From lesson-learning to accountability? Dutch development aid evaluation in transnational perspective, 1964-1977

Abstract

The effectiveness and efficiency of modern development aid has been criticized since its post-war inception. Commentators note the lack of feedback and accountability; the sector does not learn from its past mistakes, and no one takes responsibility in case of clear failures. Evaluation, then, is an instrument that enhances both feedback and accountability. Aid evaluation in one form or another takes place on a massive scale nowadays. How and why did it come into being? This thesis traces the roots of aid evaluation in the Netherlands in the 1960s and 1970s. It shows that, in the context of growing academic knowledge and international consultation, discussions on the purpose and the locus of evaluation led to the establishment of a dual system of aid evaluation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Civil servants shaped these debates without significant and direct influence of parliament.