Aid effectiveness
Evaluation of the implementation of the Paris Declaration
Evaluating the Paris Declaration commitments
Authors:
B. Wood; D. Kabell; N. Muwanga
Publisher:
United Nations Development Group , 2008
This report synthesises the results of the first evaluation of the early implementation of the Paris Declaration, from March 2005 to late 2007. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is now recognised as a landmark international agreement aimed at improving the quality of aid and its impact on development. It lays out a road-map of practical commitments, organised around five key principles of effective aid. Each has a set of indicators of achievement. The Declaration also has built-in provisions for regular monitoring and independent evaluation of how the commitments are being carried out.
The document comprises extensive assessments in eight countries, together with lighter studies on eleven development partner or donor agencies, focusing at the headquarters level. The Paris Declaration is a political agenda for action, not just a technical agreement. The reports outlined have underlined the fact that the entire Declaration and its commitments are political undertakings. In the difficult processes required for implementation, real issues of power and political economy come into play, in many cases requiring political solutions. The document recommends that donors need to adapt legislation and prepare the public and regulations to allow for:
- putting less emphasis on visibility for their national efforts and tying aid to their own suppliers
- accepting and managing risks in relying on country and other donor systems rather than insisting on applying their own
- agreeing to delegate greater decision-making power to in-country staff
- assuring more predictable aid flows
- finding ways to resolve political disputes with partner countries without undermining long-term relationships.
It is then recommended that partner countries need:
- stronger political engagement to assert more fully their leadership in aid alignment, coordination and harmonisation, accepting the risks and managing the effects in their relations with donors
- to ensure that responsibility for development and aid is shared more widely between different parts and levels of government, as well as with legislatures, civil society and the private sector, and citizens at large.
