Development

This topic speaks about the world development, what it is and how it relates to us

MDGs – a step forward in development effectiveness

Discussions about the effectiveness and efficiency of development cooperation have been taking place since 2002. Several initiatives have taken place and dealt with this issue. The most important are:





Correct answer: The Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness - Paris High Level Forum 2005; The Accra Agenda for Action - Accra High Level Forum 2008; Busan Partnership for effective development - The Busan High Level Forum 2011

A stepping stone of effectiveness is the The Paris declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which sets the frame for the New Aid Architecture which describes a „technical“ approach to deliver aid more effectively in order to achieve the MDGs. Based on 5 principles (ownership, alignment, harmonization, result orientation, mutual accountability) the development cooperation between governments is supposed to be organized to raise the impact of the given financial resources.

The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA 2008) followed and should support the implementation of the Paris Declaration.

Independent evaluation of the main tasks from the Paris Declaration revealed that the progress of fulfilling the tasks is minimal. Interesting is, that tasks which had to be prepared primarily by the majority world were mostly fulfilled and no progress was recorded on the tasks, which were supposed to be prepared by the rich countries. Interesting, isn´t it?

One of the most important impacts on development cooperation of the old donor countries came from the rising activities of new partners/donors. BRICS became new strong partners in development.

The Busan High Level forum (end of 2011) was supposed to monitor the progress of the implementation of the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda. The report about progress was poor and did not meet the expectations which were put in the Aid Effectiveness Agenda at the beginning. In the light of the problem how to include the new donors – in particular China - in the international discussion about development, the Busan summit was used to prepare a „New Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation“.

Civil society organizations (CSO) took part in the discussions about the effectiveness and efficiency of development cooperation. They also decided to strengthen their responsibility for the results and impact of their development interventions. Discussions led by the Open Forum for CSO development effectiveness ended in 2010 in setting up the Principles for CSO Development Effectiveness called the Istanbul Principles.