Take a look at our interview with Henri Jorritsma, Deputy Director, Policy and Operations Evaluation Department (IOB), the Netherlands, and current Vice-Chair of the DAC Evaluation Network. Henri discusses the complementarity of learning and accountability, evidence from IOB’s evaluation of budget support in Zambia, the changing development landscape, and more.
The OECD-DAC Quality Standards for Development Evaluation, built through international consensus, provide a guide to good practice. They are not intended to be used as a development evaluation manual, but they outline the key quality dimensions for each phase of a typical evaluation process: defining purpose, planning, designing, implementing, reporting, and learning from and using evaluation results. Principles informing the whole of the evaluation process are transparency and independence; integrity and respect for diversity; partnership, coordination and alignment; capacity development; and quality control.
via GSDRC: display.
EADI: EDC2020 Publication “Rising Powers and New Global Challenges” – Bonn Sustainability Portal.
The challenges facing European development cooperation have changed substantially in recent years. Analysts and politicians have commented on the increasing influence of China in Africa and the challenges this poses for EU influence to the EU strategic and policy objectives.
In fact, both China and India have expanded their development cooperation programmes in Africa and are using aid as a means to gain economic and political influence and access to strategic resources, above all energy resources. In doing so, they appear to challenge the aid principles agreed by the OECD Donor Assistance Committee (DAC). Because of China’s high-profile in Africa, much of the discussion about new donors has centred on China’s role as a new actor in development cooperation, and the differences between its approach to development cooperation and the DAC principles. But the challenge for EU development cooperation goes far beyond aid principles and the DAC consensus. The underlying challenge arises from a combination of the emergence of new economic and political powers and a radically changing global conjuncture.
The DAC consensus was formed in particular economic and political circumstances. In the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union freed development cooperation from great power politics, while reductions in spending by Russia and donors in the Middle East donors left the DAC group in control of 95% of international aid (Manning 2006: 371-2). The removal of aid competition allowed donors to pursue economic and political conditionality, human rights and democracy issues more insistently. At the same time, with a relatively benign global environment characterised by low and stable commodity prices and growth across much of the world, the DAC donors were confident about prioritising aid towards poverty reduction and the needs of the poorest countries downplaying the role of aid in pursuing the strategic and political interests of the donors.
By John Humphrey, Institute of Development Studies, UK
The OECD has just released key data on official development assistance (ODA) in 2007. According to these figures, the 22 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)–the world’s major donors–provided USD 103.7 billion in aid last year. This represents a decrease of 8.4% in real terms over the previous year. The fall was expected: ODA had been exceptionally high in 2005 (USD 107.1 billion) and 2006 (USD 104.4 billion) because of debt relief in Iraq and Nigeria.
How does this bode for donors keeping their promises with relation to key development goals? Overall, donors are not on track to meet their aid volume commitments, which the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005 estimated would raise ODA from USD 80 billion in 2004 to USD 130 billion in 2010.
On average, donors need to more than double the present rate of increase in their aid over the next three years to reach this target. While there was an encouraging upsurge in bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa (an increase of 10% in 2007, excluding debt relief), donors still face a real challenge in doubling total aid to Africa by 2010, as foreseen at Gleneagles. The first comprehensive survey of donors’ future spending plans to 2010 has been completed by the OECD and the results will be published early in May. Source: http://tinyurl.com/5elbk9.
Germany is the world’s second biggest development cooperation donor in absolute figures, after the US. Federal Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul welcomed the news, but commented that there was still a great deal to be done. http://www.bmz.de/en/press/pm/2008/april/pm_20080404_32.html
Full OECD Report: http://puck.sourceoecd.org/vl=1591633/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/dac/index.htm
Aid dropped 5.1 per cent from 106.8 billion in 2005 – a record high – to 103.9 billion in 2006. The high levels in 2005 were due largely to debt relief operations in Iraq and Nigeria. Excluding debt relief, other forms of aid fell by 1.8 per cent. ODA is expected to fall again in 2007 as debt relief tails off. Programme and project aid should then increase as donors fulfil more recent pledges. Sixteen of the DAC’s 22 member countries met the 2006 targets for ODA that they set at the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development. http://www.oecd.org/document/17/0,2340,en_2649_33721_38341265_1_1_1_1,00.html
Aid dropped 5.1 per cent from 106.8 billion in 2005 – a record high – to 103.9 billion in 2006. The high levels in 2005 were due largely to debt relief operations in Iraq and Nigeria. Excluding debt relief, other forms of aid fell by 1.8 per cent. ODA is expected to fall again in 2007 as debt relief tails off. Programme and project aid should then increase as donors fulfil more recent pledges. Sixteen of the DAC’s 22 member countries met the 2006 targets for ODA that they set at the 2002 Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development. http://www.oecd.org/document/17/0,2340,en_2649_33721_38341265_1_1_1_1,00.html
The CPR Network is an informal network of donor countries and partner UN Agencies dealing with the complex issues of conflict management. It arose out of an interest by DAC members of the Conflict, Peace and Development Cooperation Task Force to continue the process of sharing knowledge and experience in field operations that could serve as a guide to those working in conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction (CPR).
http://cpr.web.cern.ch/cpr/
