One of the key factors in International development isn't the quantity or quality of the aid that is given to a country, but rather the leaders in a country and the amount of corruption that exits. If corruption is wide spread at the top of a government the Aid can be siphoned on. However if there is also corruption at local levels then Aid can also not be distributed amongst those it is intended for.
This is also true of emergence aid as well as development aid, where jobs can be handed out to the selected elite and contracts go not to the best company but to the most connected company.
The issue of tackling corruption is one that in some ways we are powerless to affect and yet we can try and stimulate a culture that is repulsed by corruption leading to it's decline.
The factors that can help this are NGO groups that encourage good leadership (such as the four pillars group that encourages leadership), globalised news that informs people of corruption, helping to train other states anti-corruption forces, promoting wide spread education and a whole host of other measures.
Some of these measures, such as promoting wider education, will help development in other ways as well and have merit in themselves. However there are a host of measures that may well appear to some to not offer direct benefits to our country or the country in question. Measure such as training other police and anti corruption forces, even although this may well help prevent fraud in our own country.
In many some cases corruption within the delivery of Aid has been linked to funding wars by non government actors. The long term impact of war can have a truly devastating affect on the prospects of a countries development.
For Further reading Here is a Transparancy International report on corruption within Humanitarian Aid.
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