Country Engagement

for Aid and Development Effectiveness

NEWSLETTER
Issue 6 September 2011

Inside
Upcoming Activities Better Aid Updates Regional Consultations 2 3
4

BetterAid calls for inclusion of civil society messages in the HLF Outcome Document

More CSOs endorse Key Ask 10

IBON
In cooperation with:

International

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Issue 6 September 2011

Upcoming Activities
September 2011 CSO consultations on aid and development effectiveness

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Issue 6 September 2011

Updates
unites over 1200 development organizations from civil society, and has been working on development cooperation and challenging the aid effectiveness agenda since January 2007. BetterAid is leading many of the civil society activities including in-country consultations, studies and monitoring, in the lead up to the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in 2011.

Country consultations intensify

Test runs for BetterAids CSO Key Asks were made in Europe with aid effectiveness experts and nonexperts alike as participants. Experts who joined in the tests are WP-Eff members, officials from the Europian Union technical seminar, and some parliamentarians from the European Parliaments Development Committee. Ministry officials not specializing on aid effectiveness such the Polish MoFA, as well as development NGOs not directly involved in the BetterAid processes like Saferworld/Concord also participated through the fragile states seminar.

For more information about the BetterAid platform, visit: www.betteraid.org and follow BetterAid on Twitter, at https://twitter.com/betteraid

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Issue 6 September 2011

Regional Consultations
Give development a human face, Pacific Civil Society leaders say*
SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS (11 July, 2011). A Pacific regional meeting on aid and development effectiveness has reinforced an international call for people to be brought to the centre of development and that development cooperation and aid effectiveness processes are people centered, respect human rights and achieve social justice as cornerstones of aid and development effectiveness. In recent years, the Pacific region has experienced structural adjustments, political instability and policy changes in its development assistance landscape. Threats to human rights, peace and security being experienced in some Pacific countries have impacted on the enabling environment for civil society and affected the way in which civil society works. This was revealed at the Pacific Islands Consultation on Aid and Development Effectiveness which ended in Nadi at the weekend. The meeting was attended by civil society leaders from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Organised by the Pacific Islands Association of Non Government Organisations (PIANGO) in partnership with the Reality of Aid Asia Pacific, the meeting acknowledged the critical importance of donor support for CSOs. It congratulated the

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*Article reprinted with permission from PIANGO.

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Australian government on accepting the recommendations of an independent aid review to increase development assistance to the Pacific and its emphasis on support to Non Government Organizations. Participants also congratulated the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) on its positive decision to reinstate the post of Non State Actor Officer saying they looked forward to working closely with PIFS in supporting Pacific governments to engage more effectively with civil society. Civil society leaders called on Pacific Island governments to revisit their commitments to Pacific people and CSOs at regional and international levels within the context of the Pacific Plan and Cairns Compact. As umbrella CSO bodies, we have an important role to play and collaborate with other development actors to influence regional and global agendas and give voice to the poor, disadvantaged and marginalized that we work with. We need to bring together youth, women, men and community voices to advocate on very real and pressing issues affecting our region such as climate change, food security, human rights, gender, disabilities and trade, says Ms Emele Duituturaga, PIANGOs interim Executive Director. Commitments made on donor harmonization in international agreements such as the Paris Declaration need to be extended to dialogue, resourcing and collaboration with CSOs. Civil

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Issue 6 September 2011

Society needs to have partnership agreements with governments and development partners to ensure that development takes on a human face, she said. Ms. Ava Danlog of Reality of Aid said that in some instances aid effectiveness processes have been very disempowering for citizens. There is a need for CSOs to focus on concrete, tangible outputs as there is usually a tendency to focus on donor hot topics. Aid should be about partnerships. Development partners must foster basic principles of partnership and acknowledge the contribution of recipients. In addition, trade and other economic activities need to also focus on human development, Ms. Danlog said. An emerging issue in the Pacific region and one that is also a part of the larger development agenda issue concerns the rights of people living with disability in the region who continue to be marginalized and excluded from development processes. Mr Katabwena Tawaka, of the Pacific Disability Forum told the meeting that present statistics (June, 2011) illustrate that over 800,000 people are living with disabilities in the Pacific. There is a need for governments and development partners to recognize disability as a development issue. Disability may increase the risk of poverty. In the Pacific, people with disabilities rely on their families for

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Issue 6 September 2011

assistance and medical care and this must be acknowledged by stakeholders. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also do not make specific reference to people with disabilities, he said. The Pacific meeting was organized by PIANGO and was part of Reality of Aid Asia Pacific regional consultations in the lead-up to the HLF4 in Busan, South Korea, in November 2011. HLF4 will assess whether or not key government commitments on aid effectiveness have been achieved since the last High Level meeting in Accra in 2008. The Busan meeting is a key opportunity for governments to go beyond promises and commit to more effective, sustainable development assistance in terms of its real impact on the lives of all people.

Asian CSOs call for Sustainable Development

BANGKOK, THAILAND (15 -17 August, 2011). About 50 CSOs from 20 countries in Asia Pacific were present at the recently held Regional Conference on Development Models: Promoting a Transformative Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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The conference aimed to raise awareness and knowledge among southern CSOs and peoples movements on the Key Issues in Busan High Level Forum this coming November, including building a new consensus on development, one that is sustainable. It was a vibrant affair which included numerous exchanges of ideas, experiences and practices as it reflected on the challenges and ways forward in tackling sustainable development. A two- day conference, the first day affirmed the role of aid in development where it is seen as an integral factor while highlighting the question for whom? especially in the face of seemingly new Aid Donor actors like China and India. Reality of Aid Network Asia Pacific Chairperson Antonio Tujan Jr., in his key note speech, made the connection between the High Level Forum 4 in Busan and the Rio +20 or the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The discussions were enriched by inputs from Nurgul Djanaeva (Forum of Womens NGOs of Kyrgyzstan), Lyn Pano (Asia Pacific Research Network), Suranjan Kodithuwakku (Green Movement of Sri Lanka), Dr. Azra Sayeed (APWLD) and Anselmo Lee (Korean Civil Society Forum on International Development) among others. The second day introduced the different models of development and how they work or do not work at all just as Ms. Ujjaini Halim (IMSE) maintained as she presented on the

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neoliberal model of development. Other speakers were Kelly Haden of UN ESCAP on Alternative Development Approaches as well as IBON Internationals Paul Quintos on Sustainable Development. New Delhi based intellectual Kavaljit Singh (Public Interest Research Centre) argued for China and Indias potential to challenge the OECD in its role but that it has to wait until both countries have mapped out exactly their own strategic objectives as aid donors vis a vis being a developing country still. According to him though, it is clear that both China and India have clear strategic interests, China on natural resources in exchange for infrastructure investments and India on for a greater influence in the region. The conference produced theAsia Pacific CSO Statement on Development Cooperation for Sustainable Development* which highlights their key messages for Busan on Private Sector for development, Climate Finance and South- South Cooperation. The Regional Conference was coorganized by Reality of Aid Network, Asia Pacific Research Network and IBON International.

*The Peoples Statement on Sustainable Development and Rio +20 and Action plan were produced on August 17, 2011 in a back to back activity called A Strategy Workshop on Rio +20. Both statements may be downloaded at the ibon.org and realityofaid.org websites.

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Issue 6 September 2011

More CSOs endorse BA Key Asks

As country outreach work continues in different regions, more CSOs pen their support and make recommendations to strengthen the points of the BetterAid Key Asks as their collective message in the High Level Forum 4 in Busan.

China

CSOs in China held Past and Future of Foreign ODA Workshop last July 8, 2011, which underscored and highlighted details to some points in the Key Asks, such as the inclusion of the rights of differently-abled persons and the elderly. CSOs also agreed on including more discussions in the issues of gender inequality as well as the restriction of the private sectors intervention and participation in the issue of aid. Benin CSOs signed on and endorsed the CSO Key Asks and gave recommendations in the recently held Benin National Consultation on aid effectiveness last 5 August. Reflecting the Key Asks, the Declaration drafted endorsed the eight principles of Istanbul on the development effectiveness of CSOs.

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Niger The Niger National Consultation held in Niamey saw 33 CSOs endorsing the Key Asks. The workshop resulted in recommending a framework for dialogue and exchange among the government and other stakeholders to strengthen their partnership. Argentina The Argentine Consultation held on August 2-3 at the capital Buenos Aires resulted to 20 CSOs and members of the academe endorsing the Key Asks. Also present on the consultation were government Dominican Republic In the recently conducted Dominican Republic Consultation on August 1819, 2011, 40 signatures were penned endorsing the Key Asks. These came from 36 civil society organizations, three from the academe and one from a media personality.

Nicaragua
The two-day Nicaragua CSO Workshop and National Multi Stakeholder Consultation held in Managua last August 25 and 26 added 120 signatures in support of the Key Asks. Guatemala

25 CSO participants signed on and endorsed the Key Asks in the recently held National Consultation on Aid Effectiveness in Guatemala City last August 30 and 31.

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Issue 6 September 2011

About IBON/RoAs Country Outreach

The IBON/Reality of Aid country outreach program for the broad implementation of AAA seeks to achieve greater and more meaningful involvement of CSOs in bringing change in aid effectiveness policy and practice. The strategy towards this is capacity development of CSOs in order for them to initiate policy dialogue spaces that allow for broader and inclusive participation of various kinds of CSOs at country and local level. These efforts are expected to contribute to changes in policies along a development effectiveness approach. Country outreach work will be based on the country-level plans of CSOs who are involved in aid effectiveness and development effectiveness advocacy. A broad range of CSOs will be encouraged to participate and work together to engage their respective governments, parliaments and development partners in the achievement and monitoring of AAA implementation. RoA is the partner agency of the BetterAid in this program. IBON International is implementing the outreach through the RoA network.

Contact us
Interested in participating in country processes? Do you want your country stories disseminated? The following members of the Country Outreach Team are ready to work with you:

Nicole Benedicto Team Leader and Outreach Officer for Latin America nbenedicto@realityofaid.org Ava Danlog Outreach Officer for Asia Pacific adanlog@realityofaid.org Myrna Maglahus Outreach Officer for Africa mmaglahus@realityofaid.org Goldie Liza Tanglao Communications Officer gtanglao@realityofaid.org Jodel Dacara Program Assistant jdacara@realityofaid.org

Engagement
for Aid and Development Effectiveness
IBON Center 114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City 1103 Philippines http://iboninternational.org www.realityofaid .org

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