Matrixing aid : the rise and fall of 'results initiatives' in Swedish development aid

Obtaining knowledge on whether and how aid contributes to results
is considered important for decision making and planning, but also
for continuous public support for aid. This dissertation examines
how a public aid agency, Sida, has operationalized the demand to
demonstrate results since the 1960s. Why has there been an increased
demand for results at some times in history? And why does there seem
to be a greater acceptance at other times that demonstrating exact
results might not be possible?
This dissertation contributes to knowledge on the reasons behind the
quest to report on results but also on what happens when results
are not reportable. Four similar ‘results initiatives’, launched and
implemented within Sida in 1971, 1981, 1998 and 2012 are studied.
It is shown that despite that all four initiatives have encountered
difficulties with non-use of the results information, the initiatives
have been a way to show that the organization is doing the best it can
to demonstrate results. Since the mere feeling of doing, or wish to do,
good for someone else is for many people sufficient “payment” of aid,
it is argued that in the end it is not only the knowledge of exact results
that matters for continuous trust and support for aid.