The Numbers Trap: Development Education as Solution to Development’s Legacy of Inflated Beneficiary Metrics

For decades, the international development sector has equated success with numbers, prioritising the sheer volume of people reached over the depth of impact.  Reports celebrate thousands trained, millions assisted, and entire communities transformed.  Yet behind these figures, the reality is often far less impressive.  Many beneficiaries see little lasting change, while structural barriers to poverty remain unaddressed.  This obsession with scale over substance is not new; it has shaped development practice since the mid-twentieth century when international aid efforts first expanded.