One of the problems in development is that donors often struggle to find the organizations that are doing the most to improve people's lives, in the most cost-effective way possible. Meanwhile, those organizations often struggle to navigate a complex, time-consuming bureaucracy to get their hands on much-needed money.
But a new initiative plans to set up a marketplace that will connect donors and development organizations in a cheaper, less complex, and more efficient way.
OutcomesX, short for Outcomes Exchange — which was set up with grants from funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Google.org — recently launched a $2 million pilot project. Development organizations can use the exchange to publish details of their work along with evidence of its effectiveness, similar to the way financial products such as bonds or shares are listed on an exchange.