The Reality of Aid project exists to promote national and international policies that lead to poverty eradication.

Annual Reality of Aid reports analyse the impact of policies and actions of the international community – and of aid donors in particular – on the rights, needs and interests of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty.

Reality of Aid was established by Judith Randel and Tony German in 1992 as a collaborative project of participating NGOs, academics, aid agencies, and the OECD directorate.

Structured around an analysis of the aid environment, donorship profiles of every single OECD country and perspectives from both donor and recipient countries, Reality of Aid quickly established itself as a unique source of independent evaluation and comment on aid policies and development.

Development Initiatives maintains strong links with individuals contributing to the Reality of Aid project, which became an independent intiative in 2002.