PHA-Exch> Governments greet new aid promises cautiously

[Claudio Schuftan]

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From: RKoppenleitner RKoppenleitner at t-online.de



Governments greet new aid promises cautiously



DAKAR, 5 September (IRIN) - As the Accra high-level forum on aid
effectiveness drew to a close on 4 September, aid agencies praised ministers
from developed and developing 'partner' countries as they signed an
agreement to make aid more effective.



Agenda for action



Donors pledged to move away from prescriptive conditions to taking into
closer account partner countries' own aid objectives. Donors also signed up
to use partner country systems as the first option to manage aid programmes
rather than setting up parallel structures.



They committed to longer-term three to five-year aid programmes and to share
more information about donor funding with partner countries, though it is
still unclear as to what this will mean in practice.



They also pledged to reduce the duplicating initiatives, and to involve
governments in programme planning.



"The step made yesterday is a tribute to the fact that ministers came
together and were clear that the status quo was not good enough.Ministers
knew there were high expectations and that they would have to deliver on
them," said Robert Fox, head of non-governmental organization (NGO) Oxfam's
delegation.



Governments want more of a say



Partners agreed to improve their dialogue on aid issues and to improve
management of donor funds by building up stronger institutions.



They also expect to have more say in monitoring aid. For instance, the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s Development
Assistance Committee, through which governments regularly review each
other's aid performance, has pledged to include partner governments in the
monitoring process.



According to Angel Gurria, OECD secretary general, the organisation is
considering adding Chile, Israel, Estonia, Russia and Slovenia as members
while planning to 'enhance its engagement' with Brazil, China, India,
Indonesia and South Africa.



Political momentum



Civil society representatives are relieved their views are in the new
agreement. Oxfam's Fox told IRIN "The outcome of this [meeting] was much
better because of the active participation of civil society.over the past
eighteen months, in which they identified a whole series of issues that were
reflected in the accord."



But others are still skeptical donors will honour their commitments. Wole
Olaleye, NGO ActionAid spokesman, said some governments tried to block
partner countries' demands during negotiations. "Future aid negotiations
cannot be run by a few rich countries," he warned.



Cautious optimism



The OECD's Gurria said now the agreement has been signed, the hard work
begins. "We all as partners have to implement the agenda for action and make
it more than just a piece of paper.This means acting on our words, pushing
out the frontiers of best practice, and bringing new partners into the
consensus."



But he added, there is one condition for this agreement to really work "In
the past donors have stood in the way of accountable governance of aid in
recipient nations, making governments accountable to their donors more than
[to] their [own] parliamentarians and citizens. Now it's time to change."
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