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OECD 1999
Country Programme Evaluation: Synthesis Report from the Workshop
aggregates. The Netherlands-Egypt CPE (see Chapter 3) is an example of this kind
of “additive” study: providing only 1% of total ODA to Egypt, the Netherlands could
not hope to claim credit for a major influence beyond the project or sector level.
Swiss aid to Tanzania (see Chapter 4) would be another example.
An interesting alternative approach to attribution and counter-factuality is
mentioned in the French presentation (see Chapter 6). French co-operation evaluated
the impact of politically-driven suspensions of aid to Haiti, Togo and Zaire.
This “reverse” approach is a potentially useful complement to conventional CPEs,
albeit one which can obviously only rarely be used and presents its own conceptual
and logistical challenges.
The theory and politics of fungibility
Participants were divided on the value of the concept of fungibility. Acknowledging
the existence of fungibility encourages evaluators to consider that the effects of
aid may be more complex than the logical framework of programme design would
suggest. Taken to the extreme, the idea of fungibility the argument that it is volume
of aid (in a good policy environment) rather than its form that matters implies there
is little distinctive role to be played by aid, as the same advantages could be
obtained by private capital flows. A wholesale acceptance of the fungibility of aid is
thus politically problematic: neither parliaments nor general publics will find it easy
to accept that aid “does something” but not that for which it is designed.
Attribution (the identification of a relationship between aid activity and positive
change) therefore serves two purposes: it is a practical tool for aid managers but it is
also a strategic device in making the case for aid. More importantly, aid does vary in
the degree to which it is fungible: knowledge transfers are less fungible than material
transfers, and certain modalities of material transfer are less fungible than others.
Partnership and donor co-operation
It is possible to distinguish two potential forms of co-operation in Country Programme
Evaluation. The first (and that which attracted most attention at Vienna)
concerns the potential for partnership between the donor and the intended beneficiaries
of donor aid. The second and to date relatively neglected aspect of co-operation in
Country Programme Evaluation concerns the potential for joint evaluation involving two
or more donors to a given recipient country.
Partnership in Country Programme Evaluation
The aid relationship between donor and recipient is inherently one of unequal
power. An explicit commitment to the participation of national partners (both state
and non-state) is necessary to avoid some of the unhealthy effects that might arise
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