User:Prno7/Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

In the wake of the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and possibly also because of the criticism national ODA agencies have faced, there has been a lot of talk among donors about how to make ODA more effective.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness from the Second OECD-DAC High Level Forum in 2005 defines the main goals of improvement in five areas (Ownership, Alignment, Harmonization, Managing for Results, and Mutual Accountability) and specific indicators to measure the success of their implementation.

1.	Ownership - Developing countries set their own strategies for poverty reduction, improve their institutions and tackle corruption.

Ownership means that “partner countries exercise effective leadership over their development policies” and thus make them their own. This should prevent development strategies from being forced upon countries from outside.

2.	Alignment - Donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems.

Alignment should ensure that development strategies “fit” the partner country. “One size fits all” development policies should be avoided in favor of country-specific capacity building that strengthens public financial management capabilities and the national procurement system. Furthermore, aid should be “untied” from overly specific purposes so that the partners can decide where assistance is most needed.

3.	Harmonisation - Donor countries coordinate, simplify procedures and share information to avoid duplication.

Harmonization means the “donor’s actions are more […] transparent and collectively effective”. This includes the donor’s implementation of common arrangements, simplifying procedures, and a more effective “division of labor” toward mutual development goals.

4.	Results - Developing countries and donors shift focus to development results and results get measured.

Managing for results embodies the commitment to improve resource management and enhance decision-making through better information. Basically this means more effective evaluation procedures based on cost-effective indicator measurements, in order to make better decisions based on the specific circumstances on the ground.

5.	Mutual Accountability - Donors and partners are accountable for development results.

Mutual Accountability includes partners strengthening the role of parliaments in devising development policies and budget decisions, and including various development actors in the decision-making process; donors commit to “provide timely, transparent and comprehensive information on aid flows so as to enable partner authorities to present comprehensive budget reports to their legislatures and citizens”.

Source: Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness from http://www.oecd.org/document/18/0,3343,en_2649_3236398_35401554_1_1_1_1,00.html