As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
Are you an aid boffin or an aid muffin?
- The number of aid projects approved annually is
(a) 80,000, (b) 180,000, (c) 18,000 - The number of donor countries is
(a) 36, (b) 56, (c) 76 - The number of bilateral agencies is
(a) 97, (b) 137, (c) 197 - The number of multilateral agencies is
(a) 263, (b) 163, (c) 63 - The average size of an aid project in 2008 was
(a) $US 0.5m, (b) $US 1.5 m, , (c) $US 15m - The median size of an aid project in 2008 was
(a) $US 47,000, (b) $US 70,000, (c) $US 740,000 - The average number of donor missions received by developing countries in a year is
(a) 163, (b) 263, (c) 463 - The OECD/DAC estimates the annual efficiency losses caused by donor proliferation at
(a) $US 1 bn, (b) $US 5 bn, (c) $US 9 bn - The largest NGONon-governmental organisation in the world is World Vision. Its number of staff is
(a) 14,600, (b) 34, 600, (c) 46,000 - The number of international NGOs delivering aid in Haiti after the earthquake:
(a) 900, (b) 1,900, (c) 2,900 - The number of NGOs working in Vietnam in 2002 was
(a) 150, (b) 250, (c) 350 - The total volume of aid provided since 1960 in 2007 constant dollars is
(a) $US 3.2 tn, (b) $US 6.2 tn, (c) $US 9.2 tn - The total annual value of aid, including from private sources, is now
(a) $US 120bn, $S 150 bn, (c) $US 200bn - The share of this that is programmable by non-fragile countries is
(a) 10%, (b) 30%, (c) 50% - In 2008, non-DAC emerging donors provided a total of
(a) $US 5 bn, (b) $US 15 bn, (c) $US 25 bn.
