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HIGH LEVEL FORUM ASSESSES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
Accra, Ghana, 4 September 2008 – Developed and developing countries agreed to take bold steps to reform the way aid is given and spent. After three days of intense negotiations, they endorsed the Accra Agenda for Action. Developing countries have committed to take control of their own futures, donors to co-ordinate better amongst themselves, and both parties to the Agenda have pledged to account to each other and their citizens.
The Accra Agenda for Action is the product of an unprecedented alliance of development partners – developing and donor countries, emerging economies, UN and multilateral institutions, global funds and civil society organisations. They all participated in the discussions leading up to the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, hosted by the Government of Ghana and organised by OECD and the World Bank, in Accra.
Forum participants used as a baseline the development goals set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness signed in 2005. Their discussions on the need to make aid more effective were based on consultations with more than 80 developing countries, all OECD donors and a large number of civil society organisations from around the world.
Evidence from a survey of 54 developing countries provided the factual basis for these discussions. Evaluations of how 8 recipient and 11 donor countries are implementing the Paris Declaration some three years after signing it also lent critical evidence of where action is needed.
Key points agreed in the Accra Agenda for Action include:
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Predictability – donors will provide 3-5 year forward information on their planned aid to partner countries.
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Country systems – partner country systems will be used to deliver aid as the first option, rather than donor systems.
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Conditionality – donors will switch from reliance on prescriptive conditions about how and when aid money is spent to conditions based on the developing country’s own development objectives.
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Untying – donors will relax restrictions that prevent developing countries from buying the goods and services they need from whomever and wherever they can get the best quality at the lowest price.
Read the full text of the Accra Agenda for Action (also available in Portuguese and Spanish).
Read HLF-3 opening remarks by OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria.
Read the concluding remarks by Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee.
See here for meeting documentation.
Journalists who would like further information are invited visit the official website of the HLF3 or to contact Helen Fisher, OECD media relations, by calling + 33 1 45 24 80 97 or e-mail to helen.fisher@oecd.org.
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