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Effective development co-operation

Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action

 

 Countries adhering to the Paris Declaration and AAA      Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action   

 

At the Second High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (2005) it was recognised that aid could - and should - be producing better impacts.  The Paris Declaration was endorsed in order to base development efforts on first-hand experience of what works and does not work with aid. It is formulated around five central pillars:  Ownership, Alignment, Harmonisation, Managing for Results and Mutual Accountability.

In 2008 at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness all OECD donors, more than 80 developing countries and some 3 000 civil society organisations from around the world joined representatives of emerging economies, United Nations and multilateral institutions and global funds in the negotiations leading up to and taking place during the Accra meeting. The Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) was endorsed. The AAA both reaffirms commitment to the Paris Declaration and calls for greater partnership between different parties working on aid and development.

 

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness

The Paris Declaration (2005) is a practical, action-oriented roadmap to improve the quality of aid and its impact on development. It gives a series of specific implementation measures and establishes a monitoring system to assess progress and ensure that donors and recipients hold each other accountable for their commitments. The Paris Declaration outlines the following five fundamental principles for making aid more effective:

 

  • Ownership: Developing countries set their own strategies for poverty reduction, improve their institutions and tackle corruption.
  •  Alignment: Donor countries align behind these objectives and use local systems.
  •  Harmonisation: Donor countries coordinate, simplify procedures and share information to avoid duplication.
  •  Results: Developing countries and donors shift focus to development results and results get measured.
  •  Mutual accountability: Donors and partners are accountable for development results.

 

The Accra Agenda for Action

Designed to strengthen and deepen implementation of the Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA, 2008)  takes stock of progress and sets the agenda for accelerated advancement towards the Paris targets. It proposes the following four main areas for improvement:

 
  • Ownership: Countries have more say over their development processes through wider participation in development policy formulation, stronger leadership on aid co-ordination and more use of country systems for aid delivery.
  • Inclusive partnerships: All partners - including donors in the OECD Development Assistance Committee and developing countries, as well as other donors, foundations and civil society - participate fully.
  • Delivering results: Aid is focused on real and measurable impact on development.
  • Capacity development - to build the ability of countries to manage their own future - also lies at the heart of the AAA.

The Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action is available in EnglishFrench l Spanish

The Paris Declaration is also available in Arabic l  German l Japanese l Moldovian/Romanian l  Portuguese l Russian l 

 

Global Partnership Monitoring

The Paris Declaration established a monitoring system to assess development stakeholders' progress towards more effective development cop-operation.  

Read more about the Global Partnership Monitoring here and the results of Monitoring Rounds here.  

Further information