ONE meets PLAID

Jul 16th, 2009 11:56 AM UTC
By Lauren Conn

Recently, representatives of the College of William & Mary’s Project-Level AID (PLAID) Project visited the ONE campaign office in Washington D.C. During the meeting, Professor Michael Tierney explained PLAID, an aid transparency initiative, and invited dialogue over a potential partnership between PLAID and ONE. In addition to explaining what PLAID does, we invited comments and criticism from ONE, so that we may compare our accomplishments, our methods, and our goals.

Currently, limitations in the coordination among donor databases of development finance make it difficult to accurately describe the allocation of foreign aid or understand how it is most effective. The PLAID project seeks to remedy this problem and help researchers to fill gaps in the literature. With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, PLAID researchers are compiling the most comprehensive and consistent collection of data on development finance that has ever been assembled. Currently, PLAID researchers have compiled project information from all major bilateral and multilateral donors for the years 1973-2001 and are now working to update the database through 2009.

In addition to the compilation of project information, researchers both at PLAID and partner universities have used the database to code for a variety of additional factors. The PLAID database now has over 900 coded variables, which allows for more specific analysis. Current endeavors include environmental impact coding, health impact coding, and identifying water and sanitation projects, watershed projects, fisheries projects, disaster aid, and sub-sectors within environmental assistance. Using this information, PLAID researchers have published two books and a multitude of essays. We routinely meet with academics from around the nation to collaborate on new research projects, and are slowly building a network of experienced and motivated scholars of international relations.

We believe that PLAID and the ONE Campaign share an important, common goal: to foster transparent information on and dialogue in aid allocation, thereby creating incentives for official donors to improve the quality and quantity of their aid projects. This work is highly significant, especially in light of the ONE 2009 Data Report, which shows a number of G8 nations defaulting on their promises of aid to Africa. By disseminating knowledge on these issues, ONE has mobilized a grassroots movement of concerned citizens to push for better aid allocation. PLAID, with the same goal in mind, has mobilized a network of academics and researchers to investigate trends in aid allocation. In addition, we have developed the institutional capacity to quickly gather and process detailed information on aid projects.

There are obviously huge potentials for collaboration between PLAID and ONE. We invite all comments and questions you may have for PLAID, and would love to keep you updated on our research. We look forward to your input!

- Peter Bergen, Research Assistant, Project-Level Aid

TAGS: PLAID