Abstract
Background: Efficiency measurement by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA) in the non-profit sector has focused on the so-called Stage I of non-profit organisations, namely, fundraising efforts (which are the most influential determinants of raising funds in order to increase the amount of contributions). However, for the so-called Stage II of non-profit organisations, namely, spending the achieved resources to program services delivery, DEA studies are very scarce. In attempting to address this research gap and to the best of our knowledge, this investigation is the first study that applies DEA to the assessment of international cooperation schemata. Consequently, we offer a significant contribution to the literature by overcoming the limitations of other techniques used to assess the efficiency and providing new insight into the efficiency of targeted different international cooperation schemata (ICS) in international cooperation development projects.Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the efficiency of the ICS of developmental projects funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development.Setting: Our setting is composed of different international cooperation projects funded with different schemata by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development between 2002 and 2006 in two African countries that are top priority targets of Spanish international aid: Morocco, and Mozambique.Methods: Using a sample of 48 international cooperation projects carried out in two African countries considered priorities in the Spanish Cooperation Master Plan, we analyse project efficiency using DEA.Results: The findings suggest that some schemata are more efficient than others when applied to international cooperation projects (ICS). Specifically, we find that permanent open-call subsidies are more efficient than non-governmental development organisation subsidies.Conclusion: Measures for evaluating international aid projects with respect to efficiency are problematic. The DEA method provides an ex-post meausure of efficiency that allows for the measurement in a specific and objetive way of the results achieved by each project and to propose corrective actions for the future. The comparison among ICS provides an opportunity to identify the conditions under which an ICs may achieve greater efficiency
Highlights
International cooperation has grown significantly in recent years, in 2009 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) provided 85 8 74 million euros in official development assistance (ODA), of which 6% corresponded to Spanish ODA (MAEC 2009)
The sample consists of 48 instruments, of which 18 are Permanent open-call subsidies (POC) subsidies and 30 are non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) subsidies
We analyse the efficiency with which these instruments are implemented in each of the two priority African countries for Spanish ODA included in our sample
Summary
International cooperation has grown significantly in recent years, in 2009 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) provided 85 8 74 million euros in official development assistance (ODA), of which 6% corresponded to Spanish ODA (MAEC 2009). The increase in the volume of aid and other resources towards achieving the United Nations’ eight millennium development goals by 2015 has been accompanied by a growing demand for effectiveness in development assistance (OCDE 2005:1). For the so-called Stage II of non-profit organisations, namely, spending the achieved resources to program services delivery, DEA studies are very scarce. In attempting to address this research gap and to the best of our knowledge, this investigation is the first study that applies DEA to the assessment of international cooperation schemata. We offer a significant contribution to the literature by overcoming the limitations of other techniques used to assess the efficiency and providing new insight into the efficiency of targeted different international cooperation schemata (ICS) in international cooperation development projects
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