How Do We Measure Up?

Media contacts:                                       

Cecilia Akwetey at promofep@mofep.gov.gh

Telephone: +233-21-665132

Rachel Winter Jones at  rjones1@worldbank.org 

Telephone: +33-6-2314-1745

Helen Fisher at: helen.fisher@oecd.org

Telephone: + 331 45 24 80 97

Accra, Ghana, 2 September 2008 – Over 1,200 representatives of governments of aid- receiving countries, donor institutions, foundations, parliaments, and civil society organizations gathered here today in the Third High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness, a three-day conference on improving the quality and impact of development assistance.

Each year, donors worldwide – countries, international agencies and specialized funds – provide nearly US$120 billion in development and humanitarian aid to developing countries, with private contributions adding a further US$20 - 25 billion.  Donors, governments, and citizens of donor and recipient countries alike expect this assistance to be used as effectively as possible.  As Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, has said: “At the root of all we do is the shared conviction that we must transform the way in which we deliver and use the scarce resources in our trust.”

In 2005, when the international community last met in a High Level Forum on this issue, over 100 countries and agencies endorsed the Paris Declaration, committing to carry out specific actions to improve the effectiveness with which donors provide, and countries use, development funds.  For example, countries agreed to put in place realistic strategies for development and to improve the reliability of their financial management systems; and donors agreed to provide promised aid in a timely way and carry out more assessments and on-site visits jointly with other donors to reduce the administrative burden on developing countries.  Most notably, the Paris Declaration contained a framework for monitoring progress on these commitments, including some targets for 2010.

The purpose of the meeting in Accra is for the development community to review – and hold itself accountable for – progress on the Paris commitments.  The monitoring process has revealed areas of substantial progress, and some in which further progress is urgently needed.

Evidence shows that development strategies have been improved since the endorsement of the Paris Declaration: developing countries are taking ownership of their policies and programs, exercising leadership and involving civil society and the private sector; and donors are providing support for capacity development and institution building. In addition, donors and partner countries together are working to build consensus around common approaches, minimize transaction costs by improving the division of labor, improve the monitoring and evaluation of results, and strengthen their accountability for aid impact – to each other, and to their constituencies.

During the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, government, donor, and civil society representatives will examine the results achieved so far, discuss obstacles to implementation, exchange experiences, and identify ways to make greater progress on aid effectiveness.

The Accra meeting will involve an unprecedented participation of civil society organizations (CSOs). Many CSOs were active in the consultations leading up to the Forum and will attend the event itself.  In addition, the Forum was preceded by a CSO meeting in Accra that brought together as many as 400 civil society leaders from partner and donor countries to discuss aid effectiveness issues. 

The High Level Forum will culminate in a Ministerial session, in which Ministers and Heads of agencies are expected to endorse the Accra Agenda for Action, committing to actions that will accelerate the implementation of the Paris Declaration.  These actions are likely to focus on ways to (a) ensure that developing countries play the lead role in determining their development strategies and organizing the programs and processes to realize those strategies; (b) build effective partnerships that include all development actors –  developing and middle-income countries, donor countries, the UN and multilateral institutions, global funds, civil society organizations, and the private sector; and (c) enhance the delivery of development results – that is, of improvements in the lives of poor people.

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