Gender Equality features prominently in fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Republic of Korea

A woman sorting diamonds in Ghana

The fourth High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness, from November 29-December 1, 2011 in Busan, Republic of Korea, involved some 2500 participants, 150 ministers and a number of leaders from around the world, with a strong civil society presence and well-known academics. The World Bank was represented by a strong delegation, led by Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

The Forum’s main themes focused on the building blocks of aid effectiveness that had been established by the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness–namely ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and mutual accountability. There was a strong element of continuity alongside concerted attempts to bring in non-traditional donors, and attempts by civil society to broaden the discussion to development effectiveness.

World Bank Gender and Development Director Jeni Klugman participated in two of the gender roundtables—one on Increasing the availability of gender-relevant data and gender statistics, and the other Gender Equality Results and Data: Statistics, Results, Accountability, moderated by U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer.

Gender equality was featured in the HLF Outcome Document, which stated:

“We must accelerate our efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women through development programmes grounded in country priorities, recognising that gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical to achieving development results. Reducing gender inequality is both an end in its own right and a prerequisite for sustainable and inclusive growth. As we redouble our efforts to implement existing commitments we will:

a) Accelerate and deepen efforts to collect, disseminate, harmonise and make full use of data disaggregated by sex to inform policy decisions and guide investments, ensuring in turn that public expenditures are targeted appropriately to benefit both women and men.

b) Integrate targets for gender equality and women’s empowerment in accountability mechanisms, grounded in international and regional commitments.

c) Address gender equality and women’s empowerment in all aspects of our development efforts, including peacebuilding and statebuilding.”