A Work in Progress

• Author: Elaine Venter
• Position: Development practitioner in South Africa
• Pages: 20-22

The Paris Declaration renews focus on aid reform but is still donor-centric

Page 20

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.

The steps that are needed from the developed nations are clear. The first is ensuring trade justice. The second is to end the debt crisis for the poorest countries. The third is to deliver much more aid and make sure it is of the highest quality.

Nelson Mandela

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is part of a global commitment to reduce poverty and inequality, increase economic growth, develop capacity, and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It provides an action-oriented road map for reforming the delivery and management of aid, with the aim of making aid more effective. Ultimately, improved aid effectiveness will benefit development.

Much has been written about the application of the five Paris commitments and whether we are achieving the goals we set for ourselves (see box). These goals cannot be achieved unless the value of the Paris Declaration as an instrument of change is understood and accepted, the gaps in the declaration are analyzed and addressed, and all relevant stakeholders and groups involved in aid effectiveness are given equal representation in the institutions that provide global leadership on aid effectiveness.

A dynamic opportunity

The Paris Declaration has already begun to change important aspects of aid delivery, management, and evaluation. It has provided new impetus to the discussions-at both the global and the field level-on the importance of improving our ability to deliver and to receive aid, so that it can lead to better development outcomes. The five commitments in the declaration have become part of the language of development and are influencing discussion and country strategy.

Irrespective of whether a partner country signed the declaration or not, donors in general have started to operationalize certain commitments, so they can be implemented in the field (for example, principles of division of labor among donors in providing support to partner countries). The declaration has given aid personnel more operational and administrative responsibility. A more dynamic exchange between donor headquarters and donor field-level personnel means that the delivery of aid can be better aligned with realities on the ground.

The Paris Declaration has also created a measurable and visible opportunity for stakeholders to report on, challenge, or encourage each other to achieve faster progress on commitments made by each of them under the declaration. This can be clearly seen from the findings of the two monitoring reports on the implementation of the declaration, the evaluation report on the declaration, and the numerous partnercountry regional meetings that took place in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The findings of the reports and of the meetings have led to many of the stakeholders adapting their existing development approaches by incorporating Paris Declaration commitments into their policies.

In addition to the monitoring and evaluation activities, and the regional meetings, the Working Party meeting of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also become a platform for partners (though there is limited partner participation) to raise their concerns and discuss their experiences.

They can also highlight important issues that they would like...