Donors commit to making aid predictable and transparent

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Contrary to critics assessment of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), that resulted from the just ended Third High Level Forum (HLF3) on Aid Effectiveness that it was vague and lacked concrete commitments from donors, some donor nations have announced their firm commitment to concrete steps to making aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable. At the close of the HLF3, the United Kingdom led some of donor nations and organizations to launch a global initiative to make it easier for poor people and their governments to track how overseas aid is delivered and spent and thereby ensure that it worked better for poor people.

A statement issued by UK Department for International Development (DFID) said the initiative was intended to improve openness in the manner aid was delivered to poor countries and to increase scrutiny over how it was spent. "The initiative would also allow governments of poor countries to plan more effectively by guaranteeing when aid would be delivered," it stated.

The statement said failure to deliver aid on time had been identified by the international community as a key factor in hampering development work and forcing recipient government to increase their debts by going for more loans to cover shortfalls. "The initiative was therefore intended to stem that trend," it said.

Even though civil society organizations (CSOs) are generally critical of the outcome of the HLF3, some of them have openly admitted that the move to make aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable was positive and a step in the right direction.

The initiative was launched with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, the Hewlett Foundation and

some leading donor nations. The statement quoted British Secretary for International Development, Douglas Alexander, who is also a Member of Parliament, as proposing that all donors should agree to a set of common standards against which they could be judged. "The UK believes donors should agree to give full and detailed information on all aid in each country affected, details and cost of individual projects and their aims and reliable information on future aid to improve planning by recipient governments," he said. He noted that the impact of aid in relieving poverty could be greatly increased if everyone, especially the local people could see where the money was coming from, who was spending it and what it should be achieving, adding that, that would greatly reduce corruption. Mr Alexander said UK had always been vigilant against the misuse of aid, adding that the initiative would be crucial tool in the fight against aid abuse. Meanwhile at the close of HLF3 civil society organizations distributed stickers with the inscription "ACTION NOT WORD" to drum home the need for donors to back their talk with action. 06 Sept. 08