UPCOMING FORUMS FOR INFLUENCING THE AID DEBATE
In the past there have been few opportunities for Southern organisations to engage in policy debate around the aid delivery system. However, there have been a number of recent developments in this area at the global level which offer the opportunity for greater engagement.
OECD/DAC
In a bid to improve its dialogue on development with non-member governments and non-governmental actors, the OECD launched a new policy-dialogue process in 2006, the OECD Global Forum on Development. The Global Forum process, which will consist of a series of events including informal experts’ workshops, policy workshops and annual plenary meetings, will devote its first three-year cycle to “development financeâ€. So far two events have taken place, including a pre-meeting on aid effectiveness in Health and a Policy Workshop on Global Programmes and the Paris Agenda. Future events of relevance include a workshop on performance and coherence in multilateral development finance. Click here for the complete calendar of Global Forum and related events
The OECD will hold a high level plenary meeting every year to discuss the outcomes of the previous year’s workshops. The first of these will be held on 3 April 2007. The major themes for discussion will include: the emergence of new actors as providers of development finance; the new role of emerging economies in providing development assistance; the institutional coherence and evaluation of the multilateral development finance system; and the major challenges for development policy makers in shaping a more effective development finance system. The OECD Development Centre has formed the Development Finance Network (DEFINE), composed of Northern and Southern research institutes. A major task for DEFINE will be to provide substantive inputs into the Global Forum process.
Financing for Development
The United Nations hosted the International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) in 2002 in Monterrey. (Click here to access the UN FfD website and here to read the final text of agreements and commitments). FfD’s main aim was to agree how the financial resources required for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be raised. The so called ‘Monterrey Consensus’ was implicitly supported by 50 heads of state. An important element of the conference outcome was the mandated regular follow-up process, the main focal points for which are: the annual special high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the WTO and UNCTAD (Click here for more information on civil society involvement in these events) and; the biennial General Assembly High Level Dialogue on FfD. The latter have been held twice, in 2003 and 2005 (click here for a full chronology of the Financing for Development Process). In November 2006, the UN General Assembly agreed to hold a follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development in Qatar in the second half of 2008, to be preceded by a high level dialogue on FFD in the fourth quarter of 2007 (click here to view the Draft Resolution and here to visit the UN website for the FfD Follow-up Process). A critical element of the FfD process has been addressing ways of enhancing the coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial and trading systems in support of development. This will offer opportunities for engagement in debates about reform of the aid architecture in relation to other elements of the institutions of global governance.
The Paris Declaration
The Paris Declaration was signed in 2005 by 107 countries, 26 International Organisations and 14 International Civil Society Organisations (Click here to view signatories). It is the most recent incarnation of the aid effectiveness agenda. It contains a series of targets in relation to national ownership, aid alignment and harmonisation, mutual accountability and results orientation, to which both donor and aid recipient countries have committed themselves. The OECD/DAC is currently carrying out a baseline survey against the targets and indicators in preparation for regular monitoring of the progress of the parties to the declaration. As of August 2006, 37 countries confirmed their participation in the survey. Furthermore, the World Bank launched an Aid Effectiveness Review in May 2006 to be coordinated with the aforementioned baseline survey.
The next milestone for the declaration will be the High Level Forum to be held in Accra, Ghana in 2008 (date tbc). This presents opportunities for engagement in assessing progress made on, and next steps regarding, the Paris Declaration.
ECOSOC Biennial Development Cooperation Forum
Among the new functions assigned to the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) by the 2005 UN Summit was to convene a biennial Development Cooperation Forum (DCF). (Click here to read the outcome of the summit and here to view the draft resolution on Economic and Social Council Reform). This forum is intended to review trends in international development cooperation, including strategies, policies and financing, promote greater coherence among the development activities of different development partners and strengthen the links between the normative and operational work of the UN. The format of the forum is yet to be decided, but as well as involving donor and recipient governments, UN agencies, OECD/DAC, the World Bank, the IMF, regional development banks, regional commissions, and other relevant regional and sub regional institutions, the DCF is expected to open with a multi-stakeholder dialogue. This dialogue should focus on the state of international development cooperation and will be followed by discussions among governmental and multilateral agency representatives. So far, preparations for the DCF have seen the organisation of a high level informal ministerial roundtable held in July 2006. Click here for a summary. However, it is unclear when the DCF will be held and which organ of the UN will service it.