Non-Government Organizations’ aid funded projects and Value for Money in Uganda

With the detailed history of NGO evolution as a critical context, this paper examines the Value for Money (VfM) that Non-Government Organizations’ aid projects bring to the development sector in Uganda. This involves the assessment of project Effectiveness, Relevance, Economy and Efficiency of three concluded NGO aid projects. Adequate assessment dictates the use of a mixed methods approach; Cross sectional survey, Most Significant Change technique, a retrospective cost analysis using the Follow the Money method and Unit cost analysis using an author designed formular. NGO aid projects do not deliver the promised Value for Money. The aid projects are ineffective, uneconomical, inefficient and superficially relevant. Drawing from the research conclusion on VfM, this paper raises implications for theory and practice. The implications relate to the incongruence between the Neoliberalism theory of pro-NGO arguments, the limitations of the functional approach commonly used to evaluate NGO projects and lastly, the disconnect between the ‘project’ approach and the priorities in the 2030 Agenda. Inherent in the implications lays an opportunity for interdisciplinary work between economics and development practice to develop a Value for Money toolkit that can be used to estimate VfM ex-ante project funding. In the broader scheme of development, this toolkit can go a long way to support the process of allocating resources intended to achieve the sustainable Development Goals.