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The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review.

This booklet highlights key lessons learned on engaging with the public based on DAC members’ practices as documented in peer reviews, DevCom’s reports and publications and wider work from across the OECD. It includes examples from DAC members’ experiences and sketches out challenges they continue to face as they move toward more strategic, effective and innovative engagement with citizens and taxpayers on development co-operation.

Gender equality and the environment are treated as cross-cutting issues in all DAC peer reviews in recognition of their importance in development co-operation. This report highlights some of the common themes and important lessons on mainstreaming gender equality and the environment based on DAC members’ practices as documented in peer reviews, a number of donor evaluations as well as wider work across the OECD.  

Evaluating development co-operation activities is one of the areas where the DAC’s influence on policy and practice can most readily be observed. Having an evaluation system that is well-established is one of the conditions of becoming a member of the DAC. Each peer review examines the set-up and management of the evaluation function, using the norms and standards developed by the DAC’s Network on Development Evaluation.

This report is about partnerships between DAC members and civil society organisations (CSOs) which can serve many purposes. These include supporting the vital role that CSOs play in enabling people to claim their rights, in promoting rights-based approaches, in shaping development policies and partnerships and in overseeing their implementation, in providing services in areas that are complementary to those provided by states and in contributing to and raising public awarenessabout global development challenges and results.

Over the period 2006 to 2010 capacity development was treated as a special topic in a total of 19 peer reviews in recognition of its increasing importance in development co-operation. In addition, how DAC members work to support capacity development in their partner countries has been discussed in many other peer reviews under the heading of aid effectiveness. This booklet draws out some common themes or lessons regarding capacity development from these peer reviews, including technical co-operation which is one of the main forms of DAC members’ assistance to partner countries. The lessons are focused on how DAC members can reform their technical co-operation and other practices to better support partners to develop their own capacity. The booklet includes examples of DAC members’ practices and experiences, and sketches out the challenges donors still face as they move towards better support for capacity development. 

This publication outlines the 12 most important humanitarian lessons from the DAC peer reviews, profiles examples of good donor behaviour highlighted in the peer reviews, and sketches out the challenges donors still face as they move towards better humanitarian donorship. Lessons are grouped under the following headings: the strategic framework; delivering effective funding; an organisation fit for purpose; and learning and accountability.