Rebuilding trust through effective development co-operation

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This Special Report, issued by the Global Partnership, serves to inform decision makers and their political commitments during the 2022 Effective Development Co-operation Summit. Evidenced by the Global Partnership-supported Action Dialogues in 2021 and 2022, the Report focuses on:

  • Current state of development co-operation
  • Approaches which facilitate partnerships building
  • New monitoring of the Global Partnership as a key opportunity to generate country-level behavior change

Effectiveness of development co-operation is more important than ever in the face of increasingly destabilizing global challenges such as pandemics, climate disasters, war and conflict, rising inequalities and financial instability.

Since the international community agreed to the Busan Partnership in 2011, which set the international standard on the principles of effective aid and good development to which all development actors should subscribe, the development co-operation landscape has seen substantive changes:

Official finance providers, implementing entities and partnerships have proliferated leading to a more fragmented and complex global aid architecture, straining partner countries’ capacities.

Multiple, overlapping crises are undermining progress across the 2030 Agenda and driving up countries’ financing needs.

Development actors made only limited progress towards their development effectiveness commitments, which erodes trust and mutual accountability and undermines the open dialogue that would allow them to forge better partnerships in a constantly evolving development landscape.

The 2022 Effective Development
Co-operation Summit

Geneva, Switzerland
12-14 December

provides the opportunity to transform the way we work together, with the ambition to move from commitment to action to engage more effectively at country and global levels.

What are some country examples?

A series of partner countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America have led Action Dialogues in 2021 and 2022. These Dialogues brought together stakeholders from across the development landscape to strengthen co-operation in order to urgently scale up partnerships for COVID-19 recovery and SDG implementation, making commitments a reality.

What are ‘effective’ partnerships and how can they help us leave no one behind?

The Action Dialogues point to key characteristics of “effective” partnerships.

More effective partnerships mean

01

Ownership of development priorities by partner countries

Development co-operation that is owned by partner country institutions and actors and re-enforces their capacity will be more likely to deliver sustainable results that are maintained, replicated or scaled up.

02

Country-led results frameworks, data, and monitoring and evaluation systems

A focus on results, through strengthening data systems, monitoring and evaluation, systematized reporting, and integration of SDGs are good practices that strengthen effective development co-operation.

03

Inclusive partnerships

Inclusive partnerships must thrive on trust, calling for continued investments by all development actors in national reporting and multi-stakeholder dialogue mechanisms.

04

Transparency and accountability

Transparency can empower all stakeholders to engage in the development process and promote mutual accountability for results to all citizens.

05

Mainstreaming gender equality and women’s empowerment

Official development assistance and other forms of financing should be fully aligned with national gender equality priorities. Transparency in financing by all stakeholders, including women’s voices, fosters collective accountability, a foundation for trust-based, inclusive partnerships.

06

Promoting development effectiveness in fragile and conflict-affected settings

The new Global Partnership monitoring exercise has adapted to the needs of monitoring effective development co-operation in fragile contexts, in recognition of the specific challenges and priorities for effective development solutions that tackle root causes of fragility and conflict.

More than half of the total volume of bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) spent at the country level is targeting fragile contexts.

Extreme poverty is also concentrated in fragile settings. In 2022, 24% of the world’s population and 73% of the world’s extreme poor are projected to live in fragile settings.

07

Effectively tackling global challenges

Today’s interconnected global challenges require scaled-up solutions and an effective multilateral system that reconciles increased investment needs to preserve global public goods while maintaining direct support to partner country priorities.

Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) are a key instrument to better apply the effectiveness principles across national development co-operation partnerships. They support countries adopting a holistic and strategic approach to financing their national development, bridging short and long-term planning, and aligning public and private finance with the SDGs.

South-South Co-operation and Triangular Co-operation (SSTrC) harness the complementary strengths of different partners to bring co-created development solutions, in turn fostering greater country-level ownership of development co-operation. Considering this important role of SSTrC, the effectiveness of these co-operation modalities needs to be enhanced.

The Global Partnership, in its effort to provide cutting-edge data in the context of the 2030 Agenda, is supporting country-led efforts to measure and enhance the effectiveness of SSTrC.

Effective private sector engagement

The private sector provides a source of technical expertise, innovation and diverse resources and networks to address what are genuine development problems. Improving partnerships with the private sector based on the Kampala Principles can amplify the transformative power of effective private sector engagement to deliver the SDGs and leaving no one behind.

PRINCIPLE 1

Inclusive Country Ownership

Strengthening co-ordination, alignment and capacity building at the country level

PRINCIPLE 2

Results and Targeted Impact

Realising sustainable development outcomes through mutual benefits

PRINCIPLE 3

Inclusive Partnership

Fostering trust through inclusive dialogue and consultation

PRINCIPLE 4

Transparency and Accountability

Measuring and disseminating sustainable development results for learning and scaling up of successes

PRINCIPLE 5

Leave No One Behind

Recognising, sharing and mitigating risks for all partners

The Global Partnership can now monitor the implementation of the Kampala Principles as part of the new GPEDC monitoring exercise. This new assessment area reflects the increasing use of development co-operation resources to engage the private sector in partnerships and will gather evidence on the quality of such partnerships.

Enabling civil society

More effective partnerships with CSOs are an essential conduit towards achieving impact that matters for the most marginalized. This calls for sustained efforts by all development actors remain critical towards promoting and safeguarding an enabling environment for civil society by involving partner country CSO actors in decision-making and investing in strengthening their capacity.

More than a decade since the adoption of the Busan Partnership Agreement in 2011, the pursuit of more effective development co-operation and stronger partnerships at the country level remains an ongoing priority. The 15 Action Dialogues and the strong participation of all GPEDC stakeholders in the reform of the GPEDC monitoring exercise attest to the community’s continued interest in addressing new and persistent challenges to achieving the SDGs by working together better. In an evolving aid landscape, the effectiveness principles have proven to be a unique but shared compass that countries can use to orient multi-stakeholder dialogue and action on priorities and needs. Going forward, the Global Partnership continues as the primary multi-stakeholder platform for generating critical evidence to support the practical implementation of the effective development co-operation principles.