Aid Effectiveness

Objectives

To develop a GADN position on aid effectiveness in the lead-up to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness being held in Korea in December 2011, and engaging in the parallel processes towards the HLF to ensure the GADN is represented in these spaces, with the goal of influencing the HLF outcomes with regard to gender equality and women’s rights.

To build capacity on aid effectiveness issues and their implications for GADN members.

Chair - Alyson Brody (BRIDGE/IDS) - A.Brody@ids.ac.uk

News

At the start of October WIDE reacted to the EC Communication on Busan, giving WIDE’s position and recommendations to the EU common position for the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Busan (see ‘News from WIDE’ for more information). Alyson Brody (BRIDGE), chair of GADN’s working group on aid effectiveness, sent a similar response from GADN to Kim Darroch, the UK’s Permanent Representative for the EU.

Brief from GADN and BRIDGE: Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness and Beyond: What next for Gender Equality, Women's Rights and Aid Effectiveness?

As you may know, from 29 November to 1 December of this year the Fourth High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid Effectiveness will be held in Busan, Korea. During this meeting decisions will be made that will affect the future of aid, both in terms of the criteria for receiving aid and the principles that govern how aid delivery is managed. Ministers from across the globe, from both developing and donor countries, government representatives, parliamentarians, civil society organisations and private sector representatives will come together for the Forum. Approximately 2000 delegates will review global progress in improving the impact and value for money of development aid and make new commitments to further ensure that aid helps reduce poverty and supports progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. At the third High Level Forum in Accra in 2008 GADN played a key role in lobbying for more gender-aware aid modalities as part of a WIDE/AWID lobby, critiquing the Paris Declaration for its lack of a clear gender focus and calling for a revised agreement that would promote gender equality and women’s empowerment as an integral aspect of effective and empowering aid processes. Some gains were made in the Accra Agenda for Action that emerged from the last HLF, but there are real concerns that these will lost in the forthcoming Forum, as other priorities such as results and accountability to tax payers take priority. GADN is keen to ensure that the views and experiences of gender equality and women’s rights advocates in the Global South are heard by policy-makers participating in this process in the runup to Busan and in the post Busan period. This is the last High Level Forum and a very significant opportunity to influence global discussions on aid – discussions that will have significant impacts for all of us.

BRIDGE and GADN have produced a briefing to share information about the High-Level Forum (HLF-4) and its implications for gender equality and women’s rights; and support women’s organisations and gender equality advocates to engage with and influence the debates leading up to HLF-4 and beyond.

What can you do? We are calling for those working on gender equality and women’s rights to:

Read the Brief, let us know if it is useful and what other information you would like.
Answer four questions about aid effectiveness and pass questions on to relevant southern partner organisations

Please send the answers to Lauren at lauren.donaldson@gadnetwork.org.uk.

The questions are:

1. How would you describe your organisation?

Women’s rights organization
Non-governmental organisation with a focus on promoting gender equality
Other: Please specify

2. Were you aware that the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness was taking place?

3. Have you or any other gender and women’s rights organisations been consulted by your government officials as part of their preparations for the High-Level Forum? If yes, please explain briefly how you were involved and the outcomes of the consultation.

Yes ……………………………………………………………………………….
No

4. What message would you like to send to donors attending Busan?

Share your stories with us: what is your experience of applying for and receiving aid, and of reporting to donors? Have you noticed any differences in the past five years? Do you think women's rights issues are being addressed sufficiently in aid effectiveness processes? Why or why not? What is needed at the country level for enhanced and more effective integration of gender equality and women’s rights issues in aid effectiveness? What good models of donor funding have you experienced?

Please send your stories to lauren.donaldson@gadnetwork.org.uk

Encourage your southern partners to share their stories: Please recommend southern partner organisations we can contact directly for their stories; and encourage them to send their stories to us. We will be posting the stories on the GADN and BRIDGE websites to share ‘voices from the field’ with policy-makers.

In September, GADN’s Aid Effectiveness working group fed into the joint UK NGO position paper for the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan in November. On 28 September Alyson Brody, chair of the working group, joined over 40 BOND members for the launch of the position paper. Shaping the future of aid outlines UK NGO priorities, including six recommendations to the UK government. Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, delivered a keynote address at the event outlining the UK vision and priorities for Busan: results, value for money, transparency and new actors/donors.

In June working group members Alyson Brody (Chair) and Ceri Hayes attended a WIDE and BetterAid consultation in Brussels on Development Cooperation, Women's Rights and Gender Equality. The consultation outlined the WIDE /AWID engagement in the aid effectiveness process; looked at that women’s organisations have achieved and what messages have been developed so far and included an overview of the key milestones and a rough timetable towards Busan. Participants were also able to share reflections, concerns and suggestions for the women’s organisations engagement in HLF-4. GADN will continue to engage with AWID and WIDE to feed into the BetterAid coordinating process.