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Begin New Search Topic Transparency Author Dan Hoing

1. Actually Navigating by Judgment: Towards a New Paradigm of Donor Accountability Where the Current System Doesn’t Work

Author:
Dan Hoing
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
This working paper explores how donors can move towards greater Navigation by Judgment, highlighting the actions people inside and outside aid agencies can work to make change— encouraging more Navigation by Judgment on the margin, starting today. It focuses principally on accepting the need for a very different way of measuring success and holding projects and personnel accountable, and when and why that might be a very good idea.
Topic:
Accountability, Transparency, Charity, and Donors
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Managing Better: What All of Us Can Do to Encourage Aid Success

Author:
Dan Hoing
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
Management by way of top-down controls and targets sometimes gets in the way of aid donors’ aims, undermining project success. These unhelpful controls often stem from a need to account for performance; legislatures or executive boards induce agencies to exercise tight process controls and orient projects towards what is measurable and reportable. My 2018 book, Navigation by Judgment, presents quantitative empirics from a database of 14,000 projects and qualitative evidence from eight case studies in support of this claim. I wrote the book in part because I imagined it would be useful to show aid agencies and authorizers empirics that demonstrated the problem—that the first step to change was recognition. But after talking about my book at aid agencies and authorizers, I am confident that while my 2018 diagnosis was right, my theory of change was all wrong.
Topic:
Leadership, Business, Accountability, Transparency, and Management
Political Geography:
Global Focus