CCAPS researchers Michael Tierney of the College of William & Mary and J. Timmons Roberts of Brown University recently presented the research they lead as part of the AidData initiative.
Professors Tierney and Roberts presented AidData to members of LBJ School’s year-long Policy Research Project course on Climate Adaptation Aid, led by CCAPS researcher and LBJ School professor Catherine Weaver. Professors Tierney and Roberts, Principal Investigators of the AidData Initiative and CCAPS researchers, discussed the history of AidData with students, and shared their thoughts on how to best identify and track climate aid.
Professor Tierney discussed on-going projects at AidData, such as geocoding aid projects and creating issue-specific and country-specific dashboards to act as a one-stop-shop for researchers. He highlighted the particular interest and attention that the joint AidData-World Bank geocoding work has received from both within and outside of the development community. Professor Tierney noted that the geocoding work has already led to major internal reforms within some donor agencies.
Professor Roberts outlined the major challenges that face the effort of tracking climate aid. The first and foremost challenge, said Roberts, is commitment level. According to Roberts, total development assistance in 2009 was roughly USD150 billion, while the World Bank estimates a need of at least USD100 billion a year in donor commitments for adaptation to climate change alone. Roberts finished the conversation with students by illustrating the challenges associated with identifying what actually counts as climate aid.
A copy of the professors’ AidData presentation can be found here.
Ongoing news and resources on development aid financing can be found on the AidData blog.
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