At a Glance The international aid effectiveness agenda has aimed to improve the delivery and management of aid, with the objective of enhancing the impact of development assistance to reduce poverty, improve health and education outcomes, and build stronger institutions in partner countries. Since its formal inception in the form of the 2005 Paris Declaration (PD), the World Bank has embraced and championed the global aid effectiveness agenda, and continuously improved its own processes to implement aid effectiveness principles at the country and institutional levels. The World Bank’s performance on aid effectiveness indicators has continuously improved—the Bank has met or surpassed many PD targets and performs better than most donors as evidenced by the most recent PD Monitoring Survey. The Bank’s good performance in this and others areas of organizational and operational efficiency has been recognized in several international assessments of aid. The 4th High Level Forum (HLF-4) on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea, from November 29 - December 1, 2011, will be an opportunity to take stock of progress on the international aid effectiveness agenda and forge a new consensus on development partnerships going forward. Recognizing changes in the global development landscape—including the role of middle-income countries as major global actors and development partners—the World Bank and other stakeholders are working towards an inclusive HLF-4, which brings together traditional donors, low- and middle-income countries, foundations, the private sector, parliamentarians, civil society and non-governmental organizations, global funds and programs, and other stakeholders to discuss the variety of partnerships and approaches to development that have emerged since the Paris Declaration was formulated. HLF-4 will highlight that one size no longer fits all, recognizing both common and differentiated approaches across the spectrum of development actors. World Bank and HLF-4 The Bank will bring to HLF-4 technical expertise and global knowledge, its experience with implementing cutting-edge policies, and the experience and perspectives gained from working with a wide range of countries. Drawing on its ongoing work on aid effectiveness, the Bank’s priorities for HLF-4 include: · Country Leadership and Ownership. The Bank is committed to strengthening country leadership and ownership, aligning its support with a country’s development priorities. The Bank supports capacity development by investing in human capital, institutions and systems, and strengthening the stakeholder ownership (by state and non-state actors) that facilitates achievement of national development goals. The Bank, together with other development partners, is supporting public sector capacity building to institutionalize government-led management of development support and greater integration of aid and other support into national budgets. The Bank supports the strengthening and use of country systems—for budget and project management, procurement, financial management, environmental and social safeguards, and results measurement—with the ultimate objective of transforming development support into sustainable results. While much progress has been made, HLF-4 is an opportunity to focus on key remaining challenges in areas critical to deepening country ownership and leadership. · Development Partnerships beyond Aid. Funding and other support from middle income countries, the private sector, foundations, global funds and programs, and other sources contribute significantly to development and bring broad diversity to the nature of development partnerships with country governments, parliamentarians, and non-governmental and civil society organizations. Middle income countries in particular partner with lower-income developing countries to provide support through South-South cooperation, including knowledge exchanges, technology transfers, investment, trade, and financial support. The World Bank plays a key role in advocating for knowledge and South-South cooperation as a complement to traditional bilateral aid financing. In response to country demand, the Bank has developed an operational agenda for South-South Knowledge Exchange, including a dedicated South-South Exchange Facility, which helps countries connect and benefit from each others’ experience. The international community has much to learn from the diversity of approaches and experiences, which can pave the way for a new consensus on development cooperation post-Busan, focusing on maximizing development outcomes of financial and knowledge flows through various partnerships. · Transparency for Results. Transparency requires more public access to data on development support and partner country budget information. Public access improves accountability and can help link funding to development outcomes and results. The Bank has made great strides in this area, breaking new ground with its Access to Information Policy and Open Data Initiative, both of which make more information on the Bank, its projects, programs, and development data publicly available. The Bank is also at the forefront of implementing the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), which has defined a common standard for all development partners to share aid data. The Bank and other development partners are working to improve aid predictability, to complement recipient country efforts to improve budget management and transparency for domestic accountability. The Bank’s own results culture has been deepened through its: IDA Results Measurement System and Corporate Scorecard; systematic results frameworks for lending projects, programs, and country assistance strategies; emerging results-based approaches to institutional and capacity development; and evaluation efforts such as the collaborative Bank/partner country Development Impact Evaluation Initiative. The Bank supports country capacity to implement results-based approaches, for instance, statistical capacity development for monitoring and evaluation; working with regional Communities of Practice for cross-country knowledge exchange and capacity development related to results; and using geo-mapping and other mechanisms for social accountability. Deepening donor and partner country transparency and results-based approaches should be a key focus of HLF-4. HLF-4 also provides an opportunity to bring attention to the unique challenges in fragile and conflict situations. The 2011 World Development Report provides lessons and recommendations drawing on country experiences, the International Dialogue on fragile states, the International Network on Conflict and Fragility, and other sources to provide a foundation for development partners to chart a course to make aid and other forms of support more effective in these situations. The World Bank’s Role in the HLF-4 Process The World Bank is actively involved in the international Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP-EFF), under the auspices of the OECD-DAC, which has shaped global work on aid effectiveness issues. Under the WP-EFF, the Bank leads or contributes technical input in areas such as strengthening the use of country systems (particularly financial management and procurement) and country capacity development; improving aid predictability and transparency; promoting South-South cooperation; working in situations of conflict and fragility; improving global program alignment with aid effectiveness principles; and advancing approaches to measuring, communicating, and learning from evaluations and development results. Technical work in these and other areas has generated evidence that will inform political discussions in Busan. Broad political agreement across the multiple development actors in Busan is likely to be complemented by groups of like-minded partners joining together in follow-up to HLF-4 to champion specific “building blocks” or development-related initiatives which can break new ground or serve as models by setting standards and/or implementing good practices. The Bank is likely to champion and/or participate in several of these post-Busan building blocks. |
Media Contact:
Geetanjali Chopra, (202) 473-0243, gchopra@worldbank.org Updated September 2011 |
