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Accra - Making Aid Work Well
The Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness was recently hosted in Accra by the Government of Ghana (2-4 September 2008) and resulted in the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA). The primary intention of the forum was to take stock and review global progress made in implementing the Paris Declaration as well as accelerate action.
The Australian Government viewed the high level forum as a critical opportunity for the international community to commit to concrete actions that will accelerate our collective efforts to make aid work - being more effective in aid delivery and in achieving aid results. This includes striving for the Millennium Development Goals. The Australian delegation to the high level forum was led by the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development, Mr Bob McMullan and included the head of the Office of Development Effectiveness.
The forum broadened and deepened the dialogue on aid effectiveness by giving ample space and voice to partner countries and newer actors such as Civil Society Organisations and emerging donors. It also identified the increased action needed, and bottlenecks to overcome, in order to make progress in improving aid effectiveness for 2010 and beyond.
The Forum built on several previous high level international meetings, most notably the 2003 Rome High Level Forum which highlighted the issue of harmonisation and alignment, and the 2005 Paris High Level Forum. The Paris Forum culminated with the endorsement of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness by over 100 signatories from partner governments, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, regional development banks, and international agencies.
This forum resulted in an Accra Agenda for Agenda (AAA), identifying key reforms to accelerate efforts to improve aid effectiveness and achieve global development targets such as the Millennium Development Goals. Australia participated in the drafting of the proposed action agenda and has agreed to implementing the AAA. Australia was also one of 14 donors to sign up to the new Aid Transparency Initiative to improve the accountability, planning and use of aid. The AAA reforms have implications for Australia's aid program and are consistent with the direction the aid program is already taking to improve effectiveness.
At the forum, Timor-Leste and Australia presented a joint paper on the challenges of delivering effective aid in situations of fragility and conflict called A Balancing Act: Implementation of the Paris Declaration in Timor-Leste. The paper provides analysis on how donors could improve development effectiveness in Timor-Leste. It contributes to the global thinking on how to best work in such difficult environments and is one of few case studies available.
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