International assistance and aid effectiveness
This article was co-authored by Brecht Lein and Niels Keijzer (Deutsche Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). The European Union is committed to policy coherence for development (PCD), and has identified global food security as one of the five key priority areas where EU policies should seek to have a positive impact or at least ‘do no harm’. But EU actors and development stakeholders seem to have difficulty in moving forward on two obviously interlinked questions – without an adequate monitoring mechanism (the “how” question) it is hard to actually prove the development-impact of the CAP (the ...
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++ SERIES: BUILDING THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK++ Views from African consultations on the post-2015 development agenda As the date of 2015 approaches, the international community is analysing the results of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were omnipresent in the development debate since 2000. But many are already looking further, beyond the magic date of 2015. Multi-stakeholder consultations are taking place in almost 100 countries worldwide with a view to shape the new development agenda beyond 2015. The information that will be generated through this consultative process should influence the proceedings of the UN International High-Level ...
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++ SERIES: BUILDING THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK++ James Mackie co-authored this article. Discussions on the new development framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals after their target date of 2015 are well under way. Today, the European Commissioners for Environment and for Development presented a joint Communication outlining a proposal for an EU position on the post-2015 agenda. The EU wants to achieve ‘A Decent Life for All’, as the document’s title suggests. This European position comes fairly late in the day for the UN High-Level Panel on post-2015. Yet as Development Commissioner Piebalgs is one ...
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Reflections from the Annual General Assembly of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development No doubt certain countries in the world, especially those in Africa, need to gain more reliable access to food in order to fight hunger. No doubt this requires increasing production and productivity in agriculture, as well as better integration of regional agricultural markets. No doubt the role of donors in supporting such efforts is important. But is food security just about producing more food, or about eating well? Are policy makers asking the ‘right questions’? Donors working on food security met ...
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The EU’s “comprehensive approach” in external action policy has provoked a range of responses – but the most widespread seems to be confusion. Ask 10 people from across the EU institutions to define the comprehensive approach and chances are you’ll get 10 different answers. While the basic premise is simple enough to grasp, it’s hard to find consensus, common language or any sense that the EU is actually acting comprehensively. Current developments in Mali have made the necessity for clarity even more pressing. This blog seeks to explore the key questions needed to frame the ...
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The OECD hosted the 2013 Policy Dialogue on Aid for Trade last week to discuss “how to continue delivering aid for trade results in a changing international environment for trade and development”. While this in part retread old ground, discussions nonetheless suggested that a change in thinking is taking place, particularly in terms of working with the private sector and helping developing country companies enter into global value chains. As my colleague Dan Lui discussed in a previous blog, the Aid for Trade agenda has faced a constant stream of questions, among others about definition ...
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Trade ministers and officials from South and North, academics, and donors will gather at the OECD in Paris next week for a policy dialogue to discuss the future of the Aid for Trade initiative. Conceived in 2005 in the context of the WTO Doha Round, Aid for Trade aims to improve the trading prospects of developing countries through targeting aid to this sector. In the seven years since its launch, there has already been a fair amount of navel-gazing amongst policymakers on questions of how to ‘operationalise’ such a broad and ambitious agenda. In the ...
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This article was published on 7 December and is available on the website of Friends of Europe. The scenario is quite familiar. If budget cuts are to be made in times of crisis, development spending is the first and easiest target for European policymakers. In preparing for the 2013 budget, several EU member states seem to have forgotten about their longstanding commitments to reach the 0,7% target of GDP as Official Development Assistance (ODA) by 2015. Cutting development budgets first is also common practice in EU institutions. In trying to broker a compromise deal on ...
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Geert Laporte co-authored this article. European Heads of State were recently advised to bring more than one shirt to the 22-23 November summit to discuss the EU budget. Those who specialise in the relations between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries will definitely also need a few more shirts during the next few weeks. From 27-29 November the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) convened in Suriname, a destination European MEPs only agreed to on condition that the country’s president Desi Bouterse would not turn up. During this meeting the ACP Secretary ...
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This article was published on 6 December and is available on the European Report on Development blog. ++ SERIES: BUILDING THE POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK++ Preparation of the European Report on Development 2013 is now well underway. It will focus on “Elements for a Post-2015 Agenda” and aims at feeding into the debate about what development framework should replace the Millennium Development Goals after their expiry date in 2015. As part of the background research work for this report, the ERD team is conducting four country case studies (in Nepal, Peru, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire) to ensure that the report reflects ...
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