Thank you for a wonderful event

Almost 300 attendees showed up in Pakhuis de Zwijger to hear development experts and MPs discuss the future of Dutch development, and how it can be made more cost-effective.

On some points the experts can agree:

1. Smarter use of evidence will make Dutch development assistance more cost-effective.
2. Any cuts to development assistance must be done with care and based on evidence of what works best - not based on which groups have the most lobbying capacity. 

What is smart use of evidence? CEAP recommends drawing inspiration from successful policies already being implemented in countries such as Norway and the United States. We recommend the following for Dutch ODA:

1. Require impact evaluations to include a cost-analysis, to make it possible to assess a programme’s cost-effectiveness. Norway and The United States have both introduced this requirement already.
2. For programmes aimed at improving livelihoods, introduce cash-benchmarking to ensure a high standard across the entire portfolio.
3. Increase the proportion of spending going towards the poorest countries, where money goes the furthest. 

A special thank you to KVS, the royal association of Dutch economists, for co-hosting the event, and to Jan-Dirk Koch, Chief Science Officer in the ministry of foreign affairs, for delivering the keynote speech.