Towards Joint Principles in Agriculture and Rural Development
During the  First European Forum on Rural Development Cooperation which was held in Montpellier in September 2002, participants called for a 'Code of Conduct' (or 'Joint Principles') for donors supporting agriculture and rural development programmes (ARD) in order to ensure improved coordination and more effective outputs of these programmes.
During the Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development on June 18-21, 2007, in Berlin, the Platform presented a concept paper on the envisaged process towards such 'Joint Principles' and compiled the suggestions and comments from the different workshops and panel discussions.
Read the concept...
Joint Donor Minimum Standards
The Platform proposes  Joint Donor Minimum Standards on how to plan and execute ARD programmes under the aid effectiveness principles as laid out in the OECD-DAC framework around the  Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness of March 2005. This paper is meant to provide the basis for the development of 'Joint Principles in Agriculture and Rural Development'.
The proposed standards are based upon lessons learned out of the Platform’s in-country facilitation processes as well as upon analytical underpinnings from existing literature. The underlying lessons learned are compiled in the Platform publication Cornerstones for Effective Agriculture and Rural Development Programmes under a Programme-based Approach.
The way ahead
After the Forum, the Platform established a ‘Joint Principles Task Team’ which will develop draft 'Joint Principles' with the support of the Platform Secretariat and ‘Aid Effectiveness Departments’ and/or policy units of Platform members. The Task Team should also take into account other on-going harmonisation efforts, e.g. the ‘Delivering as One’ Initiative by the United Nations. These draft 'Joint Principles' will then be circulated for review among the Platform member organisations.
After these consultation rounds, the Platform Steering Committee validated the draft 'Joint Principles' during a planned workshop in autumn 2007, as well as decide on how the Platform should monitor the adherence to the 'Joint Principles'.
The Platform considers the way towards 'Joint Principles' as a process, which will take certain time. The acceptance and adherence to such 'Joint Principles' represents the end of the process which actually might require a considerable amount of informing, lobbying and monitoring.
The Platform proposes that the future 'Joint Principles in Agriculture and Rural Development' — embedded in the principles of ownership, alignment, harmonisation and management for results and mutual accountability of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness — will set the frame to which the Platform members as signatories explicitly commit themselves to do business in ARD. |
