​Development agencies can assume a range of organisational designs, which can evolve over time. Governments tend to reconfigure their development agencies to reflect major changes in strategic orientation and policy priorities, often in response to decisions about the political salience of international development assistance.

This paper sets out to investigate the relationship between aid quantity and aid quality indicators, and the different institutional and political models for development cooperation. For instance, the appointment of a cabinet-rank minister for development cooperation signals the relevance of this agenda within government. While the paper does not assess causality, the quantitative analysis suggests that a sufficiently senior and publicly accountable figure does matter for the effectiveness of development cooperation, as does an integrated model for development policy and implementation.