Making Every Dollar Count: How Save the Children Maximizes Aid Impact

In a March 2024 article, Silvia Paruzzolo, Simon Fuchs, and Veronica Yepes from Save the Children examine how the organization maximizes aid impact. They argue that making aid dollars go further requires integrating services into existing systems, measuring cost alongside outcomes, and applying consistent evaluation methods across contexts. Case studies in early childhood development and nutrition in northern Nigeria and El Salvador demonstrate how locally grounded, evidence-backed programs can deliver high-impact results while improving efficiency and sustainability.

Central to this approach is Dioptra, a shared cost-analysis tool co-developed with peer organizations. Dioptra enables rigorous, standardized assessments of cost per output using financial and program data, allowing organizations to compare delivery models and scale the most effective approaches. By generating and openly sharing this data, Save the Children aims to contribute to a stronger evidence base for the sector, positioning cost-efficiency not as a tradeoff to impact, but as a strategy to maximize it.