View source for Development aid

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{short description|Financial aid given to support the development of developing countries}}
[[File:Development-assistance-as-share-of-government-expense.png|thumb|right|300px|In some countries there is more development aid than government spending. (Image from World in Data)]]
'''Development aid''' (or '''development cooperation''') is a type of [[aid]] given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political [[International development|development]] of [[developing countries]].<ref name=":19">{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp09118.pdf|title=Development Aid and Economic Growth: A Positive Long-Run Relation|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> It is distinguished from [[humanitarian aid]] by aiming at a sustained improvement in the conditions in a developing country, rather than short-term relief. The overarching term is [[Aid|''foreign aid'']] (or just ''aid''). The amount of foreign aid is measured though official development assistance (ODA). This is a category used by the [[Development Assistance Committee]] (DAC) of the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) to measure foreign aid. 

Aid may be ''bilateral'': given from one country directly to another; or it may be ''multilateral'': given by the donor country to an international organisation such as the [[World Bank]] or the United Nations Agencies ([[UNDP]], [[UNICEF]], [[UNAIDS]], etc.) which then distributes it among the developing countries. The proportion is currently about 70% bilateral 30% multilateral.<ref name=":24">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Total flows by donor (ODA+OOF+Private) [DAC1]|url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLE1|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611033345/http://stats.oecd.org:80/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLE1 |archive-date=11 June 2009 |access-date=|website=OECD}}</ref>

About 80% of the aid measured by the [[OECD]] comes from government sources as [[official development assistance]] (ODA). The remaining 20% or so comes from individuals, businesses, [[Foundation (nonprofit)|charitable foundations]] or [[Non-governmental organization|NGOs]] (e.g.,&nbsp;[[Oxfam]]).<ref name=":23">OECD, DAC1 Official and Private Flows (''op. cit.''). The calculation is Net Private Grants / ODA.</ref> Most development aid comes from the Western industrialised countries but some poorer countries also contribute aid. Development aid is not usually understood as including [[remittance]]s received from migrants working or living in [[diaspora]]—even though these form a significant amount of international transfer—as the recipients of remittances are usually individuals and families rather than formal projects and programmes. 

Negative side effects of development aid can include an unbalanced [[Currency appreciation and depreciation|appreciation]] of the recipient's currency, increasing corruption, and adverse political effects such as postponements of necessary economic and democratic reforms.<ref name="brookings.edu">[http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0317_aid_governance_kaufmann.aspx Aid Effectiveness and Governance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091009071531/http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0317_aid_governance_kaufmann.aspx|date=9 October 2009}}</ref><ref name=":52">Rahnama, M. & Fawaz, F. & Gittings, K. (2017). The effects of foreign aid on economic growth in developing countries. ''The Journal of Developing Areas'' 51(3), 153-171. Tennessee State University College of Business.</ref>

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== Related concepts ==

There are various terms that used interchangeably with ''development aid'' in some contexts but possess different meanings in others.

* ''Development cooperation'': In the early 21st century, ''development cooperation'' has become a key term in a discourse associated with the [[Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation|Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation]]. In this context it encompasses activities that may not be directly related to aid, such as domestic and global policy changes, co-ordination with profit-making and civil society entities, and exchanges between less-developed countries.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=1 December 2016 |title=Nairobi outcome document |url=https://www.effectivecooperation.org/system/files/2020-05/Nairobi-Outcome-Document-English.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424043257/https://www.effectivecooperation.org/system/files/2020-05/Nairobi-Outcome-Document-English.pdf |archive-date=24 April 2021 |access-date=16 January 2021 |website=Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation}}</ref> Despite suggesting a wider range of co-ordinated action, the term is often used synonymously with ''development aid''.<ref name="Foot01" /> 
* ''Development assistance'': is a synonym of ''development aid'' often used in international forums such as the UN and the OECD. [[Official development assistance]] (ODA) is aid given by OECD-member governments that specifically targets the economic development and welfare of countries with the lowest per capita incomes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Official Development Assistance (ODA)|url=https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/official-development-assistance.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422122947/http://www.oecd.org:80/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/official-development-assistance.htm |archive-date=22 April 2019 |access-date=26 January 2021|website=OECD}}</ref> It includes humanitarian aid as well as development aid in the strict sense.
*[[Aid]]: is a more general concept which can include [[humanitarian aid]] (emergency relief) and other voluntary transfers not specifically aimed at development. Other expressions that relate to aid in general include ''foreign aid'', ''international aid'', and ''overseas aid''.

== Types ==

=== Bilateral and multilateral official development assistance ===
{{Further|Official development assistance}}
Official aid may be [[Bilateralism|bilateral]]: given from one country directly to another; or it may be [[Multilateralism|multilateral]]: given by the donor country to pooled funds administered by an international organisation such as the [[World Bank]] or a UN Agency ([[UNDP]], [[UNICEF]], [[UNAIDS]], etc.) which then uses its funds for work in developing countries. To qualify as multilateral, the funding must lose its identity as originating from a particular source.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gulrajani |first=Nilima |title=Bilateral versus multilateral aid channels: Strategic choices for donors |date=March 2016 |publisher=Overseas Development Institute |isbn= |location= |pages=7}}</ref> The proportion of multilateral aid in ODA was 28% in 2019.<ref name=":24" />

=== Trilateral ===
Trilateral development cooperation (also called triangular development cooperation) is a type of development cooperation, wherein [[Development Assistance Committee|OECD DAC]] member states or multilateral institutions provide development assistance to emergent development actors, with the aim of assisting them in carrying out development projects in other developing countries.<ref>United Nations Economic and Social Council (2008), page 8. Trends in South-South and Triangular Development Cooperation. url: http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/pdfs/south-south_cooperation.pdf.</ref>

The purpose of trilateral development cooperation is to combine the strengths of both OECD DAC member states and the new development actors in delivering more effective aid to recipient countries.<ref>OECD (2016), page 9. Dispelling the myths of triangular co-operation - Evidence from the 2015 OECD survey on triangular co-operation. url: https://www.oecd.org/dac/dacglobal- relations/OECD_Triangular_co-operation_survey_report_2016.pdf.</ref> The OECD DAC member states and multilateral institutions participate in trilateral development cooperation with the aimed goal of increasing aid effectiveness and efficiency, phasing out bilateral aid, transferring good practices, and capacity building.<ref>Ashoff, Guido (2010). Triangular Cooperation: Opportunities, risks, and conditions for effectiveness. Tech. rep. January 2010, pp. 22–24. url: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8917388a-5ef3-5a1c-9412-6aacae567900/content</ref>

=== Non-ODA development aid ===
Analyses of development aid often focus on ODA, as ODA is measured systematically and appears to cover most of what people regard as development aid. However, there are some significant categories of development aid that fall outside ODA, notably: private aid, remittances, aid to less-poor countries and aid from other donor states.

==== Private development aid ====
A distinction is often made between development aid that is ''governmental'' ("official") on the one hand, and ''private'' (originating from individuals, businesses and the investments of [[Foundation (nonprofit)|charitable foundations]], and often channeled through religious organisations and other [[Non-governmental organization|NGOs]]) on the other. Official aid may be government-to-government, or it may be channeled through intermediary bodies such as [[United Nations System|UN agencies]], [[international financial institutions]], NGOs or other contractors. NGOs thus commonly handle both official and private aid. Of aid reported to the OECD, about 80% is official and 20% private.<ref name=":23" />

==== Remittances ====
Development aid is not usually understood as including [[remittance]]s received from migrants working or living in [[diaspora]]—even though these form a significant amount of international transfer—as the recipients of remittances are usually individuals and families rather than formal projects and programmes. 

[[World Bank]] estimates for remittance flows to "developing countries" in 2016 totalled $422&nbsp;billion,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=April 2018|title=Migration and Remittances: Recent Developments and Outlook|url=http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/805161524552566695/pdf/125632-WP-PUBLIC-MigrationandDevelopmentBrief.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829144249/http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/805161524552566695/pdf/125632-WP-PUBLIC-MigrationandDevelopmentBrief.pdf |archive-date=29 August 2020 |access-date=5 February 2021|website=World Bank}}</ref> which was far greater than total ODA. The exact nature and effects of remittance money remain contested.<ref>[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2003/wp03189.pdf Are Immigrant Remittance Flows a Source of Capital for Development? - WP/03/189<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The [[International Monetary Fund]] has reported that private remittances may have a negative impact on economic growth, as they are often used for private consumption of individuals and families, not for economic development of the region or country.<ref>[http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=16801.0 Are Immigrant Remittance Flows a Source of Capital for Development<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==== Aid to less-poor countries ====
ODA only includes aid to countries which are on the [http://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/daclist.htm DAC List of ODA Recipients] which includes most countries classified by the World Bank as of low and middle income.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=DAC List of ODA Recipients|url=http://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/daclist.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424061342/http://www.oecd.org:80/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/daclist.htm |archive-date=24 April 2017 |access-date=8 February 2021|website=OECD}}</ref>

==== Weakly-concessional loans ====
Loans from one state to another may be counted as ODA only if their terms are substantially more favourable than market terms. The exact rules for this have varied from time to time. Less-concessional loans therefore would not be counted as ODA but might be considered as including an element of development aid.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Official development assistance – definition and coverage|url=http://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719055510/http://www.oecd.org:80/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm |archive-date=19 July 2016 |access-date=8 February 2021|website=OECD}}</ref>

==== Aid from other donor states ====
Some states provide development aid without reporting to the OECD using standard definitions, categories and systems. Notable examples are China and India. For 2018, the OECD estimated that, while total ODA was about $150 billion,<ref name=":25" />  an additional six to seven billion dollars of ODA-like development aid was given by ten other states.<ref name=":26" /> (These amounts include aid that is humanitarian in character as well as purely developmental aid.)

==== TOSSD ====
Recognizing that ODA does not capture all the expenditures that promote development, the OECD in 2014 started establishing a wider statistical framework called TOSSD (Total Official Support for Sustainable Development) that would count spending on "international public goods". In March 2022, TOSSD was adopted as a data source for indicator 17.3.1 of the SDGs global indicator framework to measure development support. The TOSSD data for 2020 shows more than USD 355 billion disbursed to support for sustainable development, from almost 100 provider countries and institutions.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD)|url=https://www.tossd.org/}}</ref> The [[Commitment to Development Index]] published annually by the [[Center for Global Development]] is another attempt to look at broader donor country policies toward the developing world. These types of activity could be formulated and understood as a kind of development aid although commonly they are not.

==Output-based aid (OBA)==
{{excerpt|Output-based aid|paragraphs=1-2}}

==Extent==
{{Development economics sidebar}}
Most development aid is counted as part of the official development assistance (ODA) reported by governments to the OECD. The total amount of ODA in 2018 was about $150 billion.<ref name=":25">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Development aid drops in 2018, especially to neediest countries|url=http://www.oecd.org/development/development-aid-drops-in-2018-especially-to-neediest-countries.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410230451/http://www.oecd.org/development/development-aid-drops-in-2018-especially-to-neediest-countries.htm |archive-date=10 April 2019 |access-date=29 January 2021|website=OECD}}</ref> For the same year, the OECD estimated that six to seven billion dollars of aid was given by ten other states, including China and India.<ref name=":26">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Other official providers not reporting to the OECD|url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/18b00a44-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/18b00a44-en#chapter-d1e45724|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210025747/https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/18b00a44-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/18b00a44-en |archive-date=10 February 2021 |access-date=29 January 2021|website=OECD}}</ref> However, these amounts include aid that is humanitarian in character as well as purely developmental aid. The proportion of development aid within ODA was about 80%.<ref name=":23" />

The OECD classifies ODA development aid by sector, the main sectors being: education, health (including population policies, water supply and sanitation), government & civil society, economic infrastructure (including transport and energy), and production (including agriculture). Additionally, there are "cross-cutting" aims; for instance, environmental protection, gender equality, urban and rural development concerns.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Aid (ODA) by sector and donor [DAC5] |url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=TABLE5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611033350/http://stats.oecd.org:80/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLE5 |archive-date=11 June 2009 |access-date=6 February 2021 |website=OECD}}</ref>

Some governments include military assistance in the notion of ''foreign aid'', although the international community does not usually regard military aid as development aid.

Development aid is widely seen as a major way to meet [[Sustainable Development Goal 1]] (to end poverty in all its forms everywhere) for the developing nations. 

=== Top recipient countries ===
{{Main list|List of countries by Official Development Assistance received
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ [[Official development assistance|ODA]] received, total for nine years, 2010-2018<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stats.oecd.org/qwids/#?x=2&y=6&f=3:51,4:1,1:2,5:3,7:1&q=3:51+4:1+1:2+5:3+7:1+2:1,262,263,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,189,25,27,28,31,29,30,287,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,89,40,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,166,59,273,62,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,78,79,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,90,274,91,92,93,95,96,97,98,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128,129,63,130,131,132,133,135,136,137,138,139,141,144,159,160,161,162,145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152,154,155,156,157,275,158,163,164,165,167,168,169,170,171,172,173,174,175,176,177,178,179,180,181,182,183,184,185,186,187,188,190,134,191,192,193,216,217,218,220,221,222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230,231,195,196,233,197,238,198,200,234,235,201,202,271,203,204,208,205,237,236,270,267,265,266,272,209,210,211,212,213,215,G1+6:2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 |title=QWIDS Query Wizard for International Development Statistics |website=OECD |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>
|-
! Country !! [[US$]], billions
|-
| {{flag|Afghanistan}}|| 37.6
|-
| {{flag|India}}||18.1
|-
| {{flag|Ethiopia}}||17.6
|-
| {{flag|Vietnam}}||17.4
|-
| {{flag|Pakistan}}||15.8
|-
| {{flag|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}||15.6
|-
| {{flag|Iraq}}||14.7
|-
| {{flag|Tanzania}}||14.3
|-
| {{flag|Kenya}}||13.9
|-
| {{flag|Syria}}||13.3
|}

=== Top donor countries ===
{{Main list|List of development aid country donors
}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Total [[Official development assistance|ODA]] disbursed in decade 2010-2019<ref>{{cite web |url=https://stats.oecd.org/qwids/#?x=1&y=6&f=4:1,2:1,3:51,5:3,7:1&q=4:1+2:1+3:51+5:3+7:1+1:2,3,4,5,6,58,7,8,9,10,11,59,60,12,13,14,61,15,16,17,18,62,19,63,75,20,21,22,23,24,36,G2+6:2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019 (current US$) |title=QWIDS Query Wizard for International Development Statistics|website=OECD |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>
|-
! Country !! [[US$]], billions
|-
| {{flag|United States}}||323
|-
| {{flag|Germany}}||188
|-
| {{flag|United Kingdom}}||171
|-
| {{flag|France}}||115
|-
| {{flag|Japan}}||107
|-
| {{flag|Sweden}}||56
|-
| {{flag|Netherlands}}||56
|-
| {{flag|Canada}}||47
|-
| {{flag|Norway}}||46
|-
| {{flag|Italy}}||42
|}

The OECD also lists countries by the amount of ODA they give ''as a percentage of their [[gross national income]]''. The top 10 DAC countries in 2020 were as follows. Six countries met the longstanding UN target for an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.7% in 2020:<ref name="OECD-2020">{{cite web|title=Development co-operation during the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis of 2020 figures and 2021 trends to watch|url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org//sites/e4b3142a-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/5e331623-en&_csp_=b14d4f60505d057b456dd1730d8fcea3&itemIGO=oecd&itemContentType=chapter#annex-d1e2951|publisher=OECD|access-date=12 June 2021|date=16 June 2021}}</ref>

# {{flag|Sweden}} – 1.14%
# {{flag|Norway}} – 1.11%
# {{flag|Luxembourg}} – 1.02%
# {{flag|Denmark}} and {{flag|Germany}} – 0.73%
# {{flag|United Kingdom}} – 0.7%
# {{flag|Netherlands}} – 0.59%
# {{flag|France}} – 0.53%
# {{flag|Switzerland}} – 0.48%
# {{flag|Belgium}} and {{flag|Finland}} – 0.47%
# {{flag|Canada}}, {{flag|Ireland}} and {{flag|Japan}}– 0.31%

[[European Union]] countries that are members of the [[Development Assistance Committee]] gave 0.42% of GNI (excluding the US$19.4 billion given by EU Institutions).<ref name="OECD-2020" />

===By type of project===
<gallery widths="320px" heights="200px">
File:Total official flows for infrastructure, by recipient, OWID.svg|Total official development assistance (ODA) and other official flows from all donors in support of infrastructure in 2017
File:Total official flows commitments for Aid for Trade, by recipient, OWID.svg|Total official flows commitments for aid for trade in 2017
File:Total official financial flows for water supply and sanitation, by recipient, OWID.svg|Total water and sanitation-related Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursements that are included in the government budget in 2015
File:Total official development assistance for biodiversity, by recipient, OWID.svg|Total official development assistance (ODA) transferred for use in biodiversity conservation and protection efforts 2017
File:Total official development assistance for biodiversity, by donor, OWID.svg|Total official development assistance for biodiversity, by donor in 2017
File:Total official flows commitments for Aid for Trade, by donor, OWID.svg|Total official flows commitments for Aid for Trade, by donor in 2015
</gallery>

== Discussions on favourable impacts ==
Research has shown that development aid has a strong and favorable effect on economic growth and development through promoting investments in infrastructure and human capital.<ref name=":19" /> According to a study conducted among 36 [[Sub-Saharan Africa|sub-saharan African countries]] in 2013, 27 out of these 36 countries have experienced strong and favorable effects of aid on GDP and investments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Juselius |first1=Katarina |last2=Møller |first2=Niels Framroze |last3=Tarp |first3=Finn |date=2013 |title=The Long-Run Impact of Foreign Aid in 36 African Countries: Insights from Multivariate Time Series Analysis*: Long-run impact of foreign aid in African countries |url=http://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2011-051.pdf |journal=Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics |language=en |volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=153–184 |doi=10.1111/obes.12012 |s2cid=53685791 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10.1111/obes.12012}}</ref> Another study showed that aid per capita supports economic growth for low income African countries such as Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia, while aid per capita does not have a significant effect on the economic growth of middle income African countries such as Botswana and Morocco.<ref name=":20">{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Jin-Sang |last2=Alemu |first2=Aye Mengistu |date=27 November 2015 |title=Foreign aid on economic growth in Africa: A comparison of low and middle-income countries |journal=South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences |language=en |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=449–462 |doi=10.4102/sajems.v18i4.737 |issn=2222-3436 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Aid is most beneficial to low income countries because such countries use aid received for to provide education and healthcare for citizens, which eventually improves economic growth in the long run.<ref name=":20" />

Some [[Econometrics|econometric]] studies suggest that development aid effectively reduces poverty in developing countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=poverty reduction |first=foreign aid |date=January 2019 |title=Foreign aid and poverty reduction |journal=Cogent Social Sciences |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/23311886.2019.1625741 |s2cid=189994202 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Other studies have supported the view that development aid has no clear average effect on the speed with which countries develop.<ref name="brookings.edu" /><ref name=":52" />

Dissident economists such as [[Peter Thomas Bauer|Peter Bauer]] and [[Milton Friedman]] argued in the 1960s that aid is ineffective: "an excellent method for transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The sad loss of Lord Bauer |url=http://www.la-articles.org.uk/bauer.htm}}</ref>

In economics, there are two competing positions on aid. A view pro aid, supported by [[Jeffrey Sachs]] and the United Nations, which argues that foreign aid will give the big push to break the low-income [[poverty trap]] poorer countries are trapped in. From this perspective, aid serves to finance  "the core inputs to development – teachers, health centers, roads, wells, medicine, to name a few". (United Nations 2004).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Qian |first=Nancy |date=3 August 2015 |title=Making Progress on Foreign Aid |journal=Annual Review of Economics |language=en |volume=7 |pages=277–308 |doi=10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115553 |s2cid=33135898}}</ref> And a view that is skeptic about the impacts of aid, supported by William Easterly, that points out that aid has not proven to work after 40 years of large investments in Africa.<ref name=":0" />

== Discussion on unfavourable impacts ==
{{See also|Aid effectiveness|Aid#Criticism}}
=== Imposition of inappropriate strategies and technologies ===
According to [[James Ferguson (anthropologist)|James Ferguson]], these issues might be caused by deficient diagnostics of the development agencies. In his book [[The Anti-Politics Machine]], Ferguson uses the example of the [[Thaba-Tseka District|Thaba-Tseka]] project in [[Lesotho]] to illustrate how a bad diagnostic on the economic activity of the population and the desire to stay away from local politics, caused a livestock project to fail.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ferguson|first=James|date=1994|title=The anti-politics machine: 'development' and bureaucratic power in Lesotho|url=http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_3682_f08/Articles/Ferguson%20-%20The%20Anti%20Politics%20Machine.pdf|journal=The Ecologist|volume=24|issue=5|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129094236/http://www.colorado.edu/geography/class_homepages/geog_3682_f08/Articles/Ferguson%20-%20The%20Anti%20Politics%20Machine.pdf|archive-date=29 January 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to Martijn Nitzsche, another problem is the way on how development projects are sometimes constructed and how they are maintained by the local population. Often, projects are made with technology that is hard to understand and too difficult to repair, resulting in unavoidable failure over time. Also, in some cases the local population is not very interested in seeing the project to succeed and may revert to disassembling it to retain valuable source materials. Finally, villagers do not always maintain a project as they believe the original development workers or others in the surroundings will repair it when it fails (which is not always so).<ref name="momentum-media.nl">{{Cite web |url=http://www.momentum-media.nl/files/_articles/31/Gestrand_Ontwikkelingswerk.pdf |title=''Kijk Magazine''; October 2008, Gestrand Ontwikkelingswerk |access-date=22 April 2009 |archive-date=24 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724161438/http://www.momentum-media.nl/files/_articles/31/Gestrand_Ontwikkelingswerk.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Conditional aid ===
A common criticism in recent years is that rich countries have put so many conditions on aid that it has reduced aid effectiveness. In the example of [[tied aid]], donor countries often require the recipient to purchase goods and services from the donor, even if these are cheaper elsewhere. According to a 1991 report for the OECD, tied aid can increase development aid project costs by up to 20 or 30 percent.<ref name=":18">{{Cite web |last=Jepma |first=Catrinus J. |date=1991 |title=The tying of aid |url=http://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/29412505.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413105346/https://www.oecd.org/dev/pgd/29412505.pdf |archive-date=13 April 2016 |access-date=26 January 2021 |website=OECD}}</ref>

Other conditions include opening up the country to foreign investment, even if it might not be ready to do so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp|title=US and Foreign Aid Assistance|publisher=Global Issues|year=2007|access-date=21 February 2008}}</ref>

=== Contradictions between aid and other donor policies ===
There is also criticism because donors may give with one hand, through large amounts of development aid, yet take away with the other, through strict trade or migration policies, or by getting a foothold for foreign corporations. The [[Commitment to Development Index]] measures the overall policies of donors and evaluates the quality of their development aid, instead of just comparing the quantity of [[official development assistance]] given.

At the development level, anthropologist and researcher [[Jason Hickel]] has challenged the narrative that the rich countries of the OECD help the poor countries develop their economies and eradicate poverty. Hickel states that the rich countries "aren't developing poor countries; poor countries are developing rich ones."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hickel|first=Jason|date=14 January 2017|title=Aid in Reverse: How Poor Countries Develop Rich Countries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/14/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

== Improving effectiveness ==
{{excerpt|aid effectiveness}}

== Development aid for climate change ==
Proposals have been made to enhance climate-related development aid through a reformed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism—CBAM-Plus.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Do |first=Thang Nam |date=2025-01-01 |title=Reimagining carbon border adjustment mechanisms: A path to climate and development synergy |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S258979182500012X |journal=Global Transitions |volume=7 |pages=144–147 |doi=10.1016/j.glt.2025.03.003 |issn=2589-7918|doi-access=free }}</ref> This mechanism would redirect CBAM revenues to developing exporting countries to support their decarbonisation efforts, thereby strengthening climate mitigation in the Global South.

== Development aid for gender equality ==
Starting at the beginning of the UN Decade for Women in 1975, the [[women in development]] (WID) approach to international development began to inform the provision of development aid.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Charlesworth|first=Hillary|title=Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United nations|journal=Harvard Human Rights Journal|volume=18|pages=2}}</ref> Some academics criticized the WID approach for relying on integrating women into existing development aid paradigms instead of promulgating specific aid to encourage gender equality.<ref name=":4" /> The [[gender and development]] approach was created in response, to discuss international development in terms of societal gender roles and to challenge these gender roles within development policy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=182}}</ref> Women in Development predominated as the approach to gender in development aid through the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Robert|last2=Swiss|first2=Liam|date=September 2014|title=Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending|journal=Sociological Forum|volume=29|issue=3|pages=574|doi=10.1111/socf.12104}}</ref> Starting in the early 1990s Gender and Development's influence encouraged [[gender mainstreaming]] within international development aid.<ref name=":11"/>

The [[World Conference on Women, 1995]] promulgated gender mainstreaming on all policy levels for the [[United Nations]].<ref>Charlesworth, Hilary. [https://harvardhrj.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2020/06/18HHRJ1-Charlesworth.pdf "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations"]. ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 3.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/esa/gopher-data/conf/fwcw/off/a--20.en|title=Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women}}</ref> Gender Mainstreaming has been adopted by nearly all units of the UN with the UN Economic and Social Council adopting a definition which indicated an "ultimate goal&nbsp;... to achieve gender equality".<ref>Charlesworth, Hillary. "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United nations". ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 4-5.</ref> The UN included  promoting gender equality and empowering women as one of eight [[Millennium Development Goals]] for developing countries.

The EU integrated women in development thinking into its aid policy starting with the Lomé Convention in 1984.<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last1=Debusscher|first1=Petra|last2=Hulse|first2=Merran|s2cid=145495201|title=Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|volume=40|issue=3|pages=561–562|doi=10.1080/03057070.2014.909255|year=2014|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8707481|hdl=1854/LU-8707481|hdl-access=free}}</ref> In 1992 the EU's Latin American and Asian development policy first clearly said that development programs should not have detrimental effects on the position and role of women.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=181|doi=10.1177/0094582x12458423|s2cid=146621788}}</ref> Since then the EU has continued the policy of including gender equality within development aid and programs.<ref name=":5" /> Within the EU gender equality is increasingly introduced in programmatic ways.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|title=Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?|journal=Latin American Perspectives|volume=39|pages=187–189|doi=10.1177/0094582x12458423|s2cid=146621788}}</ref> The bulk of the EU's aid for gender equality seeks to increase women's access to education, employment and reproductive health services. However, some areas of gender inequality are targeted according to region, such as land reform and counteracting the effects of gangs on women in Latin America.<ref name=":6" />

[[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]] first established a women in development office in 1974 and in 1996 promulgated its Gender Plan of Action to further integrate gender equality into aid programs.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405165525/http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/GenderEqualityPolicy_0.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2015|title=Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy|publisher=USAID}}</ref> In 2012 USAID released a Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy to guide its aid programs in making gender equality a central goal.<ref name=":7" /> USAID saw increased solicitations from aid programs which integrated gender equality from 1995 to 2010.<ref name=":7" /> As part of their increased aid provision, USAID developed PROMOTE to target gender inequality in Afghanistan with $216 million in aid coming directly from USAID and $200 million coming from other donors.<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/promote/|title=Promote|publisher=USAID|access-date=27 May 2017|archive-date=1 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601103611/https://www.usaid.gov/afghanistan/promote/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Many NGOs have also incorporated gender equality into their programs. Within the Netherlands, NGOs including Oxfam Netherlands Organization for Development Assistance, the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, and Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid have included certain targets for their aid programs with regards to gender equality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Van Eerdewijk|first=Anouka|title=The Micropolitics of Evaporation: Gender Mainstreaming Instruments in Practice|journal=Journal of International Development|volume=26|issue=3|pages=348–349|doi=10.1002/jid.2951|year=2014}}</ref> NGOs which receive aid dollars through the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway)|Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] or which partner with the Norwegian government on aid projects must "demonstrate that they take women and gender equality seriously".<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Østebo|first1=Marit|last2=Haukanes|first2=Haldis|last3=Blystad|first3=Astrid|title=Strong State Policies on Gender and Aid: Threats and Opportunities for Norwegian Faith-Based Organisations|journal=Forum for Development Studies|volume=40|issue=2|pages=194}}</ref> In response to this requirement organizations like the Norwegian Christian charity Digni have initiated projects which target gender equality.<ref name=":8" />

[[Private foundation]]s provide the majority of their gender related aid to health programs and have relatively neglected other areas of gender inequality.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=4–5|oclc=931344632}}</ref> Foundations, such as the [[Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation|Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation]], have partnered with governmental aid organizations to provide funds for gender equality, but increasingly aid is provided through partnerships with local organizations and NGOS.<ref name=":9" /> Corporations also participate in providing gender equality aid through their [[Corporate social responsibility|Corporate Social Responsibility]] programs. [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] helped to create the [[Girl Effect]] to provide aid programs targeted towards adolescent girls.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=6|oclc=931344632}}</ref> Using publicly available data [[Una Osili]] an economist at the [[Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis|Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis]] found that between 2000 and 2010 $1.15 billion in private aid grants over $1 million from the United States targeted gender equality.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=8|oclc=931344632}}</ref>

The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] provides detailed analysis of the extent of aid for gender equality. OECD member countries tag their aid programs with gender markers when a program is designed to advanced gender equality.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Non-traditional aid and gender equity evidence from million dollar donations|last=Okonkwo|first=Osili, Una|date=2013|publisher=WIDER|isbn=9789292306533|pages=3|oclc=931344632}}</ref> In 2019-20 OECD DAC members committed almost $56.5 billion to aid for gender equality, with $6.3 billion of that committed to programs where gender equality is a principal programmatic goal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oecd.org/development/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-topics/development-finance-for-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment.htm|title=Gender-related aid data at a glance|publisher=OECD}}</ref>

=== Effectiveness of aid for gender equality ===
Three main measures of [[gender inequality]] are used in calculating gender equality and testing programs for the purposes of development aid. In the 1995 Human Development Report the [[United Nations Development Programme|United Nations Development Program]] introduced the [[Gender Development Index]] and [[Gender Empowerment Measure]].<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=IAFFE2016&paper_id=66&file_type=slides|title=Does Foreign Aid Improve Gender Performance of Recipient Countries? Results from Structural Equation Analysis|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref> The Gender Empowerment Measure is calculated based on three measures, proportion of women in national parliaments, percentage of women in economic decision making positions and female share of income. The Gender Development Index uses the Human Development Index and corrects its results in life expectancy, income, and education for gender imbalances.<ref name=":11"/> Due to criticisms of these two indexes the United Nations Development Program in its 2010 Human Development Report introduced the [[Gender Inequality Index]]. The Gender Inequality Index uses more metrics and attempts to show the losses from gender inequality.<ref name=":11"/>

Even with these indexes, Ranjula Swain of the [[Stockholm School of Economics]] and Supriya Garikipati of the [[University of Liverpool]] found that, compared to the effectiveness of health, economic, and education targeted aid, foreign aid for gender equality remains understudied.<ref name=":11"/> Swain and Garikipati found in an analysis of Gender Equality Aid that on a country and region-wide level gender equality aid was not significant in its effect. Swain and Garikipati blame this on the relative lack of aid with gender equality as a primary motivation.<ref name=":11"/>

In 2005, the Interagency Gender Working Group of the [[World Health Organization]] released the "So What? Report" on the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in NGO reproductive health programs. The report found these programs effective, but had trouble finding clear gender outcomes because most programs did not measure this data.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/knowledge/so-what-report.pdf|title=A Summary of the "So What?" Report|publisher=WHO}}</ref> When gender outcomes were measured, the report found positive programmatic effects, but the report did not look at whether these results were from increased access to services or increasing gender equality.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last1=Ravindran|first1=TKS|last2=Kelkar-Khambete|first2=A.|title=Gender Mainstreaming in Health: Looking Back, Looking Forward|journal=Global Public Health|volume=3|pages=127–129|doi=10.1080/17441690801900761|pmid=19288347|year=2008|s2cid=5215387}}</ref>

Even when gender equality is identified as a goal of aid, other factors will often be the primary focus of the aid.<ref name=":11" /> In some instances the nature of aid's gender equality component can fail to be implemented at the level of individual projects when it is a secondary aspect of a project.<ref>Charlesworth, Hilary. "Not Waving But Drowning Gender Mainstreaming and Human Rights in the United Nations". ''Harvard Human Rights Journal''. 18: 12.</ref> Gender equality is often put forward as a policy goal for the organization but program staff have differing commitment and training with regards to this goal.<ref name=":14">Van Eerdewijk, Anouka. "The Micropolitics of Evaporation: Gender Mainstreaming Instruments in Practice". Journal of International Development. 26: 353.</ref> When gender equality is a secondary aspect, development aid which has funds required to impact gender equality can be used to meet quotas of women receiving aid, without effecting the changes in gender roles that Gender Mainstreaming was meant to promote.<ref name=":14" /> Programs can also fail to provide lasting effects, with local organizations removing gender equality aspects of programs after international aid dollars are no longer funding them.<ref name=":13" />

Robert C. Jones of [[McGill University]] and Liam Swiss of [[Memorial University of Newfoundland|Memorial University]] argue that women leaders of governmental aid organizations and NGOs are more effective at Gender Mainstreaming than their male counterparts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Robert|last2=Swiss|first2=Liam|title=Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending|journal=Sociological Forum|volume=29|issue=3}}</ref> They found in a literature review that NGOs headed by women were more likely to have Gender Mainstreaming programs and that women were often the heads of Gender Mainstreaming programs within organizations.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 578.</ref> By breaking down gender equality programs into two categories, gender mainstreamed programs and gender-focused programs which do not mainstream gender, Jones and Swiss found that female leaders of governmental aid organizations provided more financial support to gender mainstreamed programs and slightly more support to gender aware programs overall.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 582-583.</ref>

=== Criticism of aid for gender equality ===
Petra Debusscher of [[Ghent University]] has criticized EU aid agencies for following an "integrationist approach" to gender mainstreaming, where gender mainstreaming is used to achieve existing policy goals, as opposed to a "transformative approach" which seeks to change policy priorities and programs fundamentally to achieve gender equality.<ref name=":15" /> She finds that this approach more closely follows a Women in Development model than a Gender and Development one. Debussher criticized the EU's development policy in Latin America for focusing too much attention on gender inequality as a problem to be solved for women.<ref name=":16">Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 190.</ref> She found that the language used represented more of a Woman in Development approach than a Gender and Development Approach.<ref>Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 192-194.</ref> She notes that men's role in domestic violence is insufficiently brought forward, with program and policy instead targeting removing women from victimhood.<ref name=":16" /> Rather than discussing the role of men and women relative to each other, women are discussed as needing to "catch up with an implicit male norm".<ref name=":16" /> Debussher also criticized EU's development aid to [[Southern Africa]] as too narrow in its scope and too reliant on integrating women and gender into existing aid paradigms.<ref name=":17">Debusscher, Petra; Hulse, Merran. "Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa". ''Journal of Southern African Studies''. '''40''' (3): 571-572.</ref> Debusscher notes that women's organizations in the region are often concerned with different social constructions of gender, as opposed to the economic growth structure favored by the EU.<ref>Debusscher, Petra; Hulse, Merran. "Including Women's Voices? Gender Mainstreaming in EU and SADC Development Strategies for Southern Africa". ''Journal of Southern African Studies''. '''40''' (3): 566-567.</ref> For EU development aid to Europe and surrounding countries, Debsusscher argued that programs to encourage education of women were designed primarily to encourage overall economic growth, not to target familial and social inequalities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Debusscher|first=Petra|s2cid=143826318|date=1 October 2012|title=Mainstreaming Gender in European Union Development Policy in the European Neighborhood|journal=Journal of Women, Politics & Policy|volume=33|issue=4|pages=333|doi=10.1080/1554477X.2012.722427|issn=1554-477X}}</ref>

Some criticism of gender equality development aid discusses a lack of voices of women's organizations in developing aid programs. Debusscher argued that feminist and women's organizations were not represented enough in EU aid.<ref>Debusscher, Petra. "Gender Mainstreaming in European Union Development Policy Towards Latin America: Transforming Gender Relations or Confirming Hierarchies?". ''Latin American Perspectives''. '''39''': 191-192.
</ref> and that while feminist and women's organizations were represented in implementing policy programs they were not sufficiently involved in their development in EU aid to [[Southern Africa]].<ref name=":17" /> Similarly, Jones and Swiss argue that more women need to be in leadership positions of aid organizations and that these organizations need to be "demasculinized" in order to better gender mainstream.<ref>Jones, Robert; Swiss, Liam (September 2014). "Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending". ''Sociological Forum''. '''29''' (3): 583-584.</ref> T.K.S. Ravindran and A. Kelkar-Khambete criticized the Millennium Development Goals for insufficiently integrating gender into all development goals, instead creating its own development goal, as limiting the level of aid provided to promote gender equality.<ref>Ravindran, TKS; Kelkar-Khambete, A. "Gender Mainstreaming in Health: Looking Back, Looking Forward". ''Global Public Health''. '''3''': 139.</ref>

== History ==
===Britain's development funding for its colonies===
The concept of development aid goes back to the [[British Empire|colonial era]] at the turn of the twentieth century, in particular to the British policy of colonial development that emerged during that period. The traditional government policy had tended to favor [[laissez-faire]] style economics, with the free market for capital and goods dictating the economic role that colonies played in the [[British Empire]].

[[Image:British Political Personalities 1936-1945 CH4432.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]], as [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] presided over a Development Committee for the colonies. He is pictured entertaining [[Jamaica]]n recruits for the [[RAF]].]]
Changes in attitudes towards the moral purpose of the Empire, and the role that government could play in the promotion of welfare slowly led to a more proactive policy of economic and developmental assistance towards poor colonies. The first challenge to Britain was the [[economic crisis]] that occurred after [[World War I]]. Prior to the passage of the 1929 Colonial Development Act, the doctrine that governed Britain (and other European colonizers) with their territories was that of financial self-sufficiency. What this simply meant was that the colonies were responsible for themselves.<ref>Joseph Hodge, Gerald Hodl, & Martin Kopf (edi) Developing Africa: Concepts and Practices in Twentieth-Century Colonialism, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2014, p.12.</ref>

Britain was not going to use the money that belongs to the [[metropole]] to pay for things in the colonies. The colonies did not only have to pay for infrastructural development but they also were responsible for the salaries of British officials that worked in the colonies. The colonies generated the revenues to pay for these through different forms of taxations. The standard taxation was the import and export taxes. Goods going out of the colonies were taxed and those coming in were also taxed. These generated significant revenues. Apart from these taxes, the colonizers introduced two other forms of taxes: hut tax and labor tax. The hut tax is akin to a property tax today. Every grown up adult male had their own hut. Each of these had to pay a tax. Labor tax was the work that the people had to do without any remunerations or with meager stipends.<ref>Bekeh Utietiang, Planning Development: International Experts, Agricultural Policy, and the Modernization of Nigeria, 1945-1967 (Ph.D Thesis), West Virginia University, Morgantown, 2014, p. 38.</ref> As the [[Financial crisis|economic crisis]] widened and had significant impact on the colonies, revenues generated from taxes continued to decline, having a significant impact on the colonies. While this was going on, Britain experienced major unemployment rates. The parliament began to discuss ways in which they could deal with Britain's unemployment rates and at the same time respond to some of the urgent needs of the colonies.<ref>[[Stephen Constantine (historian)|Stephen Constantine]], ''The Making of British Colonial Development Policy, 1914-1940'', London: Frank Cass, 1984, p.183.</ref> This process culminated in the passage of the Colonial Development Act in 1929, which established a Colonial Development Advisory Committee under the authority of the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], then [[Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Lord Passfield]]. Its initial annual budget of £1 million was spent on schemes designed to develop the [[infrastructure]] of [[transport]], [[electrical power]] and [[water supply]] in colonies and [[dominion]]s abroad for the furtherance of imperial trade.<ref name="Kanbur">{{Citation |last1=Kanbur |first1=Ravi |title=Handbook of the economics of giving, altruism and reciprocity: foundations, volume 1 |year=2006 |postscript=. |editor-last1=Kolm |editor-first1=Serge-Christophe |editor-last2=Ythier |editor-first2=Jean Mercier |contribution=The economics of international aid |location=Amsterdam London |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=9780444506979 |author-link1=Ravi Kanbur |editor-link1=Serge-Christophe Kolm}}</ref> The 1929 Act, though meager in the resources it made available for development, was a significant Act because it opened the door for Britain to make future investments in the colonies. It was a major shift in colonial development. The doctrine of financial self-sufficiency was abandoned and Britain could now use metropolitan funds to develop the colonies.

By the late 1930s, especially after the [[British West Indian labour unrest of 1934–1939]], it was clear that this initial scheme was far too limited in scope. A [[Royal Commission]] under [[Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]] was sent to investigate the living conditions in the [[British West Indies]] and it published its [[Report of West India Royal Commission (Moyne Report)|Report]] in 1940 which exposed the horrendous living conditions there.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Cary |year=1996 |title=The Twilight of Colonial Rule in the British West Indies: Nationalist Assertion vs. Imperial Hubris in the 1930s |url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/45526514 |journal=Journal of Caribbean History |volume=30 |issue=1/2 |page=2}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Basdeo |first=Sahadeo |year=1983 |title=Walter Citrine and the British Caribbean Worker's Movement during the Commission Hearing |url=http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/results?sid=2784e56a-6ebf-4f20-9439-1158ddf4d76c%40sessionmgr4&vid=11&hid=28&bquery=(AU+(basdeo))+AND+(citrine)&bdata=JmRiPWFobCZkYj1oaWEmdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d |journal=Journal of Caribbean History |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=46}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

Amidst increasing criticism of Britain's colonial policies from abroad and at home,<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |page=229}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Kelvin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWAYAAAAYAAJ |title=Race and Class Struggles in a Colonial State |publisher=University of Calgary Press |year=1994 |isbn=9781895176438 |location=Calgary |page=186}}</ref> the commission was a performance to showcase Britain's "benevolent" attitude towards its colonial subjects.<ref name="Thomas267">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Re3TAAAAMAAJ |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |publisher=University of West Indies Press |year=1987 |isbn=9789766200022 |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=Roy Darrow |location=St. Augustine |page=267}}</ref> The commission's recommendations urged health and education initiatives along with increased sugar subsidies to stave off a complete and total economic meltdown.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |page=23}}</ref> The [[Colonial Office]], eager to prevent instability while the country was at [[World War II|war]], began funneling large sums of cash into the region.<ref name="Thomas283">{{cite book |last=Thomas |title=The Trinidad Labour Riots of 1937 |pages=283}}</ref>

The Colonial Development and Welfare Act was passed in 1940 to organize and allocate a sum of £5 million per year to the [[British West Indies]] for the purpose of long-term development. Some £10 million in loans was cancelled in the same Act.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolland |title=The Politics of Labour in the British Caribbean |page=383}}</ref> The Colonial Development and Welfare Act of 1945 increased the level of aid to £120m over a twenty-year period. Further Acts followed in 1948, 1959 and 1963, dramatically increasing the scope of monetary assistance, favourable [[interest rate|interest-free]] [[loan]]s and development assistance programs.

===Postwar expansion===
[[File:Marshall Plan poster.JPG|thumb|A poster promoting the [[Marshall Plan]] in Europe, the first large scale development program. It was designed to boost European economies shattered by [[World War II|war]] and prevent the growth of [[communism|communist]] influence.]]

The beginning of modern development aid is rooted in the context of Post-[[World War II]] and the [[Cold War]]. Launched as a large-scale aid program by the United States in 1948, the European Recovery Program, or [[Marshall Plan]], was concerned with strengthening the ties to the [[West Europe]]an states to contain the influence of the [[USSR]]. Implemented by the [[Economic Cooperation Administration]] (ECA), the Marshall Plan also expanded its reconstruction finance to strategic parts of the Middle East and Asia.<ref name="Httpwwwusaidgovabout_usaidusaidhisthtml">{{cite web |title=USAID: USAID History |url=http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009131110/http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html |archive-date=9 October 2011 |access-date=12 March 2011 |publisher=[[USAID]]}}</ref>

Although Marshall aid was initially offered to Europe in general, the Soviet Union forbade its neighbouring states from accepting it. This has been described as "the moment of truth" in the post-[[World War II]] division of Europe.<ref name="bideleaux">Bideleux, Robert and Ian Jeffries, ''A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change'', Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-16111-8}}</ref> The Soviet Union provided aid to countries in the communist bloc; for instance, on Poland's abstention from the Marshall Plan, [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] promised a $450 million credit and 200,000 tons of grain.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 February 1948 |title=Carnations |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,855998,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114182613/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,855998,00.html |archive-date=14 January 2009 |access-date=2 March 2021 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>

In January 1949 the inaugural address of U.S. president [[Harry Truman]] announced an extension of aid to "underdeveloped areas" in the form of technical assistance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Truman |first=Harry S. |title=Inaugural address of Harry S. Truman |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/truman.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081027211730/http://avalon.law.yale.edu:80/20th_century/truman.asp |archive-date=27 October 2008 |access-date=2 March 2021 |website=The Avalon Project}}</ref> While the main theme of the speech was strengthening the free world against communism, in his [[Point Four Program|fourth point]] Truman also appealed to the motives of compassion and pride in civilization. "For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of these people."<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres53.html Transcript of the speech]</ref> The United Nations followed up the US initiative later that year by setting up an Extended Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA) to help pool international donor funds for technical assistance and distribute them through UN agencies.<ref name=":27">{{Cite web |title=United Nations. Extended Programme of Technical Assistance - UNESCO Archives AtoM catalogue |url=https://atom.archives.unesco.org/united-nations-extended-programme-of-technical-assistance |access-date=6 March 2021 |website=atom.archives.unesco.org}}</ref> EPTA was a precursor of [[United Nations Development Programme|UNDP]].<ref name=":27" />

U.S. aid for development in the 1950s came to include grants and concessional loans as well as technical assistance. This development aid was administered alongside military aid within the framework of the [[Mutual Security Act]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Haviland |first=H. Field |date=September 1958 |title=Foreign Aid and the Policy Process: 1957 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/foreign-aid-and-the-policy-process-1957/0AF9B1AF4123FFF21DF8E06791A51269 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=689–724 |doi=10.2307/1951900 |issn=1537-5943 |jstor=1951900 |s2cid=144564474|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morgner |first=Aurelius |date=1967 |title=The American Foreign Aid Program: Costs, Accomplishments, Alternatives? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405813 |journal=The Review of Politics |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=65–75 |doi=10.1017/S0034670500023731 |issn=0034-6705 |jstor=1405813 |s2cid=145492668|url-access=subscription }}</ref> But for most of the decade there was no major multilateral body to provide concessional loans. An initiative to create such a body under the UN met with resistance from the U.S. on the grounds that it was premature. Accordingly, when the UN's "Special Fund" was created at the end of 1958, its remit was only for technical assistance not loans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Manzer |first=Ronald A. |date=1964 |title=The United Nations Special Fund |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2705530 |journal=International Organization |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=766–789 |doi=10.1017/S0020818300025315 |issn=0020-8183 |jstor=2705530 |s2cid=153645652|url-access=subscription }}</ref> (The Special Fund was differentiated from EPTA by assisting public infrastructure rather than industrial projects.)

In 1959, a significant annual amendment to the Mutual Security Act declared that it was "a primary objective of the United States" to assist "the peoples of other lands who are striving to establish and develop politically independent and economically viable units".<ref name=":28">{{Cite web |title=Public Law 86-108, July 24,1959 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-73/pdf/STATUTE-73-Pg246.pdf#page=1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712130032/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-73/pdf/STATUTE-73-Pg246.pdf |archive-date=12 July 2020 |access-date=9 March 2021 |website=www.govinfo.gov}}</ref> This shifted the emphasis of U.S. economic aid away from immediate Cold War security needs, towards supporting the process of dismantling the empires of the UK, France and other European colonial powers. The amendment also made clear that Congress expected those industrialized nations which had been helped by U.S. aid to rebuild after the war would now share more of the burden of helping less-developed countries.<ref name=":28" />

Following on, the U.S. encouraged the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) to set up a Development Assistance Group (DAG) composed of the main donor states, in order to help coordinate their aid. This was done in January 1960. The following year the DAG adopted a "Resolution of the common aid effort", vowing to increase the volume of aid, and to share the task equitably. Shortly after this, the OEEC was succeeded by the [[OECD]], expanding its scope from Europe to the world, and embracing a particular concern with less-developed countries. The DAG became the [[Development Assistance Committee]] (DAC).<ref name=":29">{{Cite web |last=Führer |first=Helmut |date=1994 |title=The story of Official Development Assistance |url=https://www.oecd.org/dac/1896816.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526011653/http://www.oecd.org/dac/1896816.pdf |archive-date=26 May 2013 |access-date=9 March 2021 |website=[[OECD]]}}</ref>

1960 also saw the creation of a multilateral institution to provide soft loans for development finance. The [[International Development Association]] (IDA) was created as part of the World Bank (over which the U.S. and other Western countries exerted more influence than they did over the UN).<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://ida.worldbank.org/about/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422003753/http://ida.worldbank.org:80/about/history |archive-date=22 April 2016 |access-date=6 March 2021 |website=[[International Development Association]]}}</ref>

In 1961 several Western states established government departments or agencies to administer aid, including [[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]] in the United States.<ref name=":29" />

In 1960 the USA was providing half of all aid counted by the OECD. This proportion increased to 56% by 1965, but from 1965 to 1973 (the year of the [[1973 oil crisis|oil price crisis]]), the volume of U.S. aid generally declined in real terms (though it increased in nominal terms, due to inflation). The other OECD-DAC members meanwhile generally increased their aid, so that the total volume of OECD aid was fairly constant up to 1973.<ref>See chart on the right. Data from [https://stats.oecd.org OECD.Stat].</ref>

=== After the Cold War ===
The quantity of ODA dropped sharply in the seven or eight years after the fall of the Berlin wall (1999-2007).<ref name=":30">{{Cite web |last1=Severino |first1=Jean-Michel |last2=Olivier |first2=Ray |date=1999 |title=The End of ODA: Death and Rebirth of a Global Public Policy |url=http://www.cosv.org/download/centrodocumentazione/End_of_ODA_FINAL.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416032310/http://www.cosv.org/download/centrodocumentazione/End_of_ODA_FINAL.pdf |archive-date=16 April 2021 |access-date=15 April 2021 |website=Center for Global Development}}</ref>

The turn of the 21st century saw a significant proliferation and diversification in aid donors and non-governmental actors. The traditional donors in the DAC have been joined by [[emerging economies]] (China, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela, etc.), some of which are still receiving aid from Western countries. Many of these new donors do not feel compelled to conform to traditional donors' norms.<ref>Park, K., "New Development Partners and a Global Development Partnership". In Kharas, H., Makino, K., Jung, W. ''Catalizing Development'', Brooking Institution Press, Washington D.C. 2011.</ref> Generally demanding [[conditionality]] in return for assistance, which means tying aid to the procurement of goods and services, they are challenging traditional development aid standards.<ref>Kragelund, P. "The Potential Role of Non-Traditional Donors' Aid in Africa", International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development, 2010.</ref>

Multinational corporations, philanthropists, international NGOs and civil society have matured into major players as well. Even though the rise of new development partners had the positive effect of bringing an increased variety of financing, know-how and skills to the development community, at the same time it has shaken up the existing aid system.<ref name=":30" />

== See also ==
{{Portal|Society}}
* [[Development economics]]
* [[International development]]
* [[List of development aid agencies]]

'''Tools and stories:'''
* [[File:Wikibooks-logo.svg|14px|Wikibooks]] ''[[B:Development Cooperation Handbook|Development Cooperation Handbook]]''

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Foot01>See, for example, {{cite report |author=Mariella Di Ciommo |date=2014 |title=Development cooperation for the future:The increasing role of emerging providers |url=https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Development-cooperation-for-the-future1.pdf |publisher=Development Initiatives |access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* [http://www.openaidregister.org/ Open Aid Register]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140116104608/http://www.openaidsearch.org/ IATI search engine (Beta). Find any development aid activity around the world. Using the IATI registry as access point.]
* [http://www.aiddata.org/ AidData: Tracking Development Finance]
* [http://www.openaiddata.org/ Open Aid Data] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606214917/http://www.openaiddata.org/ |date=6 June 2014 }} Provides detailed developing aid finance data from around the world.
* [http://www.die-gdi.de/ German Development Institute] - the German think tank of development aid
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100919071431/http://www.ids.ac.uk/go/browse-by-subject/all-subjects/aid Work on Development Aid by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS)]

{{Globalization}}
{{Diplomacy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Development Aid}}
[[Category:Aid]]
[[Category:International development]]
[[Category:International relations]]
[[Category:Sustainable development]]