The road to Busan and beyond - Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4)

HLF-4 is a key milestone for aid effectiveness and the MDGs. The Monterrey Consensus in 2002 recognised the critical role of ODA to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and thus called for an increase in aid volumes after a decade of "aid fatigue". However, while aid was considered "part of the solution", it was also  regarded as "part of the problem" - in some cases low quality aid has worked against the achievement of development results. The aid effectiveness agenda arose in response to this concern, beginning with the Rome High Level Forum on Harmonisation in 2003, and  leading to the comprehensive agreements on aid effectiveness reached at the Second High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Paris in 2005. 

The Paris Declaration (2005) represents a real "give and take" agreement between providers and receivers of aid: While donors committed to relax constraints on aid; recipient countries committed to improve overall  governance through strengthening their institutions, policies, and systems. And both agreed to measure progress and regularly hold each other to account for the 65 mutual commitments and targets on aid effectiveness set for 2010. The commitments reached at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness - a mid-term stocktaking on progress against the Paris Declaration held in Accra, Ghana in 2008 - brought further precision as well as breadth to the Paris commitments, and, importantly, brought all members of the aid community into the debate.

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, to be held in Busan, Korea on 29 Nov - 1 Dec 2011, marks the "due-date" for this ambitious mutual accountability mechanism. The HLF-4 will review experience since Paris, and draw conclusions on whether the commitments and targets set for 2010 by the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action have been achieved or not - and why. Furthermore, drawing on evidence, particularly from the Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey, the HLF-4 is expected to:

• reaffirm the core principles for high quality aid and agree a framework towards comprehensive implementation by 2015 and beyond; 
• frame actions around "aid quality in the broader context of development effectiveness" to situate the role and impact of aid in the  broad context of development, global challenges and partnerships.

NEPAD Side events:

Development Effectiveness – An African Reality

Programme

Localizing the Global Agenda on Development Cooperation: Regional dimensions in strengthening Mutual Accountability

Programme

Joint Statement

Documents:

• African Consensus Position on Development Effectiveness
• Aid Effectiveness 2005-1_0Progress in Implementing the Paris Declaration-Part 1
• Aid Effectiveness 2005-1_0Progress in Implementing the Paris Declaration-Part 2
• Summary of the thematic Session on Capacity Development
• Mapping Support for Africa's Infrastructure Investment - Note by the Secretariat
• Speech by H.E Paul Kagame, President Of The Republic Of Rwanda
• Remarks by H.E. Dr. Maxwell Mkwezalamba, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union (AU) Commission at the Closing Ceremony
• Political Statement of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
• Building block summmaries:

Conflict and Fragility [EN]
South-South and Triangular Co-operation [EN | FR]
Public-Private Cooperation [EN]
Climate Finance [EN]
Transparency Building Block [EN | FR]
Effective Institutions and Policies [EN | FR]
Results and Accountability [EN]
Managing Diversity and Reducing Fragmentation [EN]

News

• Beyond Aid for Development Effectiveness
• Au delà de l’Aide pour l’Efficacité du Développement
• Time to “reset” Development Assistance
• “Africa is determined to shape the post-Busan Agenda’’
• Toward Aid reforms that addresses Development Effectiveness
• Faire de l’Efficacité du Développement une réalité Africaine
• Nigeria's Technical Aid Corps: pearl of South-South cooperation
• H.E Paul KGAME, President of the Republic of Rwanda on Aid Effectiveness

Click here to view photos from the event.

Busan Declaration on Partnership For Effective Development Cooperation

After extensive negotiations, 18 Sherpas elected to represent a wide group of stakeholders reached agreement on the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. This declaration for the first time establishes an agreed framework for development cooperation that embraces traditional donors, South-South co-operators, the BRICs, CSOs and private funders. This marks a turning point for international development cooperation. The process has been guided by the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness (WP-EFF), which brings together representatives of over 80 countries and organizations.

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