Joint strategy to perk up aid effectiveness

A joint strategy between Bangladesh and development partners will increase aid effectiveness, speakers said at a regional workshop in Dhaka yesterday.
Planning Minister AK Khandaker inaugurated the two-day South Asia Regional Workshop for Joint Evaluation of the Paris Declaration at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
Danish Ambassador Einar Hebogard Jensen said Bangladesh and 15 development partners signed a statement of intent to develop a joint cooperation strategy (JCS) for improved aid effectiveness.
The JCS will be an accepted framework for aid between Bangladesh and most of its key development partners, he said. "The JCS is almost at its final stage and we are just a few steps away from signing it."
Referring to his experience in Bangladesh, Jensen said aid effectiveness scenario was neither bright nor promising four years ago.
Some of the priority sectors of the government remained unaddressed although the development partners were here, he said.
He also said there were a number of parallel projects and the government had to attend a lot of meetings, arrange individual missions from different international organisations working in the same sector. The situation was not fully in line with the Paris Principles, the envoy said.
Economic Relations Division Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said Bangladesh is actively engaged in implementing the result-oriented development framework based on the global consensus on aid effectiveness issues to use development assistance more effectively.
The planning minister stressed evaluating the Paris Declaration of 2005, and said the new policy directions were reinforced by fresh ideas. "But the most important direction is the enforcement of accountability of the donors as well as the recipients of aid for development results," AK Khandaker said.
Dr Takao Toda, chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Julian Gayfer, core team leader of Paris Declaration Evaluation-Phase 2, also spoke.
Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness is a high-level and wide-ranging set of political commitments to achieve broadly agreed goals. It was signed in 2005 by 91 countries, including Bangladesh, and 40 multinational organisations.