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www.oecd.org/dac/governance/capacitydevelopment
On the Road to Accra and Beyond
Advocates of "capacity development" as a cornerstone of today’s development cooperation have found a convenient operational anchor in the current international agreement to improve aid effectiveness.
Partner countries and donors have officially targeted the common objective of greater aid effectiveness in a series of High Level Forums, first in Rome (2003), then in Paris (2005). The status of implementation of the Paris Declaration, with its five core dimensions (ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results, mutual accountability) and its “pyramid” of 56 action-oriented commitments will be examined in September 2008 by partner countries and donors in Accra (HLF3) A subsequent joint progress check is also planned for 2011.
The difficulties of promoting broad based and sustainable development in many developing countries, especially in those with extremely poor or fragile environments, has permitted a growing international interest in best approaches to capacity development in these countries. Similarly, partner countries also are increasingly vocal in expressing their collective concern about some traditional capacity development approaches of donors which seem out of synch with their own priorities and realities.
The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) reaffirmed its interest in pursuing a special initiative in support of capacity development for Accra and beyond. In February 2008 it established the position of Senior Coordinator for Capacity Development to work with DAC bilateral donors and their various partners to encourage a more effective international effort in this area. An initial priority has been to help highlight the capacity development messages on the road to Accra. A second initial objective is to support more focussed and operational actions in capacity development beyond Accra.
The DAC is raising the visibility of Capacity Development messages in Accra in the following ways:
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It sponsored, with the German government, (15-16 May 2008) a workshop in Bonn, Germany on “ Capacity Development: Accra and Beyond”. This workshop assembled participants from both the various regional preparatory events and from the nine Accra Round Tables. The strong Bonn Consensus which emerged from this workshop was approved unanimously by its participants and its co-chairs Talaat Abdel-Malek and Richard Manning.
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The conclusions of the Bonn workshop are reflected in a short, recapitulative report on capacity development with distilled messages for Accra, to be submitted to HLF3 organisers in June, 2008
Upon completion of the Accra HLF3 in September 2008, the DAC will attempt to identify its most appropriate capacity development role in the context of a strategy for the years 2009-2010. This strategy will build directly onto the results of the Accra Agenda for Action and will continue to use the aid effectiveness agenda as the operational touchstone for its action.
For more information please write to DAC.Contact@oecd.org.
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