Andreas Madestam: Why doesn’t research play a greater role in development aid decisions?

In his chapter, Madestam compares the incentives facing staff at aid agency headquarters, field staff and researchers. Pressure to disburse aid funds and maintain partner relationships can crowd out critical scrutiny and learning about the effects of aid. Researchers, in turn, are rewarded primarily for publishing new findings, while decision-makers also need research overviews and cost-effectiveness analyses.

Madestam proposes an innovation and evaluation fund with staged financing, PhD-trained analysts working closely with decision-makers at Sweden’s aid agency, and a permanent, independent evaluation institute. The reforms would bring research and evaluation into the design of interventions from the outset and allow evidence on impact and cost-effectiveness to steer subsequent funding decisions.

“Without such changes, evidence-based aid will continue to be a slogan rather than a way of working,” Madestam writes.