Often international donors forge ahead with plans to provide aid for development without consulting locals to gauge the fit of their plans with reality on the ground. At worst, the results of this reluctance to listen to locals can be be devastating, increasing conflict, feeding warriors, spurring structural violence, or widening inequality. At best, this failure can simply prevent aid from being as effective as it could be in alleviating poverty.

Donors often don't realize how important program evaluation is in future program design - and how important locals' opinions are in program evaluation. A project sounds like a good idea - but unless it fits with the cultural and structural intricacies present in the real world, it may be all for naught.