Strengthening the effectiveness of Australia's aid program

• Foreign Minister Bob Carr has announced the establishment of an Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC) to strengthen the independence and credibility of the work of the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE).

• ODE has conducted a review of Australia’s rural development assistance, to identify ways of maximising the benefits of Australia’s growing investment in rural development. 'From Seed to Scale-Up: Lessons learned from Australia’s rural development assistance' reviewed 23 recent Australian activities across six countries in the Asia-Pacific.

• Julia Newton-Howes, CEO of CARE Australia and report co-author Jo Hall discuss the findings from ODE’s recent evaluation of civil society engagement in developing countries.

• Engagement with 'new' donors and New Deals dominated headlines post-HLF-4, but the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation also marks the evolution of aid effectiveness concepts since the 2005 Paris Declaration. This ODE Brief looks at the way progressive engagement with partner systems, coming to grips with risk and increased transparency have emerged as priority actions for achieving ownership, results and accountability, even—and especially—in fragile states. Photo: UNISDR (Flickr)

• ODE's new evaluation assesses how well AusAID is helping civil society contribute to the development of effective states. The evaluation is primarily focused on three country programs: Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vanuatu and finds innovative and strategic models for working with civil society.

• ODE Updates is the new quarterly email newsletter from AusAID's Office of Development Effectiveness. The first issue includes an update on the progress of our policy dialogue evaluation, plus a round-up of ODE's briefs, think pieces, podcasts and blogs.

• ODE wishes you a happy new year. Last year, between the Australian Government’s Aid Review and Busan HLF-4, 'effectiveness' was the word on everyone’s lips. No more so than on ODE Talks, the Office of Development Effectiveness' podcast series, where experts discussed aid effectiveness in the context of fragile states, law and justice, gender equality and more. Our 2011 podcast mash-up brings together the big themes in three short minutes.

• ODE's latest think pieces come from experts in policy process, political systems and political economy analysis. Derek Brien from the Pacific Institute of Public Policy tells us how to win friends and influence policy in the Pacific. Harry Jones from the Overseas Development Institute provides some conceptual tools to navigate the interface between knowledge and power in policy dialogue. Also, ODE Talks to Peter Bazeley, member of the evaluation team, about the emerging lessons on policy dialogue success.

• What did AusAID’s internal performance reporting system say about the quality of Australian aid in 2010? This report presents ODE’s assessment of AusAID’s internal activity and program performance reports for 2009–10.

• How does Australia compare to international best practice? Drawing largely from analysis completed by the Brookings Institution, this paper examines the performance of Australia’s aid program based on the Quality of Official Development Assistance (QuODA) index and three other global assessments of donor aid performance.

• ODE commissioned Dr Rick Davies to provide a discussion paper on 3ie’s methodological approach, used in both the funded impact evaluations and systematic reviews, and how this has changed over time.

• The World Bank's Andrew Mason and AusAID's Gillian Brown talk to ODE about closing the gender gap in primary education, the persistence of violence against women and other key findings from the 2012 World Development Report.

ODE's latest think pieces come from experts in gender and development. There are five new think pieces on issues including women’s engagement in the informal and formal economy, violence against women and women’s political participation.

Next week the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4), a meeting to review global progress towards more effective aid, will begin in Busan, Korea. The Brookings Institution’s Homi Kharas, who will chair the final plenary session at HLF-4, talked to ODE about the issues on the agenda for Busan.

The next High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in Busan runs from 29 November to 1 December.  Here, ODE brings together podcasts, briefs and case studies on some of the big issues for HLF-4, including transparency, aid effectiveness in fragile states and the rise of south-south cooperation.

There is a growing understanding of the link between transparency in extractive industries and development. ODE Talks to Clare Short, chair of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Board, about how the initiative fosters improved transparency and accountability.

Of the five Paris Declaration principles, least progress has been made on implementing mutual accountability. This ODE Brief examines why mutual accountability is important and what it looks like in practice. It also outlines an example of mutual accountability in action from Australia's aid program.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness turns six this year. ODE asks Bernard Wood, lead author of the OECD-DAC led Paris Declaration evaluation, whether that international commitment has translated into real results on the ground. Photo: Felix42 (Flickr)

This review of literature and international practice, commissioned by ODE, introduces key concepts relating to policy dialogue between donors and recipient governments to inform the wider analytical framework for the evaluation. 

ODE is working with the Overseas Development Institute and the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group to bring international experience and learning to the Australian aid program. 

New research from the Brookings Institution on taking development activities to scale in fragile and low capacity environments finds that contrary to expectations, many donors are succeeding in scaling up in fragile states.

ODE's new thought-provoking think pieces come from experts on international aid and development. The first three look at law, security and policing to supplement the upcoming ODE law and justice evaluation. Keep an eye out for more think pieces on gender and development to be published in the next few weeks.

Who benefits from development assistance in the law and justice sector—big institutions like the police and the courts, or the poor they are intended to serve? ODE Talks to expert law and justice evaluators Marcus Cox and Eric Scheye about user-centred, problem-focused programs that help citizens access justice.

Louise Arbour and Jim Della-Giacoma from the International Crisis Group tell ODE Talks about the future of the Responsibility to Protect, and what donors need to know about their latest analysis from Libya, Burma and East Timor.

On 6 July, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd launched the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness, and the Australian Government’s response. The Review will guide the growth of the aid program to 2015–16.

No low-income, fragile state will achieve a single Millennium Development Goal.  Nigel Roberts, co-director of the 2011 World Development Report, talks about why conflict and insecurity may be the greatest development challenge of our time.

Gordon Hein, Vice President for Programs at The Asia Foundation, joins ODE to talk about a ground breaking discussion series with representatives from six new emerging Asian donors, co-hosted by the Korean Development Institute.

As the Australian aid program scales up, Johannes Linn from the Brookings Institution talks about the challenges of bringing small activities to scale to reach more people and reduce the burden on partner governments.

Aid transparency can improve effectiveness through increased accountability, better donor coordination and helping governments plan and manage their budgets more efficiently. This short ODE Brief examines the pros and cons of more transparent aid and describes what AusAID is doing to make its aid more transparent.