFID.
The impetus for 3ie came from two perceptions:
(1) a lack of high quality impact evaluations necessary for evidence-based
policy-making, (2) the lack of the necessary independence of in-house
evaluation departments to deliver critical findings. An additional
rationale is that 3ie will place responsibility in the hands of
developing country governments and agencies.
What is the link between 3ie and aid coordination?
3ie will foster greater aid coordination in
at least three ways:
1. Providing common quality standards for
impact evaluation, ensuring comparability and so enhancing learning
across countries and agencies.
2. Providing a platform for evaluating government
programs, rather than the fragmented, donor-specific contribution
to those programs. In cases where a sector wide approach has been
adopted, 3ie can support an evaluation which will cover the inputs
of all funding agencies (noting that 3ie will evaluate specific
interventions under programmes, not the programme as a whole).
3. Finance evaluations demanded by developing
country policy makers, so fostering ownership and use of evaluation
findings. The greater use of evaluation findings will motivate
policy makers to be more proactive in the use of aid funds, seeking
to coordinate financing under government designed interventions.
But doesn't the current proliferation of impact
evaluation initiatives go against the idea of coordination?
In addition to 3ie, there is also a new Network
of Networks on Impact Evaluation (NONIE) with the same objective
of promoting quality impact evaluation. The World Bank also has
a number of initiatives with the same objective. In reality these
initiatives are complementary not competing. NONIE is to create
awareness and understanding, and promote adoption of quality standards.
3ie is a financing agency, which will set standards by example.
The World Bank initiatives are an additional financing channel,
restricted to Bank-financed activities, and also carry out capacity
building activities.
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