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Politics of aid / Comment

Rich countries under scrutiny. Their commitment is tested by an index: the CDI

12/07/2005 By Paula San Pedro

The CDI is an important and innovative ranked list that subjects rich countries to scrutiny and questions the consistency of their policies and their effects on development. In spite of that, its formulation and content has been widely criticised.

An effective measure to solve the problems identified would be to adjust the Index to criteria already agreed upon by the international community, such as the Millennium Goals.

The development of poor countries depends, ultimately, on themselves. Nonetheless, the commitment to their own development has been constantly assessed, measured, scored and classified by international institutions and rich countries.
 
In fact, the difficult challenge to reaching sustainable development in those countries is also subject, to a great extent, to the policies of rich nations. Therefore, in 2003, the Centre for Global Development and the Foreign Policy Magazine introduced the Commitment to Development Index (CDI).

This ranked list classifies the richest 21 countries based on their efforts and leadership to combat poverty, analysing how their policies encourage or inhibit social and economic development in developing countries.

For such purpose, the Index aims at covering questions that go beyond traditional co-operation instruments and at measuring the consistency of certain policies that impact on the development of poor countries.

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Keywords

Aid policy Development aid Poverty

Related publications

• 2005: year zero for world aid and the millennium development goals
• Millennium Goals: a step forward or backward for development?

Bio author: Paula San Pedro

BA in Economic Science by the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid and MA in Cooperation and Project Management by the Ortega and Gasset Foundation. She is currently doing her PhD in International Economy at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid.