Donor aid system set for reforms

Developing countries will now have a say on donor aid control, thanks to the universal action adopted mid last week in Accra, Ghana. The action called Accra Agenda for Action, endorsed at the end of the third international High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, will reform the way donor aid is given and spent. According to a statement from the Summit, developing countries are determined to control their own future and have tasked donor countries to be better coordinated when giving aid. It attributed the action to global talks on aid use ahead of the Accra Forum organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. Forum participants used the development goals set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness signed in 2005, as a baseline. “Their discussions on the need to make aid more effective were based on consultations with more than 80 developing countries,” the statement reads in part. It further outlined the evidence from a survey of 54 developing countries that provided the factual basis for these discussions. Key points agreed in the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) include predictability of the donors to provide information on their planned aid to partner (recipient) countries 3 to 5 years ahead. Another key point is that of country systems, where partner country systems will be used to deliver aid as the first option, rather than donor systems. It also tasks donors to switch from reliance on stiff conditions about how and when aid money is spent to conditions based on the developing country’s own development goals. The AAA also unravels donor restrictions that prevent developing countries from buying the best quality goods and services they need from wherever they can get them at better prices. The Forum hosted by the Ghanaian government was reportedly attended by among others the President of Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Donald Kaberuka. Finance Minister James Musoni, whose ministry handles aid from development partners, (donors) could not be reached as he had not yet returned from Accra. Ends

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Donor aid system set for reforms