ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how value for money is calculated and framed in practice, and how these practices perform the value of international development programming in particular ways, to the exclusion of alternatives. It presents value for money (VfM) within the larger institutional setting of development aid in the post-Second World War era and, in particular, the rise of the aid effectiveness agenda from the 1990s onwards. The rise of aid effectiveness and accountability doctrines from the 1990s onward has had a major impact on how the value of international development aid is understood, measured, and projected. The use of assumptions allows the non-quantifiable particularities of situations to be framed out of VfM assessments, making them commensurable across different projects, places, and time frames. The 3Es framework for framing VfM is based on Department for International Development more general logframe template, with its standard ‘results chain’ terminology.
