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The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review.

Every four years, each of the 24 members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Programme as observers is scrutinised by its peers in the Committee. Five different member countries are peer reviewed each year. The aim is to assess the extent to which the development policies, strategies and activities of the reviewed country meet the standards set by the DAC. Members provide constructive criticism and recommendations based on a report that touches on aid policies, volumes, institutions and field operations. There are no sanctions if the country fails to take the recommendations on board. The exercise is meant to encourage positive change, support mutual learning and raise the overall effectiveness of aid throughout the donor community.