Countries often face similar challenges in statistical reporting on development finance. Through Peer Reviews on Development Finance Statistics, DAC members and the OECD jointly assess how countries collect, report and publish their data, so as to help them cope with an increasing demand for comprehensive, reliable and accessible statistics on development finance, in a context of frequent changes to the reporting requirements, staff-turnover and often complex, decentralised reporting systems.
Latest review - Austria
In recent years, the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (MFA) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) have expanded their role as strategic co-ordinators of the overall development co-operation system. The MFA is in charge of the strategic planning, co-ordination and policy coherence for development co-operation, while ADA oversees the effective implementation of these strategies and programmes in co-operation with partner governments, development co-operation organisations, CSOs and private entities. Together, the MFA Directorate General for Development Co-operation and ADA form what is referred to as “Austrian Development Co-operation” (ADC). Austrian development co-operation has a larger scope than ADC and includes federal ministries, provinces (states) and municipalities that, in their role as donors, contribute to development co-operation under their own mandate and budget.
ADA is a centre of competence in the field of development co-operation in Austria, including for statistics. ADA’s statistics team has strong competence, technical skills and expertise on ODA statistics, particularly on complex issues related to ODA-eligibility. It conducts exemplary work and produces high-quality development finance statistics, building on reliable systems and procedures to collect, verify and report data for all provider agencies (Austria has a largely fragmented development co-operation landscape with approximately 80 external reporting entities). Their statistical staff is proficient, it relies on fit-for purpose IT systems and rigorous processes for quality assurance.
Recommendations
Austria is encouraged to preserve achievements in development finance statistics. This would require paying closer attention to the sustainability of their statistical competencies and addressing the challenges in the data collection of external reporting institutions.
For the sake of clarity on ODA and ODA statistics, Austria is also strongly encouraged to remove the ambiguity in current terminology (“Austrian development co-operation” vs. “Austrian Development Co-operation – ADC”) and to capitalise on their existing resources to foster a bolder involvement in areas such as TOSSD reporting or PSI discussions.
Enhancing the quality and use of data on development finance
The OECD methodological guide for peer reviews on development finance statistics promotes a dialogue between the reviewed country, the peers and the OECD. The reviews cover seven dimensions: statistical policy issues; domestic data collection; statistical reporting; performance on DAC recommendations and international commitments; transparency; data accessibility; and publication of statistics.
The Reviews seek to:
Help identify and share best reporting practices among DAC members through peer learning.
Enhance OECD’s understanding of countries' challenges in reporting to provide better guidance.
Monitor compliance with the Reporting Directives and support the implementation of WP-STAT decisions.
Assist non-DAC countries to follow DAC statistical standards.
Provide opportunities for non-DAC countries to benefit from in-depth reviews of DAC members' statistical reporting systems.
Inform the broader development community of efforts undertaken to ensure the quality of statistics on development finance.