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Aid Effectiveness Network news
Newsletter - January 2007
Highlights
• Updated Policy Position Paper on Country Led-Approaches now available.
• Synthesis of 2005/2006 DFID Country Programme Evaluations Report now published.
Aid Relationships
Country Led Approaches
In December an updated policy position paper with
annex 1 on country-led approaches was submitted to the Development Committee.
The paper was prepared after consultation within DFID and review of the
available evidence. The short policy update was supported by an in-depth review
of country-led approaches by ODI , which the DC noted was of high
quality. The paper notes 5 key updated policy positions and 7 key actions that
will be taken to implement these policies. The DC approved the updated policy
positions and provided important feedback for developing best practice guidance.
The updated policy position will be disseminated through the office and with key
partners. Best practice guidance is now being developed for country offices and
the views of country offices and Regional Divisions will be sought in developing
a short guide supported by key documents. Please contact Guy Howard
(g-howard@dfid.gov.uk )for further
information.
Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
The joint donor initiative to develop a
design framework for capacity development for PSIA in Africa is now underway.
This involves a Knowledge and Resources assessment of experience to date with
the World Bank, the UK and European donors agencies and International NGOs. It
also involves an in depth consideration with a range of stakeholders about PSIA
experience and capacity development in three African countries - Zambia, Kenya
and Benin, and broader lesson learning from the experiences of Ghana and
Tanzania. This assignment is being undertaken by Dr Sue Jones and a team of 6
African consultants. The design proposal is due at the end of March and will be
included in later editions of the newsletter. For further information please
contact Katja Jobes (k-jobes@dfid.gov.uk
).
Financial Accountability and Anti Corruption
The United Nations Convention
against Corruption (UNCAC) came into force on 14 December 2005 and was ratified
by the UK on 9th February 2006. Under its provisions, a conference of the States
Parties to the Convention was established to improve the capacity of and
cooperation between States parties to achieve the objectives set out in the
Convention and to promote and review its implementation. The First UNCAC
Conference of States’ Parties took place in Jordan from 10th to 14th December.
This was attended by a delegation from the UK which included members of the
Financial Accountability and anti Corruption Team. Agreement was reached on
effective and transparent mechanisms for implementing and monitoring the
Convention, as well as for strengthening the framework for international asset
recovery and ensuring effective coordination of targeted technical assistance.
Contact Caroline Rickatson
(c-rickartson@dfid.gov.uk) or Tim Steele
(t-steele@dfid.gov.uk) for further information.
Staff from the FACT Team visited Uganda in December to attend an OECD -DAC Joint Venture (JV) meeting for procurement which was hosted by the regional offices of the World Bank. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the new procurement baseline and monitoring tool designed by the OECD/DAC Procurement Roundtable and Joint Venture processes. This tool is intended to provide a common framework for donors and partner countries to assess the quality and effectiveness of public procurement systems and will be piloted in a number of countries throughout Africa and Asia early in 2007. For further information please contact Robert Hyland (r-hyland@dfid.gov.uk).
The UK, Danish and Dutch Governments recently signed a partnership with the Government of Uganda to jointly support tax administration reform. At a ceremony at the headquarters of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in Kampala, the Head of DFID Uganda, Eric Hawthorn, and the Ambassadors of Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Joint Memorandum of Understanding that will contribute over £6.5 million through a basket fund arrangement towards Modernisation of the tax authority. The UK's contribution to the fund is £3.5 million over the next 3 years. For further information please contact Adrian Stone (a-stone@dfid.gov.uk).
Other Aid Effectiveness Information
In December, Evaluation Department
published a report, Synthesis of 2005/2006 DFID Country Programme Evaluations,
synthesising findings and lessons from five independent evaluations undertaken
in Bangladesh, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique and Rwanda. This shows that in each of
the five countries, DFID had made a major positive contribution to the country’s
development and was viewed positively by development partners. DFID’s strengths
include support of Poverty Reduction Strategy processes, involvement in policy
dialogue, the shift towards new aid modalities, support for Paris Declaration
principles, high quality staff in country, innovative thinking, growing and
predictable resource flows and poverty focus. The report identifies areas for
improvement around preparing and executing Country Assistance Plans, optimising
the use of budget support, balancing government and non-state development
partners, strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems of DFID and partner
countries, communication and Human Resourcing. For further information please
contact Iain Murray (i-murray@dfid.gov.uk).
In December the Secretary of State strongly reaffirmed DFID's commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment, expressed in DFID's Gender Equality Action Plan. The Action Plan was strongly informed by DFID's gender evaluation, which concluded that DFID's initial momentum had not been maintained, and that more needed to be done to demonstrate leadership on gender equality. The global impact evaluation agenda continues to move forward. For further information please contact Miguel Valadez Laric (m-laric@dfid.gov.uk).
A Task force has been set up within the
Development Assistance Committee's
(DAC) Evaluation Network to help coordinate impact evaluation efforts among the DAC members. The task force initially plans to complete two activities: (a)
production of good practice guidelines for impact evaluation that all donors can
use and (b) a web-based database of impact evaluation studies produced by donors
and multi-laterals. Meanwhile, the Leading Edge Group, set up by theCentre for
Global Development, is expected to become a centre for the production of
experimental impact studies; commissioning and funding them to learn what works
in development. It hopes to use these to improve the effectiveness of aid on a
global scale. For further information please contact Miguel Valadez Laric
(m-laric@dfid.gov.uk).
GDED Restructuring Update
A warm welcome to Sarah Cooke who has been
appointed Head of the Aid Effectiveness and Accountability Department and Chris
Austin who has been appointed Head of the Donor Policy and Partnerships
Department within the new Global Development Effectiveness Division. Sarah will
be joining around 1st March and will be based in East Kilbride and Chris will
join around April.
Upcoming Events
The Third International Roundtable on Managing for
Development Results (MfDR) will be held in Hanoi on February 5-8 2007. This
follows earlier Roundtables in Marrakesh (2004) and Washington (2002).
Inaugurated at the Monterrey Financing for Development Conference in 2002 by the
heads of the five multilateral development banks (MDBs), the MfDR initiative is
one of the principal precursors of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness. Representatives from DFID including Mark Lowcock, Sarah Cooke,
Siobhan Carey and Charles Clift will attend and lead the mutual accountability
theme of the conference. More details on MfDR, and plans for the Roundtable, can
be found on
MfDR's website . For more information please contact
Charles Clift
(c-clift@dfid.gov.uk).
Recent Events
HLF3 - In 2008 there will be a Third High Level Forum on Aid
Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana. These are organised under the leadership of the DAC's Working Party on Aid Effectiveness and attended at ministerial level. It
will be the first High Level Forum since the landmark Paris Declaration in 2005
which committed the participating donors and partner countries to improving aid
effectiveness around the following principles: ownership, alignment,
harmonisation, mutual accountability, and managing for results. HLF-3 in Ghana
will be a stock take of donor and partner country progress on delivering the
2005 commitments and an opportunity to look ahead at key issues for aid
effectiveness post-2010. The Steering Committee preparing HLF-3 of which the UK
is a member, met for the first time at the OECD in Paris on 18 January. It was
agreed that HLF-3 will aim to widen its participation and scope, and seek to
draw more partner countries, emerging donors, and civil society into the
preparation of the event and into better following the Paris principles.
Potential issues to be discussed at the HLF include capacity development,
infrastructure and service sectors, local procurement and complementarity and
division of labour. The Steering Committee will continue to meet quarterly to
prepare the event, including in the host country Ghana. Please contact Emily
Travis (e-travis@dfid.gov.uk) for further information.
DFID SEA and CLEAR team within GDED recently hosted a seminar which discussed the Asia Regional Forum on aid effectiveness and the progress since the Paris Declaration. Tom Beloe made a presentation on the context of the forum as well as the forum itself and Helen Wedgwood's presentation looked at progress on the Paris Declaration focusing on the results of the baseline survey, and looking ahead to the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2008. Notes of the seminar are available for those who were unable to attend, for further information please contact Tom Beloe (t-beloe@dfid.gov.uk) or Helen Wedgwood ( h-wedgwood@dfid.gov.uk).
DFID hosted a successful meeting of the Social Development Advisers’ Network (SDAN) on 11-12 December in Palace Street. SDAN is made up of the Chief Social Development Advisers from our major bilateral and multilateral partners. Attendees included representatives from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and France. Simon Maxwell (Director, Overseas Development Institute) also joined the meeting to lead a discussion on ‘Global Social Inclusion’ as the next big development idea. Above all the meeting provided for an invaluable opportunity to strengthen the relationships within the group and to identify opportunities for collaborative working to increase our overall impact. Thanks are due to DFID Social Development Advisers who provided excellent presentations and insights into DFID’s social development agenda. A more comprehensive note of the meeting will be available shortly. If you would like further information, please contact Neil Satchwell-Smith (n-satchwell-smith@dfid.gov.uk).
A review of the first version of the prototype for the Portal for Development Indicators took place on Thursday 30 November. The Portal will bring together a range of existing data (country-level indicators from international, national and DFID sources), together with strengthened analytical and metadata functions. The aim is to improve access to data, effectiveness of data use and consistency of related outputs within the organisation. The participants were pleased as the first version of the prototype appeared to be broadly on track with the original specification. For further information please contact Benedicte Terryn (b-terryn@dfid.gov.uk).
The co-ordination of the Aid Effectiveness network, including the AE newsletter, is undertaken by the Country Led Approaches and Results (CLEAR) team, based in Abercrombie House. Catherine Ferry (c-ferry@dfid.gov.uk) and Nicola Cairns (n-cairns@dfid.gov.uk) are the contacts. To keep abreast of the latest in aid effectiveness, please e-mail Catherine or Nicola who will add your name to the mailing list. Please also let us know of any news you have which relates to Aid Effectiveness. We will be glad to publicise anything you are doing.