Ghana to Host International Conference on Aid Effectiveness (Feature, Page 23)

THE Government of Ghana will host the third international conference on aid effectiveness from September 2, to September 4, 2008.
The Minster for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu made this known at the launch of the conference dubbed, ‘Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness’ (HLF-3) in Accra on July 25, 2008. He said the conference will basically take stock of and review progress made from the 2005 Paris Declaration to date and build on the outcome of previous meetings on the declaration.
The beginnings of High Level Forum Conferences date back into the late 1990s when international aid effectiveness movement started taking shape. The donor and aid agencies realised that their many but varying approaches and requirements impose costs on recipient countries and hinder the expected outcomes. Therefore, at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Mexico in 2002, the international community agreed that just as it is important to provide more financing for development, it is equally important for donors and partner countries to know of and maximise the effective use of the aid/donations.
In 2003, the first High Level Forum Conference was held in Rome. The international community agreed on a common commitment, to take action to improve upon the management and effectiveness of aid and to take stock of progress made. Also, governments and some development partners signed a memorandum to begin the implementation of the Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) framework.
This was followed by the second High Level Forum Conference at Paris in 2005. At that conference, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was endorsed by over a 100 signatories from partner governments, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, regional development banks and international agencies. The declaration was grounded on five mutually reinforcing principles, namely ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability. One of the major steps taken as part of the declaration was an agreement on a monitoring framework with 12 indicators to provide a measurable and evidence – based way to track progress and set targets for 2010.
A critical look at the MDBS and the 2005 Paris Declaration shows similarity of principles even though they are two different documents.
At the launch, Ghana’s Finance Minister, Mr Baah-Wiredu, said after five years of implementing the MDBS, the Government of Ghana and its development partners had overcome the challenge of frequent individual missions and bilateral consultations, huge cost of negotiating aid, inconsistency of projects with government priorities and operation of parallel systems and unpredictability of funds.
Currently, Ghana is making preparations towards its hosting of the third High Level Forum Conference (HLF-3).
For good results, the government of Ghana has put together a National Planning Committee, with representatives from various ministries, departments, agencies (MDAs) and civil society groups, which is chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to ensure the success of the conference.
For instance, the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis (CEPA) has been contracted to collect data to follow the progress made on the achievement of the 2005 Paris Declaration and the MDBS. The findings of the CEPA survey will paint a clearer picture of the country’s progress so far and show the challenges that need to be addressed.
The HLF-3 conference aims to address the current issues that both donors and partners face in trying to implement the Paris Declaration and to ensure that donors integrate their support within country - led programmes to strengthen capacity development.
It is also expected to provide the opportunity for aid donors and recipient countries to identify ways to harmonise the use of the aid given to developing countries and in addition, address issues such as long-term aid commitments by donors, reduction of conditions attached to development assistance and the strengthening of Parliamentary scrutiny in developing countries.
The HLF-3 will bring together 1,000 expected participants involving ministers, senior officials, and heads of multilateral institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from over 100 countries to discuss selected key issues which will lead to the negotiation and endorsement of the Accra Agenda for Action (Triple A).
“Triple A” is a document that will review progress made so far after the Paris High Level Forum. In the reviewing process, it is expected that challenges that had emerged since the 2005 Paris Declaration, anticipated challenges, as well as possible solutions to these challenges will be identified and endorsed. The document will outline a set of politically appealing and high impact priority actions that are likely to have significant impact on aid effectiveness.
For Ghana, the implication is it will be an avenue to develop a blueprint for proper co – ordination and accountability of the flow of aid into the country and its usage. The co – ordination will cut down on the degree of wastage in the use of the aid through the harmonisation of the roles that all stakeholders will play in enhancing aid effectiveness.
The integration of donor support/aid into country – led programmes will not only provide the government the opportunity to channel aid into addressing pressing economical and social challenges facing the country but will also facilitate the accountability and monitoring of the use of aid as Ghanaians will be able to tell which aid went into which project.
Mr Baah-Wiredu hit the nail right on the head when he concluded the launch of the conference by saying that “Ghana faces a significant opportunity to present itself to the international community, not only as a dynamic nation that successfully pursues socio – economic reforms in a complex and globalised environment, but also as a nation that has effectively managed donor assistance to the ultimate benefit of our citizens.”
As we get ready to receive about 1,000 visitors in our midst, our appeal is that Ghanaians once more would show maturity by playing roles expected of them so that we achieve the desired results as a nation.