56

On the basis of the experiences within developmental agencies, this paper questions the efficacy of developmental public aid. Today’s main agencies still function for many reasons on a model which can be considered as old by the current standards. The paper tries to understand the mains reasons why, notwithstanding the critiques of the 1980s, the search for efficacy in public developmental aid has yet to be integrated in its daily practice. The two reasons put forward here are first that obtaining visible and fast results are a priority and second that we witness an increasing tendency to bureaucratization. Both are counter?productive and cannot lead to genuine changes. The article concludes by proposing a few directions in which efficacy could be promoted in this field.