BETTER AID PRESS RELEASE: 9 months to deliver: tipping point to make development aid effective

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.

AidWatch-Philippines one with BetterAid for Busan 2011 results

On November 2011, the future of development cooperation will definitely face a critical moment as the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan (HLF4) will take place.

The HLF4 is a chance for the development community to not only assess the progress it has made against the Paris and Accra aid reform commitments, but also to build upon them by agreeing to bolder and more comprehensive reform of development cooperation in order to maximize its support for the world’s poorest people.

AidWatch- Philippines, being the main CSO organization in the country at the forefront of aid effectiveness issue is one with BetterAid in pushing for the HLF4 to result in the following:   

Measurable, time-bound and monitored commitments: The Paris Declaration’s Annex of specific, time-bound, measurable and regularly monitored commitments – despite its flaws - has been critical to the progress it has helped to generate. Without such an Annex and an independent process for monitoring its implementation, a Busan agreement will likely be soon forgotten, like many international agreements that lack these unique elements.

Commitment to implement and build on the Paris and Accra reforms: The Paris and Accra reforms will not have been implemented in full by Busan. As these reforms are already contributing to critical improvements to aid delivery and partner countries are demanding further implementation, it is important they continue. HLF4 must therefore tackle obstacles to change and push forward these and further reforms. Future reform commitments may need to focus on areas of Paris and Accra that are delivering the most change (as judged by partner country experience and the Paris Declaration evaluation) and issues neglected by these frameworks.

Operationalization of a development effectiveness approach to aid through the management for results agenda: It is critical that aid reform efforts are increasingly approached from the perspective of development effectiveness. The evolving management for results agenda provides an opportunity to take steps in this direction by helping to focus aid more effectively on supporting the poorest people to satisfy their basic needs, escape from poverty, progressively realise their rights and hold their governments accountable.

Ensure that the process of preparing for HLF4 and the negotiation of its outcome is fully transparent and participatory:  Such an approach is vital to ensuring that Busan responds to the major challenges facing an evolving aid system and is legitimate and therefore has the best chance of being implemented. 

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About BetterAid

BetterAid unites over 900 development organisations from civil society, and has been working on

development cooperation and the aid effectiveness agenda since January 2007. BetterAid is leading

many of the civil society activities, including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring,  in the lead up to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in 2011.

The platform’s overarching goal is to monitor and influence international aid effectiveness  agreements such as the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness PD and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) (with a specific focus on issues of democratic  ownership), while broadening the policy agenda from the AAA towards development  effectiveness, and a substantial reform of the international aid architecture.

The BetterAid platform came together in the lead up to the High Level Forum 3 in Accra.  When after Accra the OECD Working Party on Aid Affectiveness was opened for civil society  organisations, BetterAid became responsible for coordinating their contributions.