Brussels, March 23. Days after officials at the OECD made plans towards the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), more than 80 representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) from across the globe gathered in Sweden to develop their own strategy for the forum.
HLF4 will be held from November 29 to December 1 2011 in Busan, Republic of Korea. It will assess if commitments of governments made in recent years have been achieved or not, and stands out as a key opportunity for governments to go beyond promises and to commit to more effective, sustainable development assistance in terms of its real impact on the lives of all women and men.
With global development needs rocketing following escalating global crises such as rising food and fuel prices, growing inequality, lack of sustainable jobs, and political unrest in Northern Africa, the issue of development effectiveness cannot be ignored anymore.
As a result of last week’s civil society meeting in Harnosand, Sweden, BetterAid and Open Forum identified key messages to national governments as well as regional and international institutions.
Central to the concerns of both platforms is the shrinking political space for civil society, the multiple attacks on freedom of association and the lack of participatory ownership of development at the national level in a growing number of countries.
Achieving full respect of human rights, gender equality, decent work and environmental sustainability should remain the ultimate goal for development effectiveness.
“Development effectiveness is about how best to help people help themselves in a sustainable way. It’s not about the short-term results of stand-alone projects,’’ said Richard Ssewakiryanga from BetterAid and the Uganda National NGO Forum.
The Istanbul Principles for CSO Effectiveness, adopted in September 2010 and based on a global process of consultation in which hundreds of CSOs participated, should be supported and governments should implement measures to create an enabling environment for civil society organisations as development actors in their own right.
“Governments and donors should make the strength of civil society an indicator of successful development cooperation,” said Ruben Fernandez from Open Forum and ALOP.
With multiple and escalating political and natural crises globally, it takes forward-thinking to commit to the kind of long term and sustainable development progress that BetterAid and the Open Forum are advocating for. The voice of the people must be heard and acted on in Busan.
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