Now, more than ever before, tax payers in rich countries are curious to not only know how their tax monies are spent in poor countries, but also to see tangible evidences of development on the ground. This has triggered a renewed interest in effective monitoring and independent evaluation of development interventions.

At the same time, the continuous threat of global recession, has gradually led to reduced donor fundings, with the attendant push for recipient countries to also start contributing towards the cost of interventions as a way of demonstrating ownership of the results. This new thinking has shifted most donor funds towards private sector development, mostly through market-oriented interventions (e.g., strengthening market systems, entrepreneurship development, improving critical trade infrastructure, skills trainings etc.), with the long run objective been to reduce the dependency of poor nations on foreign aid. This is the hard reality now!

To be able to catch up with this triple shift; of the move towards trade, and of recipient countries also contributing towards cost of interventions, and of demonstrating real results on ground; governments in these recipient countries need to position their domestic private sectors to produce more and add value to gain stable access to international markets. This does not come by magic. It requires deliberate actions, including policy shifts, increased investments and mindset change.

Impact Matters is poised to strategically position itself to play a leading role in this new normal within the development world, by making this triple shift beneficial to the recipient countries and also making development results more visible to stakeholders.