The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in practice

1
The Paris Declarationon Aid Effectiveness in
practice

• How The Netherlands has translated the Paris
  Declaration into policies and procedures for
  implementation

2
High commitment

• Principles of ownership, donor harmonization and
  alignment part of Dutch development cooperation
  since the 1990s
• Parliament accepts the adopted approaches related
  to the Paris agenda, i.e. sector-wide approach,
  sector budget support and general budget support

3
High commitment 2

• High commitment to implement PD with a
  constructive critical attitude at all levels
• Minister for Development Cooperation
• Staff at Ministry
• Staff at Embassies

4
How does commitment show?

• policy documents of 2003 and 2007
• active role international forums OECD/DAC,
  Nordic Plus donor group EU (EU Consensus on
  Development, 2006, and EU Code of Conduct on
  Complementarity and Division of Labor, 2007)
• active role at country level in many countries

5
Organizational structure

• Delegation of management responsibility to the
  field (1995) allows for conduction of policy
  dialogue at the partner country level
• Shift from project support to sector support
  (since 1998) provides further impetus to the
  process of changing aid relationships
• Creation of an Effectiveness and Quality
  Department (2005), replacing earlier use of ad
  hoc task forces

6
Instruments

• The government-wide Policy Document on Management
  and Supervision
• Procedural Guidelines for Development Cooperation
  can accommodate budget support, sector support
  and Silent Partnerships, if accountability of
  partner country and / or intermediary donor or
  agency is assured.

7
Instruments 2

• Joint Financing Arrangement
• Template for Silent Partnerships
• Multi-Annual Strategic Plan
• (Sector) Track Record
• Strategic governance and Anti-Corruption
  Assessment
• Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation procedures

8
Capacity

• Understanding among Ministry and embassy staff of
  PD principles and their operational implications
• Effectiveness and Quality Department provides
  support and advice
• Multidisciplinary Country Teams visit the
  embassies regularly

9
Capacity 2

• Training module on PD for new staff
• special workshops for staff already working in
  Development Cooperation
• A new approach to learning, f.e.
• Public Finance Management Support Programme
• Support Programme for Institutional and Capacity
  Development.

10
Incentives

• Commitment of political and managerial leadership
  to the Paris Declaration Accra as testing
  ground
• Consistent enforcement of delegation to field
  offices with the headquarters determining global
  policy guidelines, providing for budget clearance
  and supporting field staff with help desk
  functions

11
Challenges

• Transaction costs high in the short run,
  efficiency gains expected in the future. Will
  they mature?
• Harmonization Alignment mostly practiced at
  capital level. Core function of field staff
  should be monitoring.
• Shift to more general sector management expertise
  may lead to loss of thematic expertise
• Change in the use of aid modalities is slow

12
Challenges 2

• Application of the principles of the PD
  (ownership and alignment) in fragile states
• Risk of loss of focus on content (thematic
  issues) because of focus on form
• Attribution of results to the Dutch efforts is
  difficult, which may undermine public support for
  development cooperation
• Thematic input and output targets