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Aid Effectiveness Network news

Newsletter - March 2006

Highlights

Asia 2015 conference outcomes

Updated Memorandum of Understanding signed between the UK and Rwanda

UK ratifies United Nations (UN) Convention against Corruption

Aid Relationships

Aid Harmonisation and Alignment

The Governments of the UK and Rwanda have signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding. It sets out shared commitments, arrangements for monitoring and specifies circumstances under which the UK’s development assistance may be interrupted or reduced. Contact Vijay Pillai for more details.

DFID, World Bank, Asia Development Bank and Japan agreed a joint strategy to harmonise their support for Bangladesh’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. They agreed partnership principles for joint working and the division of labour, each leading in areas of their relative advantage with agreed TORs. Contact Mehtab Currey for more details.

In Kenya, development agencies that are part of the Harmonisation, Alignment and Coordination (HAC) group will put together the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy (JAS) due for publication in 2007. Feeding into the process are a Political Economy Analysis paper (based on DFID Drivers of Change 2003) and a comparative advantage study. Contact Eddie Rich (DFID Kenya) for more details.

Mutual Accountability

Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State, hosted the London launch of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD’s) Development Co-operation report in March. Richard Manning and Hilary Benn gave an update on more and better aid. Please contact Sarah Kaya for more details.

Aid Instruments

Policy Coherence

Speaking at Chatham House to development non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international bodies, the Secretary of State (SoS) made his 'Development Beyond Aid' speech as part of the ongoing consultation for DFID's new White Paper. The SoS stressed the need for global and cross-Whitehall cooperation to overcome the challenges we face on climate change, governance, security, trade and migration. Contact Jas Malhi for more details.

TheCommitment to Development Index (CDI) states that reducing poverty in developing countries is more than giving money. Trade, investment, migration, security, environment and technology policies matter too. The CDI ranks 21 of the richest nations on their performance in each policy area. Theircountry report cards show the UK ranked tenth.

Leaders of New Zealand, UK, Korea, Sweden, Ethiopia, Brazil and South Africa met recently for the 2006 Progressive Governance Summit. Topics discussed included the global economy, trade, the World Trade Organisation process, global security and the eradication of poverty.

Financial Accountability and Anti-Corruption

The UK ratified theUN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on 15 February 2006. This is an important milestone in meeting the G8 summit commitments to combat corruption. DFID's Financial Accountability and Corruption Team (FACT) is working across Whitehall to develop the UK’s proposals for monitoring, technical assistance and asset recovery under the Convention and these proposals will feed into an international consultation process to oversee global implementation.

The first meeting of the OECD – World Bank Procurement Joint Venture took place in Manila in February. This joint venture, part of the OECD Aid Effectiveness and Donor Practices Working Party, will build on the successful outcomes of the Procurement roundtable process which concluded in December 2004 with the agreement of the Johannesburg Declaration and a set of Good Practice Papers. Contact Margaret Robinson for more details.

Other Aid Effectiveness Information

Development Policy Review has published an article,Five Debates on International Development, by Andrew Natsios, which offers a different view on the current international consensus on aid effectiveness and aid instruments, and urges development agencies to follow USAID in transforming societies.

The Office of National Statistics has published the results of a survey on public attitudes towards development(386 kb) carried out in 2005. The latest results show that nearly three quarters of the public, the majority being women, are concerned about poverty in developing countries. Contact Rebecca Stringer for more details.

The OECD Development Centre has created aGender, Institutions and Development Database (GID). Compiled from various sources, the data base gives comparative data for 162 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, on the socio-economic status of women. By identifying cultural and traditional practices that discriminate against women, it highlights the need for institutional and legal reforms.

DFID's Development Effectiveness Group Restructuring Update

DFID's Country Led Approaches and Results Team opened in East Kilbride at the beginning of February. Work from the Poverty Reduction Strategies and Harmonisation Team, the Aid Effectiveness Team and the Poverty Analysis and Millennium Development Goal Review team will move to the new team, which is led by Helen Wedgewood.

From the beginning of April, DFID's Development Effectiveness Group will have two teams in London, the Development Financing and Instruments Team led by Nick Highton, and the Donor Policy and Partnerships Team.

Recent and Upcoming Events

DFID, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank co-hosted the London Conference 'Asia 2015: Promoting Growth, Ending Poverty'. The conference brought together decision-makers from Asia and across the world to learn from Asia’s successes, to identify future challenges, and to build new alliances to fight poverty. Key announcements included: UK bilateral aid to Asia is expected to grow by a further 25% between 2005 and 2008; a number of 10 year Development Partnership Arrangements will be developed with the UK (the first in Asia was signed 4 weeks ago at the Afghanistan conference); and DFID will contribute $50 million to the implementation of the Asian Private Infrastructure Financing Facility, planned to be launched in 2007. Contact Amanda McLoughlin for more details.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) are running a series of seminars onWhat’s next in International Development following 2005, which included a seminar on Re-thinking Aid Architecture by the Secretary of State. They are also running a series of seminars on (Re)building Developmental States: From Theory to Practice which include States and Civil Societies in the New Aid Approach on 15 March, and Corruption and Anti-corruption on 24 March.

Pascal Lamy, Director of the World Trade Organisation, will deliver a public lecture entitledMaking the Doha Development Agenda a True Development Round on 31 March at the London School of Economics.

ODI presented a lunchtime seminar on Mutual Accountability for Better Development Results at DFID's London office on 9 February. Contact Tessa MacArthur for more information.

Many thanks to Louise Mellor for all her work on the Aid Effectiveness newsletter. Louise is shortly going on maternity leave and we wish her all the best.

The co-ordination of the Aid Effectiveness network, including the Aid Effectiveness newsletter, is now being undertaken by the Country Led Approaches and Results (CLEAR) team, based in DFID's East Kilbride office. Catherine McGowan will be the new contact. To keep abreast of the latest in aid effectiveness, please e-mail Catherine 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.

All the best,

Louise Mellor
James Bird
Catherine McGowan

DFID Department for International Development