" [1]Organized by OECD and the South Korean Government, the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness will be held in Busan, from the 27 to the 1st December.
More than 3000 delegates from countries, development partners, civil society, academia and business groups-are expected to engage with a view to agree in shifting to a new paradigm on Aid reforms that speaks not only of Aid efficiency but more importantly to Development effectiveness.
Over the last decade, aid policy debates have increasingly centered on how to make aid more effective. Global frameworks such as the Paris Declaration (PD) and the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) captured the importance of partnerships in the management of aid.
According to the NEPAD Agency CEO “Busan is a milestone for Africa” because “for the first time, Africa will have a strong coordinated voice in the Aid reform process, through a common position developed through a two-year comprehensive engagement with African stakeholders”.
The African stakeholders’ message to Busan is that although Aid is one of the sources for financing Africa’s development, it requires to be placed in the broader context of development to support capacity development and domestic resources mobilization in for productive sector growth and the real economy
Yet Busan is certainly a crucial moment in history but the road does not end there. To ensure that the process is inclusive, three regional platforms consultations under the framework of APDev (African Platform for Development Effectiveness) were held.
These consultations brought together policy-makers and stakeholders from African countries and regional institutions as well as development partners towards a common front in shifting the paradigm from Aid Effectiveness (AE) to Development Effectiveness (DE).
Overall, the regional consultations resulted in the adoption of the ‘‘Pretoria Outcomes’’, ‘’Tunis Consensus on Development Effectiveness’’ and the ‘’Addis Ababa Statement’’. These milestone processes have contributed to shaping the African Position while underscoring the Beyond Aid agenda
To that end, three countries, Rwanda, Mali and South Africa, have been identified to negotiate on behalf of the whole Continent to ensure that the outcomes of the HLF-4 are in line with the Continent ‘s needs and priorities. Such a result will also ensure the necessary legitimacy, ownership, leadership and overall relevance of the Busan Outcomes to Africa’s development.
Looking ahead and thinking beyond Busan, Africa is on the right track to speak in a coherent and coordinated manner to overcome the Aid burden. The African voices will defend four principles to the effect that Africa will:
- take full responsibility for the Continent’s development;
- ensure that partners cannot use Busan to renege on the long-standing commitments to deliver aid better; and,
- impress on development partners that while attending to the unfinished aid agenda, they must align to Africa’s vision and priorities of Development Effectiveness.
- actively participate in the framing of the global architecture and the related monitoring framework in shaping our own partnerships and development.
The OECD’s latest monitoring report shows that Africa has done well on its obligations to honor aid effectiveness commitments from Paris and Accra. Africa must keep up the momentum in the broader context of development, by deepening its collaboration with traditional partners while reinforcing South-South cooperation and strengthening capacity development.
Africa is calling on development partners to meet outstanding promises: make aid flows predictable, untied from onerous conditions and requirements to purchase development partner goods and services, and delivered in a coordinated way, aligned with country systems and processes.
Starting in Busan, the global development cooperation dialogue should therefore shift focus from Aid to the broader context of Development Effectiveness for inclusivity, equity, gender equality, environmental sustainability and better development results.
In this view, it is imperative for African countries, regional organisations and development partners to find innovative ways to direct Aid towards Africa’s real economy and developing capacity for domestic resource mobilization, while ensuring the full involvement and participation of an empowered private sector and fostering both national regional value-chains. Capacity Development must be at the heart of all development initiatives, whether from our traditional northern partners, our emerging partners in the South or own policies. This is the message for and beyond Busan to achieve development effectiveness.
