//  If you don't measure it, you cant manage it

The claim that the Busan Action Plan for Statistics actually had been given special attention in Busan is underpinned by its mentioning in the outcome document (see paragraph 18c)

The new action plan would build on successes after the Marrakech Action Plan for Statistics (MAPS), said Shaida >surname, title, affil>, which had brought about that 71 countries now had strategic plans for stats and 60 percent fo them agreed to increase their funding for implementation. However, the biggest remaining tasks were better donor coordination and to fill the large gaps in agricultural stats, which were tremendously important for poverty reduction.

Goes on Shaida, it had been in this light that the Busan objectives for stats for results had come about. They were
• a move away from a still very supply-driven approach to the generation of stats towards being more demand-driven
• an improvement of stat literacy
• promotion of public accessibility to data

// Comments from the floor

• Do not lose sight of the qualitative aspects of data collection. It is simply not good enough to count schools
• National level data are too aggregated, we need provincial level data
• We need to promote open data in development cooperation . It is simply not understandable that we have all sorts of open information acts in our countries but foreign aid data are often not disclosed.
• Do not waste time with trying to interest the professionals of development cooperation in the subject of stats as such. People are only interested in stats when it comes to the application of them in their particular area of work 

//  Transparency in ARD

In a step that could be exemplary for the ARD sector in which aid flows often lack transparency, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Side disclose when, to whom and why money was spent. Available on openaid.se, a site open to all, the transparency guarantee for development cooperation aims to apply the accountability and transparency that donors expect from partner countries to Sweden’s own participation in development projects.

//  Q&A session

It was pointed out here, that data on results was missing — despite possibly being the information of highest interests for users of the website. This underlined a point made by Sida earlier during the presentation: that the available data was not tailored to fit under specific categories with results seldom being listed separately in documents. The issue of presenting the available data in a comprehensive way is therefore one of the biggest challenges the institutions in charge face.

Up to now 40 000 documents have been disclosed, covering projects from 1973 till 2011. Until March 2011, the aim is to have published data covering 100% of Swedish aid allocation.

//   Mutual Review and Mutual Accountability

In his assement Nnadozie was joined by Valentine Rugwabiza, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organisation, who said that in the opening ceremony of HLF-4 it had repeatedly been pointed out that mutual accountability was most important. This report was actually providing this accountability.

//  ODA to Africa

“The graph of the real GDP indicator shows that Africa is not disconnected,” said David Batt, Director APF Support Unit, OECD. It also showed that domestic revenue was by far the most important source of investment. “So don’t just look at foreign direct investment and ODA.”
The commitments of 2005 on the level of ODA, Batt furthered, were not met. Africa got a smaller share of ODA, while it had been agreed that it should have grown. It was stuck at around 37%.

//  The importance of communications for mutual accountability

Tony German, Director, Development Initiatives, an independent organisation working for poverty elimination, also acclaimed the report in its uniqueness as an mutual accountabliyty accountability tool. However, he called for an end to development rhetoric. Not the principle of country ownership was to be done away with, but the lip service. The same was true for what he called a proliferation of logframes that were extremely time consuming and often lead to irrelevant documents that were not even comparable, as different donors all had there own templates.

German expressed that instead more emphasis should be given to communications and the need to 'market' activity with the beneficiaries. Donors had limited resources, with which they should focus on areas were the private sector could not come in. A deeper look into the political economy of research was also absolutely necessary. Therefore the announcement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this morning to join the International Aid Transparency initiative (IATI) was to be applauded and followed by more donors.

Guy Evers, Chief of FAO’s Africa Service and member of the CAADP Development Partners Task Team — which is Platform supported — agreed to the problematic proliferation of logframes but asked for an alternative. They were an accountability tool. Harmonise and simplify?

//  The importance of ARD

A delegate from China made a detailed intervention that hightlighted the importance of agriculture which was very well received by the audience. Nnadozie rounded this off with a comment that any raise in productivity in Africa would have to come through agriculture. The intervention was also supported by Rugwabiza, who clarified that the key lay in increased and sustained investment in agriculture. The fact that some countries had become net food importers was due to bad investment decisions.

The event was closed by Ibrahim Mayaki, CEO, NEPAD Planning and Co-ordination Agency

//  About the 2011 Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in Africa

The purpose of the review is to assess what has been done by Africa and its development partners to deliver commitments in relation to development in Africa, what results have been achieved, and what the key future priorities are.
It addresses a wide range of issues covering sustainable economic growth, investing in people, good governance and financing for development. In this sense, it is very much in line with some of the main themes at Busan — assessing ‘development effectiveness’ rather than just ‘aid effectiveness’, through a process of ‘mutual accountability’.

//  Download

MRDE 2011_English

MRDE 2011_French

//  Welcoming remarks by President of the Republic of Korea

President Lee spoke of the vital role of developing countries in development cooperation in the era of globalisation and the history of Korea's economic development and democratization. He also shared his views on how international development cooperation can be reshaped for a better future.

//  Download opening speeches

President Lee's address to all delegates

Keynote speech, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State

Keynote speech_H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda

Advocacy video_HLF-4 the opportunity to make development work better

The concerned paragraph had been seen and approved at the level of DAC ministers/representatives during the DAC ministerial breakfast this morning.Further to that meeting, some member states however requested further clarification on the intent and/or implications of the proposed paragraph. This paragraph differentiates Southern development assistance providers from traditional donors and underlines the voluntary nature of the Outcome Document.

These three countries now also joining the Busan Outcome Document have given a new meaning to inclusive partnerships for inclusive development cooperation. In that sense, new ground has been broken and there is an opening for the discussions on the global partnership for effective development cooperation.

A political process of consultations will start to work out the details of the actual global partnership.