Why HURDL does what it does

Over on Open the Echo Chamber, I look back at my book Delivering Development in the context of the new World Development Report. Specifically, I look at how the WDR addresses the three big claims behind my book:

  1. Most of the time, we have no idea what the global poor are doing or why they are doing it.
  2. Because of this, most of our projects are designed for what we think is going on, which rarely aligns with reality
  3. This is why so many development projects fail, and if we keep doing this, the consequences will get dire

My conclusion – OK at #1, a recognition of #2, and no attention at all to #3.

Read more at Five years later, and I am proud of Delivering Development again.