Is DfID any good or isn't it? And who's asking? ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Blog, April 2007

This has been a challenging couple of weeks for DFID. On 19 March, Bronwen Maddox published a sceptical piece in The Times newspaper, that was followed up in its tabloid stablemate, The Sun, and then in a series of interviews on 25 March on the World This Weekend, a flagship current affairs programme on the BBC’s Radio 4. There was then a flurry of questions in the House of Commons on 28 March, dealing in different ways with the need for more independent audit of DFID’s work. In the same period, the Civil Service published its own Capability Review of DFID; and in the previous week, the department itself published its own policy paper on Preventing Violent Conflict, relevant because much of the case against DFIDDepartment for International Development has been about political analysis and about working with other departments................ (see link in title for full article)