Current methods for measuring the effectiveness and value for money of policies and programmes to tackle poverty lack a systematic way of incorporating the values and priorities of poor people.  There is a risk that development programmes and policies are failing to deliver the things that poor people themselves value most highly.

We are piloting a methodology, developed in the UK’s National Health Service, which would ensure that poor people’s views are more fully incorporated into development decision-making.

If successful we will have a way of ensuring that donors’ and governments’ definition of ‘value for money’ and ‘aid effectiveness’ include an understanding of what poor people value and how they define effectiveness.