Principles of Aid Effectiveness
The 2005 Paris Declaration made by ministers from over 100 countries, heads of internationals development organisations and civil society organisations, together with its review, the 2008 Accra Agenda for Action represents a determined and collective commitment to strengthen aid effectiveness.
The Declaration takes into account the changing development landscape particularly the evolution in development thinking and the rapid increase in the number of organizations and institutions involved in development.
Moving beyond the development rhetoric, the Paris Declaration lays down a practical, action-orientated roadmap to improve the quality of aid and its impact on development, and calls for far-reaching actions to be taken in order to achieve harmonisation of aid programmes, alignment with budget and reporting systems of recipient countries, supported by principles of country ownership and mutual accountability.
The DPG in Tanzania promotes the implementation of the Paris Declaration by working closely with the government to ensure that the principles of Aid Effectiveness are fully embedded in the national development process.
Ownership
Effective national ownership of the development process is vital to achieving a sustainable economic growth and greater development results, but national ownership can not be achieved without the full participation of all national stakeholders in the implementation of development initiatives.
Both MKUKUTA and MKUZA were conducted through an extensive national consultative process involving parliamentarians, non-state actors, media, academicians and research institutions. The DPG acts as the apex of the DP structure as the main interlocutor with government of Tanzania in support of a strong and assertive national ownership. The DPG Structure also ensures that DPs can speak with “one voice” in its dialogue with the government.
Sustained capacity development programmes have been implemented across all levels of government and across the society (NSAs) with the view of further strengthening national ownership and government leadership.
Alignment
Regardless of the source of funding (General Budget Support, Basket Support and Project/Program Support), the DPG promotes greater alignment of donor support with government priorities and MKUKUTA/MKUZA goals. In the fiscal Year 2007/2008 approximately USD 35% of the total foreign aid assistance was provided under the General Budget Support modality.
The preference of the General Budget Support modality is large because it enables the government to allocate funds according to the national development priorities which are subjected to the same degree of contestability as domestic resources within the budget process, both at sector and national level, so that they fully align with the national and sector priorities. Beyond progressively shifting to the GBS, efforts to ensure that aid is on budget and through national systems further supports the government in its efforts of enhancing aid effectiveness and efficiency, particularly as the largest share of the aid portfolio stems from project/program interventions.
Harmonisation
Substantial efforts have been directed towards harmonising development processes not only because harmonisation has the potential to reduce the cost of aid, but also to improve the quality of aid and increase the impact of all government expenditures.
At a broader level, a number of development partners now rely on ‘single framework, single assessment’ notably the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Review (PEFAR) and PEFA for fiduciary risk assessment.
At a sectoral level, harmonisation evolves around the Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps) which observe complementarities of various modalities in sector under a single government-led coordinating framework. Considerable improvement has been noted in key sectors such as health, agriculture, water, HIV/AIDS, Education Sector, and most recently forestry sectors where the harmonisation initiative has been implemented.
Currently, the DPG is actively engaged in establishing a ‘division of labour ’for sector and thematic area dialogue based on the concept of ‘lead, active and contributing partners in order to rationalise the DPs participation in policy dialogue with the government in support of enhancing quality of aid and reducing transaction costs. The division of labour process builds on the new endorsed Dialogue Structure which combined a number of previously parallel dialogue structures into one structure as a means of reducing duplication and parallel processes.
Managing for Results
The establishment of MKUKUTA Monitoring System (MMS) is aimed at providing a transparent and monitorable performance assessment framework. It encompasses a wide range of instruments aiming at gathering information and data about the implementation and subsequent performance of the government of Tanzania’s intended goals and policy objectives as laid out in the MKUKUTA and other national policy frameworks.
The production of the bi-annual Poverty and Human Development Report (PHDR) and the MKUKUTA/MKUZA Annual Implementation Report (MMS) are some of the outcomes of the adopted MKUKUTA Monitoring System.
More efforts have also been directed towards strengthening the data management system through the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan (TSMP) as well as integration of performance report in the national budget process with the view of promoting accountability and reinforcing the links between planning, budgeting and monitoring.
Mutual Accountability
The mutual accountability frameworks in Tanzania are embodied in the Independent Monitoring Group (IGM) and joint reviews in the context of MKUKUTA-PER process, and JAST implementation. The IGM has been agreed as the official body through which progress on shared commitments, and development cooperation relationships and the country’s progress towards meeting the international objectives on aid effectiveness, are reviewed.
In support of the international monitoring of progress made in implementation of and adherence to the principles of the Paris Declaration, Tanzania also support the Paris Declaration Survey initiative. Government and Development Partners jointly review progress made in relation to the indicators established for the monitoring of the Paris Declaration. The most recent survey was conducted in 2008 building on the first survey from 2006.
2008 Survey on Monitoring the Paris Declaration: Making Aid More Effective by 2010
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