The Efficiency Lab

What the Efficiency Lab aims to achieve

Efficiency analysis of development projects is often of poor quality.  This hampers the development of innovative, more cost-effective interventions. Therefore, the aim of the Efficiency Lab is twofold:

• To develop a common understanding among development organisations (members of Partos to start with) about the concept of efficiency and the various methods for assessing efficiency, including their advantages and limitations.
• To identify and/or develop a recommended repertoire of appropriate policies, methods, and tools for addressing the efficiency question in development interventions.

Panel of experts
The Efficiency Lab is supported by a panel of experts, namely: Markus Palenberg (The Institute for Development Strategy in Munich, Germany), Pol de Greve (Context, international cooperation) and Antonie de Kemp (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IOB).

Our experts offer you three papers in which each of them explains that the efficiency question is not addressed adequately and what solutions there are to improve the performance of development projects.

• Efficiency analysis: Why bother, … and why is it so difficult
• In theory, practice is simple: A few reflections on efficiency analysis
• Efficiency analysis: Balancing between rigour and realism

Tips to get insight into the efficiency of your project
You may find it difficult to determine which theory or method is most appropriate for analysing the efficiency of your project. A method that is suitable for one specific project, is not automatically suitable for all of your projects. The Efficiency Lab gathered and documented ten of the most common project types within Dutch development cooperation. Then we invited our panel of experts to formulate recommendations on what method to use for each type of project.

Take a look at the examples, select the one that is similar to your own case and find out which method or tool to use for your efficiency analysis.