Aid must be more effective…and more accountable too
Source: CIVICUS
Anabel Cruz, the Director of Commnicaiton and Development Institute (ICD) in Uruguay and Chair of the Board of CIVICUS presents the key points from an Experts meeting in the Hague called 'Visions and Experiences of Southern Civil Society: Contributions to Improving Aid Architecture, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, which she was invited to. This is one of many high level meetings to be held in the run up to the Accra High Level Forum and the Follow up Conference to Financing for Development in Doha, both in the latter half of 2008. Four key questions tabled at the Experts meeting revealed the main preoccupations of the CSO community. 1) What has happened to the recommendation that donor countries allocate at least 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA)? 2) What progress has been made on the principles of the Paris Declaration? 3) What kind of alignment and harmonisation of aid is needed? 4)How to monitor and evaluate the Paris Declaration and its impact and outcomes? Consensus amongst the participants was that it is necessary to ensure the participation of civil society at all levels and in all segments of the road to the Accra High Level Forum. This participation is essential if the development goals for developing countries are to be realized and there must be clear mechanisms of participation and inclusion of diverse civil society organisations. Civil society organisations can participate most effectively in the determination of more appropriate indicators and measurements of aid effectiveness.
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