Aid agencies increasingly stress the importance of value for money, but what does this mean, and might a managerial focus on results actually undermine aid effectiveness, or simply result in aid confusion? This public forum addressed these questions from a variety of perspectives. Speakers included:

Dr Cathy Shutt, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex and convenor of the Big Push Forward initiative. Dr Shutt has over 19 years’ experience working as a researcher and practitioner in international aid. She started her work as a development practitioner helping southern-based community organisations and NGOs in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand to manage relationships with donors and demonstrate accountability. In this forum, Dr Shutt critiqued UK approaches to value for money in aid.

Russell McKay, Effective Development Group, GRM International. Mr McKay is a seasoned agricultural economist who, after success as a regional manager, lecturer and agricultural economist in the Middle East, South Africa and the United Kingdom, is focused on developing innovative Monitoring and Evaluation instruments and providing technical input to key projects. In this forum, Mr McKay discussed practical considerations around value for money metrics – especially for intangible elements that are more difficult to represent quantitatively.

This forum was presented by the Development Policy Centre at Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.