An International Aid Agreement

Romilly Greenhill Policy Officer

ActionAid International UK

What is the problem?

Fundamental problem = unbalanced accountability

Excessive upward accountability Donors impose heavy burden of conditions

onto recipient governments Weak downward accountability

Donors not accountable to recipients or to poor people

Recipient governments focus more on donors than on the poor

Need to shift to mutual accountability

Elements of an International Aid Agreement

Clear financing policies from aid recipients

Shift from conditionality to mutual commitments

International forums to review donor progress

Guaranteed sources of development finance

1. Clear financing policies

Recipients prioritize forms of donor aid, and rank donors

Recipients reject aid that fails to meet minimum criteria

Options for poor scoring donors: Redirect aid through reformed

multilaterals Silent partnership agreements Leave the country or sector

2. From conditionality to mutual commitments

Commitments drawn from international agreements

Upward accountability reinforces downward accountability

Donors make commitments too: Aid volume Aid quality (predictability etc) Policy coherence (trade, environment)

Monitoring recipient compliance

Revised CG meetings Recipient failure to comply – aid may be

withheld BUT Minimum resource transfer Commitments linked to specific tranches of aid No suspension in within the financial year Shift funding through CSOs or UN where

possible Hold funding in trust

Monitoring donor compliance

Revised CG meetings

Sanctions against donors ‘Naming and shaming’ Refusing aid Reporting to UN Commissioner on Aid

3. International Forums

Annual international meetings Donors and recipients attend as equals Under ECOSOC? Regional organisations involved e.g.

ECA, African Union Full transparency and CSO participation

UN Commissioner on Aid Aid ‘ombudsman’ reporting to UN SG

Functions of International Meetings

Progress on aid quality, donor by donor

Progress on policy coherence Assessment of Real Aid by donor Aid allocations across countries Best practice Problematic areas

4. Guaranteed sources of financing

Binding long term commitments from donors 0.7% by 2010 Commitments at country level

Innovative sources of development finance Taxes on currencies and airlines IFF as second best option

Conclusions

Accountability is heavily skewed Need to shift from one-sided conditionality

to mutual accountability International Aid Agreement is

aspirational rather than realistic Elements can be put in place

independently Need to shift from donor self regulation to

international regulation and greater recipient country choice and voice.