Official Development Assistance has declined by one-third in real terms in the 1990s. There are a number of reasons for this, but one factor has been a sense that aid does not work very well. Assessing Aid aims to understand when aid works and when it does not, so that the lessons can be used to make aid more effective.
Making aid more effective is important in order to have the maximum impact on poverty reduction. Making aid more effective is also important for rebuilding popular support for aid and reversing this downward trend.