Around 100-billion US dollars: that’s the monetary value of official aid or international cooperation industrialised countries give to developing nations.

But while aid is often a welcome contribution in the fight for basic human rights and social justice, it’s also a complex issue involving many preconditions and stakeholders.

One way or another, aid is undeniably political.

EJN attended a regional seminar on Aid Effectiveness in Johannesburg, 21-21 September, where these issues were explored. EJN was also part of the ecumenical delegation in Accra 2008. (See the African Church Leaders’ declaration on Aid Effectiveness.)

Aid is an issue of development. It is supposed to support countries’ development agenda and serve as a supplement for funds when a country lacks resources for social services such as health and education. It is necessary since many countries do not have the capacity to fund services of this kind with domestic resources alone. In Mozambique, for example, foreign aid counts for more than 50 percent of the national budget; in other countries, aid makes up only a small proportion of incoming funds.

Either way, aid affects the country in many ways, because aid or development cooperation is a political issue.

Money is often given with strings attached and provided in order to influence policies in recipient countries. Moreover, donors rather send their own staff or companies to, say, Zambia or Malawi, rather than use local enterprises. Aid has become a way of exporting ideas and business.

Another major problem in the aid industry emerges when recipient governments do not consult with their parliaments and are more accountable to donors than to citizens. On the other hand, donors are afraid of using a country’s internal system and tend rather to give short-term funds for various projects than make long-term commitments towards national poverty reduction or development plans.

In 2005, international donors and recipient countries took a first step towards making international aid more effective. The document they signed is called the Paris Declaration – a milestone in itself, it also initiated wide discussion on what aid effectiveness is. The Paris Declaration puts the developing country in the front seat of its development. The key word is ownership. But what was missing in the agreement was attention to other matters – the role of the country’s citizens and the role of civil society, parliament and the media.

Ahead of the next high-level forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in Accra 2008, civil society started to organise itself. After regional and national consultations, a broad network was formed calling for Better Aid. The main demand was to talk not only ownership by governments but of democratic ownership of countries’ development agendas and foreign aid. Democratic ownership comes into being when citizens’ voices and concerns are at the centre of development plans. Civil society, parliament and media must be included in the process and have access to meaningful and timely information.

In the Accra Agenda for Action, democratic ownership is acknowledged and agreed on. Now, international aid is no longer something only for the donors and the finance department. All stakeholders must be included.

The Paris Declaration neither included civil society in its deliberations nor recognised it as an important factor in the development agenda. The omission attracted widespread, indeed global, criticism from civil society organisations. CSOs are typically highly involved in the development process, providing effective delivery of development programmes and acting as watchdogs over social empowerment and the realization of human rights. A lively and active civil society is important for a democratic institutions; the role of civil society is one pillar of good governance.

In the AAA, civil society is recognised as a development actor with its own rights and countries are encouraged to create enabling environments for it to flourish. This recognition was an important step towards real democratic ownership over development.

If one takes into account all the funds passing though civil society, the figure is much higher than 100-billion US dollars. Using this money in an effective, transparent and accountable way is a challenge for all stakeholders, from CSOs and governments to parliament and the media.

Before the next high-level meeting, in Seoul in 2011, we need to talk about an agenda for developmental effectiveness.

An agenda that puts human rights, social justice and sustainable development first.

An agenda that embraces the citizens of recipient countries.

Read more at www.realityofaid.org

 

< Prev		Next >