Current development assistance prioritizes results and evaluative schemes used to generate them as the most effective way of delivering aid by presenting these results as evidence of accomplishment. Aid recipients and donors respond with a crafty tactic, which we term the “numbers game.” They generate results to satisfy assessment expectations irrespective of actual service delivery or satisfaction of the local population. This tactic yields both external and internal legitimacy: recipient countries legitimize their access to external funds while external actors sustain the aid enterprise that is under persistent scrutiny. In-depth interviews, observation, and existing data on everyday life of municipal councils in Ghana lend support to the preeminence given to results-based aid (RBA) in the numbers game. Startlingly, the expected impact targeted by the scheme is strategically set aside so that more capacity gaps are created and hence the need for more RBA resources to address. A delicate balance between results and on-the-ground impact is required for such intervention to have effect.

中文翻译：

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“数字游戏”：对加纳基于结果的发展援助的战略反应

当前的发展援助优先考虑结果和用于产生这些结果的评估计划，将这些结果作为成就的证据，作为提供援助的最有效方式。援助接受者和捐助者以一种狡猾的策略回应，我们称之为“数字游戏”。无论实际服务提供或当地居民的满意度如何，它们都会产生满足评估预期的结果。这种策略产生了外部和内部的合法性：受援国使他们获得外部资金的机会合法化，而外部行为者则维持受到持续审查的援助企业。对加纳市议会日常生活的深入访谈、观察和现有数据支持在数字游戏中给予基于结果的援助 (RBA) 的优势。令人吃惊的是，该计划所针对的预期影响被战略性地搁置一旁，从而造成更多的能力差距，从而需要更多的 RBA 资源来解决。要使这种干预产生效果，需要在结果和实地影响之间取得微妙的平衡。