How successful are countries and donors in meeting the targets they set for development? How well are they working to improve the effectiveness of aid in ending poverty and making progress a reality for all people? A new monitoring survey has just been launched to help measure their achievements.

This survey, available in 2008, will provide concrete facts and figures on what is working – and what isn’t. It will measure progress against the state of affairs in 2005, as published in the landmark 2006 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration (see News In Brief, below).

The results of the 2008 Survey will contribute directly to debate and decisions that will be taken at the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. This meeting of the minds, to be held in Accra 2-4 September 2008, will bring together many of the signatories of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, including partner countries, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, regional development banks, and international organisations.

One of the firm commitments people made in Paris was a ground-breaking agreement to measure progress at regular intervals. The 2008 Survey will take this commitment one step further, helping the participants in the High-Level Forum to identify concrete steps that will help to speed up the achievement of the Paris Declaration targets.

Aid for Trade

Trade needs to be a stronger force for a more inclusive globalisation. One of the many issues is that developing countries often lack the basic infrastructure needed to take advantage of market opportunities that can help them to develop from the ground up. There will be extensive debate around these issues at the first Annual Global Review of Aid for Trade (20-21 November 2007 WTO General Council meeting).

To contribute to this debate, the DAC and the Trade Committee jointly organised a series of regional aid-for-trade fora. At these fora, practitioners from Latin America, Asia, and Africa examined the results of joint OECD-WTO questionnaires designed to measure whether developing country programmes are making the most of their trade capacity. Region-specific data on aid for trade and a well-defined set of best practices supported the discussion at these meetings.

Civil Society

Civil society organisations (CSOs) can help to create consensus and ensure that decision making supports development at all levels. A new issues paper on Civil Society and Aid Effectiveness explores some of the major challenges CSOs and other actors face in making their voices heard – and effective. This paper was prepared by the Advisory Group on Civil Society and Aid Effectiveness, created by the DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness.

Feature Article

Also in this issue, Joseph C. Wheeler, DAC Chair from 1986 to 1991, offers his views on the forces that help bring about positive change. Zeroing in on wheat production in Pakistan, he analyses the reasons behind this country’s success in increasing the production of basic foods. His focus on the Green Revolution highlights the fundamental role agricultural growth has to play in poverty reduction.

Also in this issue...

DAC Peer Reviews

OECD Review of Canadian Development Co-operation Programme

This year’s peer review of Canada’s development co-operation programme noted positive achievements, including a promising whole-of-government approach to working with fragile states such as Haiti and Afghanistan, effective support to humanitarian action, a reconfirmed commitment to Africa and continued aid increases to meet commitments made in Monterrey. Read more…

What is a Peer Review?

News in Brief

• On 20 October 2007, former Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Chairs and participants to the Annual Meetings of the World Bank-IMF gathered in Washington DC to honour Richard Manning. Manning has served as DAC Chair since 2003 and will step down in January 2008. At the reception, hosted by World Bank Development Committee Chair Augustín Carstens and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, the group recognized Manning’s outstanding contribution at the helm of the Development Assistance Committee. Manning reflected on his time as DAC Chair, emphasising the increasingly close links between the DAC and the Development Committee. During the reception, the Secretary-General also extended a warm welcome to incoming Chair Eckhard Deustcher, who is currently serving as Executive Director at the World Bank.

• On 1 October 2007, UNDP and OECD organised a launch of the joint Partnership for Democratic Governance (PDG). This multilateral initiative will build governance capacity and improve delivery of essential services to the citizens of developing countries, including fragile states, post-conflict states and emerging democracies. The PDG is a demand-driven partnership dedicated to examining how the international community can support countries more directly and effectively. Its operational arm is the PDG Advisory Unit, hosted by OECD. Read more about the launch…

• Informal institutions - such as family and kinship structures, traditions and social norms - have been largely overlooked in the international development debate. A new publication from the OECD Development Centre, Informal Institutions: How Social Norms Help or Hinder Development, shows how these institutions can be instrumental in improving development outcomes. It offers concrete examples from the areas of gender equality, governance and private sector development. The publication is based on the conclusions of an international seminar organised jointly by the Development Centre and the DAC’s Network on Governance (GOVNET).

• 2006 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration: Overview of the Results (see above; also published as OECD Journal on Development: Volume 8, Issue 2). How effective is aid at helping developing countries eradicate poverty? In March 2005, more than 100 countries endorsed the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and made a firm commitment to measure their success, or failure, in making aid more effective. This landmark report provides a snapshot of the state of affairs in 2005. While the results make it clear that developing countries and donors are working hard to make aid work better, they also demonstrate that there is still much to be done to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

• Promoting Pro-Poor growth: A Practical Guide to ex-ante Poverty Impact Assessment (DAC Guidelines and Reference Series). Enabling poor women and men to participate in, contribute to and benefit from growth is critical to creating a path out of poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Yet without ex ante assessment of likely impacts, policies and programmes often fail to achieve the desired pro-poor impacts. To help donors and partner countries identify the consequences of their interventions, the DAC Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET) has developed a modular, ex ante Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA) approach. This practical guide will help staff in development agencies and their partners to plan and execute PIA, and to interpret the findings it produces.

• Policy Paper and Principles on Anti-Corruption: Setting an Agenda for Collective Action (DAC Guidelines and Reference Series). DAC donors have recently approved this paper, which proposes a collective approach to fighting corruption. It identifies a number of areas where collective action is required to manage the multiple risks associated with corruption successfully. It also outlines specific actions that DAC can take to help donors move forward with this agenda. Read more…

OECD DAC Statistics including Aid at a Glance charts for DAC members, recipient countries, and by region.

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