Rachel Glennerster and Siddhartha Haria on simplifying aid

From Rachel Glennerster and Siddhartha Haria of the Center for Global Development. Glennerster is former chief economist of UK's Department for International Development, and former head of JPAL. Glennerster and Haria are both 10% pledgers with Giving What We Can.

"Projects should do one thing on a large scale. The cost per person of implementing a project falls sharply the more people it covers because of the high fixed costs of design, setup, and oversight."

"Given the reality of smaller aid budgets, it is imperative we use them to best effect. We need to focus on a select number of simple, cost-effective, large-scale interventions. This will require reforming the review process and making better use of fewer staff, but it will make sure more of our aid gets to those who need it and make it easier for politicians and the public to understand what they are getting from aid."